A few hours separate us from the start of the Regate Pirelli – Trofeo Carlo Negri in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, organized by the Yacht Club Italiano, the opening event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008.

The line up for the inaugural event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008 is impressive and scores of America’s Cup and Olympic sailors will be racing on the waters of the beautiful bay of Santa Margherita.

All boats are now side by side on the Italian city’s yacht club pier and despite the cold and rainy weather, shore crews are putting the final touches on the GP42 yachts in order to have them race ready for tomorrow, Thursday, first day of the event.

There are great expectations for this season’s newcomers in the class, Roma GP42.2 and Airis from Italy, Near Miss from Switzerland and MADRID from Spain, that have decided to have a new boat designed and built in order to participate in this growing class and that will undoubtedly use every minute before the races in order to fine tune their yachts and crew.

The Italian boat Roma GP42.2 will be helmed by top match racer Paolo Cian, freshly arrived victorious from the Brazilian stage of the world match racing circuit, while another world-class match racer, Sébastien Col, will be calling tactics. At the same time, Roma GP42.1, a vintage 2006 boat and the very first one of the class will be helmed by its owner and class president, Filippo Faruffini. Sandro Montefusco and Roberto Benamati, both world-class Olympic sailors, will be leading the crew of Airis. The fourth Italian team, Seawonder 007, will continue last year’s excellent performance, second overall, with Argentinean 470 Olympic medallist Javier Conte.

The America’s Cup crowd will also have a strong presence here, among them Alicia Ageno, the only woman and navigator aboard Canarias Puerto Calero, the Spanish team that despite a late start in last year’s season showed a very promising performance. It goes without saying that last year’s champions, Spanish EL DESAFIO, will once again aim at the top spot, with a modified boat and an all-America’s Cup crew lead by helmsman Laureano Wizner and tactician Santiago Lopéz-Vasquez. The third Spanish team, MADRID, is making its debut in the GP42 class, skippered by Finn and Star champion and Olympic medallist Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg.

Last but certainly not least, a Swiss team will make its debut in the GP42 class. Near Miss, flying the colors of Société Nautique de Genève, will hit the waters of the Santa Margherita bay with Bertrand Pacé at the helm, Tanguy Cariou calling tactics and Alinghi’s Tom Schnackenberg as navigator.

The level will undoubtedly be very high and all 8 boats will have to race smartly and efficiently from Thursday, May 1st. A maximum of 3 upwind/downwind races are scheduled for the opening day, starting at 11am.

The GP42s in Santa Margherita Ligure:

Boat	Country	Owner/skipper	Helmsman	Helmsman
Airis	Italy	Cesare Bressan	Sandro Montefusco	Roberto Benamati
Canarias Puerto Calero	Spain	Daniel Calero	Jose María Ponce	Ryco Tabares
Desafio Español/Quebramar	Spain	Gonzalo Esteves	Laureano Wizner	Santiago Lopez-Vasquez
Madrid	Spain	Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg	Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg	Guillermo Bouerizas
Near Miss	France	Franck Noel	Bertrand Pacè	Tanguy Cariou
Roma GP 42.2	Italy	Filippo Faruffini	Paolo Cian	Sebastien Col
Roma GP 42.1	Italy	Filippo Faruffini	Filippo Faruffini	Furio Monaco
Seawonder 007	Italy	Vittorio Urbinati	Javier Conte	Beppe Zaoli

Regate Pirelli, Trofeo Carlo Negri - May 1 - 4, Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, Y.C.Italiano
Giraglia Rolex Cup - June 8 - 10, St Tropez, France, Y.C.Italiano & S.N.St.Tropez
Rolex Trofeo de la Reina - July 10 - 13, Valencia, Spain, Real Club Náutico de Valencia
Copa del Rey Audi-Mapfre - July 26 - August 2, Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, RCNP
Trofeu Quebramar - August 28 - 30, Cascais, Portugal, Clube Naval de Cascais
Trofeo Cesar Manrique - October 16 - 18, Puerto Calero, Canary Islands, C.M. Puerto Calero