Photos: L ©2008 Bizuayehu Tesfaye R Sally Collison / PUMA Ocean Racing
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Tue, 13 May 2008 06:30:00 UTC
PUMA Ocean Racing unveiled their challenger for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race in a waterfront christening at the Institute of Contemporary Art and Fan Pier, Boston.
The occasion had a touch of Hollywood about it. The ceremonial breaking of the champagne bottle across the bow of il mostro starred Oscar-nominated actress Salma Hayek, the boat’s godmother.
Hayek has a string of box office credits to her name. Most recently she has featured on the small screen as a producer and guest star of US sitcom Ugly Betty.
The boat livery includes a unique PUMA twist with il mostro resembling a virtual 3-D “flying shoe”, inspired by PUMA’s popular style of the same name.
“We were really trying to be intimidating with this design – a fearful racing machine,” said Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer of PUMA. “That’s why it’s called il mostro – the monster. We wanted the reaction to be ‘No way, look at that thing!’ and I think we accomplished that.”
Il mostro was designed by the team of Botin Carkeek and built at Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol, Rhode Island, in conjunction with Customline Yachts.
Skipper Ken Read and the PUMA team’s training base will be in Newport over the next four months.
Off-shore training will begin in May with several shorter races planned for June including the Halfway Rock Race (6-7 June 6-7), NYYC Regatta (13-14 June) and Newport-Bermuda Race 2008 (20-22 June).
Back to business
Two days after PUMA Ocean Racing christened il mostro it was back to work for Ken Read and his crew as they put to sea to complete their 2000-nautical mile qualifier for the race.
Accompanied by sister boat Avanti (formerly ABN AMRO TWO), the PUMA team left Boston and Salma Hayek behind and will be out on the waters of the Atlantic for the next few days.
"We're pretty much heading out and just seeing where the wind will take us," said Read.
"The qualifier is probably something we could have done later in the summer, but we wanted to start checking off the boxes early on the things we needed to do before we get closer to the race."
Video: Watch the Christening of PUMA Ocean Racing's il mostro on www.volvooceanrace.tv.
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