St Moritz, Switzerland – 30 August 2010 – Twelve of the world’s most successful skippers, including Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, are preparing for a week-long series of head-to-head battles at the St Moritz Match Race.

The Swiss resort is a stunning sailing venue, despite being almost 2km above sea level, thanks to the legendary Maloja wind. This thermal breeze, created by rapid heating of the steep mountains above the resort, funnels through the valley to give reliable winds of 10-25 knots from mid-morning until sunset.

Today will be the last Sunday showdown of this Audi MedCup Circuit season, time for TeamOrigin to step up to the plate and see if they can pull back the deficit on regatta leading Emirates Team New Zealand. The sea-state could have a bearing on how today plays out. And in the GP42's three boats head afloat with a share of the lead

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) have a lead of 9.5pts over TeamOrigin 1851 (GBR) going into today’s scheduled final three races for the TP52 Series at the Caja Mediterráneo Region of Murcia Trophy off Cartagena.

The burning question for the British team is whether they can bounce back to resume the same level of consistency that they were maintaining prior to yesterday’s unfortunate forestay failure which dropped them to the back of the 20 miles coastal race.

With just over two weeks to go an impressive fleet of Swans is poised to sail into Porto Cervo, Sardinia for the 2010 Rolex Swan Cup. The 16th edition of this biennial clan gathering, unrivalled in the sailing world, includes the Swan 45 Rolex World Championship. 

At close of the official entry period, over 90 yachts had entered from 18 countries, which include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

The smallest yacht in the fleet will be the Italian Swan 371, Rebelot, owned by Anaa Oesella Franchi; the largest are two Swan 112s, Mystery (GBR) and Highland Breeze (SPA). In between are a host of other examples of the Swan breed of which, impressively, twelve are 24-metres or over in length. The most recently launched entrant is the Swan 80, Berenice (ITA). In addition, there will be five Swan 42s and nine Swan 45s competing in their own classes.

The regatta is open to all Nautor’s Swan yachts. It is expected that the fleet will be divided into five classes, which include Maxis (18.29m and above); Grand Prix boats (18.28m and below); Classics, designed by Sparkman and Stephens; Swan 45 One Design; and Club Swan 42.