A Christmas present from the “movistar”

(2005-12-27)

The “movistar” team informed the Shosholoza that it will contribute to the cause of the Izivunguvungu Foundation, a sailing school for poor South African children promoted by Mediterranean Shipping Company, sponsor of the America’s Cup South African team.

“The work of the Izivunguvungu Foundation is fantastic –says Pedro Campos,
General Manager of the “movistar”–. Thanks to them, hundreds of children
who would have not had the chance of knowing a boat otherwise, will
discover the sea and enjoy the magic of sailing”.

The Spanish Round the World Race team will finance the construction of one
of the dinghies that the kids will use in their sailing lessons at school.
“There is a direct relation between the sailing schools “movistar” sponsors
in Valencia and Sanxenxo, and this Shosholoza project – says “movistar”
skipper Bouwe Bekking -In both cases, it’s the youngest ones who get their
first sailing lessons, and since this is such a special time of the year,
we thought it would be good Christmas present for the children of the
Foundation”.

At Izivunguvungu, the students themselves participate in the construction
of boats, as Bekking says: “One of the things we like most about this
project is the fact that it’s the kids themselves who participate in the
construction of boats, and this helps them to be involved from the start of
the project until the time they sail in their own boats”.

Captain Salvatore Sarno, President of Mediterranean Shipping Company, the
sponsoring company of the Izivunguvungu Foundation, acknowledged this nice
gesture of the Spanish team: “It is a great pleasure for me to see that our
Volvo Ocean Race colleagues, and especially the “movistar” team, share with
us the idea that sailing can be a source of motivation and inspiration for
the education of children. This represents a splendid recognition of the
objectives of Izivunguvungu”.

300 children every year
The Izivunguvungu Foundation is the product of an original idea from Ian
Ainslie, skipper of the Shosholoza, who in 2001 started to work on his idea
of teaching poor children the values of sailing. What started as an idea is
today a school that opens six days a week and teaches nearly 300 children
every year at Simon’s Town, in the Cape Peninsula. Every week, nearly 100
children of ages between 8 and 18 attend classes given by the school
monitors, and every Friday they compete with each other; the best are
selected to compete in provincial and national races.

By means of Izivunguvungu, Ian Ainslie has the challenge of selecting and
training pupils to join the Shosholoza team. Currently one of the members
of the crew of the South African America’s Cup syndicate is a former pupil
of Ainslie’s, Marcello Burricks.


Notes for the editor:
“movistar” in the Volvo Ocean Race

· The values that have defined “movistar” since its beginning are similar
to the values identifying a boat at the Volvo Ocean Race: getting to
distant places, taking technology to the remotest corners of the Earth,
facing the challenge of being the first to finish and using the best team
to achieve it.
· “movistar” started its sailing sponsorship activities six years ago.
Since then, the “movistar” boat has achieved a number of successes. Its
main accomplishments are: the Gold Medal in the 49er class won at the 2004
Athens Olympic Games; nine world titles in offshore sailing, Olympic
sailing and grassroots sailing. As a result of these achievements, movistar
sponsorship of this boat in a world class event represents its support and
contribution to maintain the team among the world racing elite.
· “movistar” wants to make the successes of the Spanish racing boats
known to the Spanish audience, so that this traditional sport becomes
popular and our sportsmen are duly recognized all over the world.
· The Volvo Ocean Race departed from Vigo on November 12, 2005, heading
for Cape Town, South Africa.
· The teams will set their feet on the ground at ten different locations:
Galicia (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa), Melbourne (Australia),
Wellington (New Zealand), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Baltimore/Annapolis
(USA), New York (USA), Portsmouth (UK), Rotterdam (Netherlands), and
finally Gothenburg (Sweden), after completing 31,250 nautical miles –
57,875 kilometres – of race.
· A total of seven inshore regattas will be held, one in each of the ports
of destination. The first inshore race took place on November 5, 2005, in
Sanxenxo (Galicia).
· Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Brazil and the USA are the
strongest countries in this year’s edition.
· The racing boats will be single-hull Volvo Open 70, with a length of
21.5 meters (70.5 feet) and 31.5 meter (103.3 foot) masts.
· The mainsail of a Volvo Open 70 has 172 sq m; the spinnaker can reach up
to 500 sq m, and in bearing courses can deploy a potential of up to 700 sq
m of sail surface.
· The 2001/02 Volvo Ocean Race was won by the “Illbruck Challenge” German
team, with John Kostecki as a skipper, followed by the Swedish “Assa Abloy”
boat, skipper Neal McDonald, and the Italian-Finnish “Amer Sports”, with
Grant Dalton as skipper. The boats covered a total distance of 58,523
kilometres (31,600 nautical miles).