America's Cup - K-Challenge Introduces Sailing Team And Design Team: Sebastien Col And Bernard Nivelt Joing Team

K-Challenge, French challenger, is proud to introduce its Acts 1-3 sailing team and its design team two months before the first step of the 32nd America’s Cup : the Louis Vuitton Act 1. This first event will take place in Marseille from 5 to 11 September 2004.

In the center of the sailing team, Sebastien Col (3 France Match Racing champion titles, America’s Cup in 2003, France, Italy and USA champion titles in Melges 24 in 2003 and World vice-champion in 2002) will be Tactician with Thierry Peponnet at the helm.

" Being part of the K-Challenge is a unique opportunity for me to increase the experience I had during the 2003 America’s Cup. Thierry Peponnet’s personality was a very important factor in my choice : he’s very opened, determined and his experience is very large, which are, to my opinion, required qualities to manage this team.

K-Challenge showed very early its motivation and how determined this team was for the 2007 America’s Cup; it presents interesting plans since the beginning of the campaign. The road is still long to the Cup, and I hope I will also bring a lot to the K-Challenge. "

Sebastien will be joined by other famous French sailors : Benoit Briand (3 America’s Cup with the French teams) and Albert Jacobsoone (has taken part in every America’s Cup campaign since 1983 with French teams until Prada in 2003).

On board, we will also find Nicolas Charbonnier in the afterguard (5 World and 2 European titles with 420 and 470 dinghies), Olivier Douillard (several titles in multihullls, America’s Cup in 2003, part of the French Olympic team from 1995 to 2000) and Frederic Brousse (America’s Cup in 2003 and 2000, 5 multihulls campaigns and participation in The Race, former professional rugby player).

Finally, several international crew members (men and women) (English, Swedish, American, Swiss, Danish and New Zealand) as Mikkel Rossberg (who was part of the Swedish Victory Challenge in 2003), Paul Murray, Meg Gaillard, Sean " Doogie " Couvreux, Peter Merrington and Justin Slaterry, will join the team, according to an established programme for the three Acts managed by Thierry Peponnet and Dawn Riley.

The idea is to test a maximum of crew members in action during the first three Louis Vuitton Acts and give the opportunity to all of them to show what they are able to do, with the goal to win their place in the team through 2007 (full crew list attached).

Thierry Peponnet, double Olympic medallist, K-Challenge Skipper and Helmsman, explains the reasons behind these choices :

" Through the selection of crew members, I wanted to gather in a motivated and unified team people from different sailing backgrounds; offshore sailing, multihulls, monohulls, and Olympic dinghies. I wanted to help the mixing of the French and other cultures for a general improvement. I hope that everybody will take up the challenge in the team, in order to express oneself with no reserve except the respect of each other.

I expect from each one of us a personal investment in the group, on the physical side as much as on the technical one. Only one question must be in everybody’s mind : " what can I do more so that the team is stronger, for the boat to be faster, and the pleasure to still be there… " "

The design team is moving forward with Bernard Nivelt joining the team as Principal Designer.

Bernard has the experience of victory in the America’s Cup, as he won it with the American team, Stars & Stripes with Dennis Conner in 1998.

Bernard Nivelt, K-Challenge Principal Designer, sums up what has mainly motivated him to join the K-Challenge team :

" The team is formed of both young and older international talents who are very motivated and invested in what will be a difficult fight. We have a technical package which includes our recent acquisition of two boats which saw victory in 2000. "

This design team is presented by its manager, Dimitri Nicolopoulos, K-Challenge Design Team Coordinator :

" The core ideas that were applied to the creation of the K-Challenge design team are talent, open mindness and taking pleasure in what we do. We obviously need talent to develop an America’s Cup Class (ACC) boat. Open mind is a critical attitude to make sure sailors and designers will work together to develop a good boat. Furthermore, pleasure is a key for the team cohesion and efficiency and thus to the best development. I am confident that we gathered a team that mixes experience with people like Bernard Nivelt who already won the Cup and Jacques Fauroux, young talents with Sandrine Lescaudron (VPP) and Guillaume Verdier (designer), experience again through North Sails and Bruno Dubois, responsible for that part of the programme, industrial rigor with MCube and highly talented and open eyes from Gilles Ollier Design Team at Multiplast who not only built 5 ACCs but designed a string of highly successful large multihulls. "

Dawn Riley, K-Challenge General Manager, concludes :

" We are trying to form our whole team with people whom are 100% committed to the team but at the same time know that no matter how hard they need to work, no matter how exhausted they are, they still realize that we are in a very cool team and that we are all very lucky to be doing this for our living. We are all working together – sailing, design and management, to reach together for the stars… "

Next step is end of August in Marseilles for FRA57’s arrival, first K-Challenge’s boat with which the team will train from 30 August to 4 September.

The boat will be christened on September 3 during an official ceremony, which will take place in the " Vieux Port " in Marseilles, before taking the start of the Louis Vuitton Act 1 on September 5.