SAILING:Nestling just behind the rows of tall palm trees that line Alicante's promenade, a forest of 23 carbon masts are neatly aligned with the bows of 23 Transpac 52-footers all pointed seawards.
Take a stroll down for a closer look and along the dock it soon becomes clear the Breitling MedCup Series is like a who's who of world sailing, with Russell Coutts, John Kostecki and multiple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie passing by.
It's little surprise that this event is just a short hop from the America's Cup at Valencia, which is enjoying a break at the conclusion of the Louis Vuitton Cup that decided Emirates Team New Zealand would challenge the mighty Swiss team Alinghi in 10 days time.
And then you check the official scoreboard and find a Galway boat is leading this fleet of world class pro sailors, multiple Olympic medal winners and cutting-edge technology where a campaign costs up to €2.5 million. The front-runners are all proven campaigners and though Eamon Conneely's Patches is a brand new boat, it has been built to defend its predecessor's 2006 Global Championship title as well as several major events.
The reality is that since the first Patches was launched exactly two years ago, Conneely's dreams have been far exceeded. That dream centred on a childhood memory close to his Connemara homeland called Patches where once he saw a yacht chocked on a harbour wall. The dream was to one day sail such a boat and in time he decided on the world's most competitive one-design professional series. "I've dabbled in horseracing and it's just not the same," he told The Irish Times. "This is absolutely incredible and I doubt there's any other high-level sport where you can actually be on board with the team.
"The racing is stressful but very enjoyable and a huge adrenalin rush. What I really like about it is the whole project, designing and building the boat, getting it commissioned and then the training and racing. Getting the team running like clockwork - it's just fantastic to see. I'm very excited about the new boat as it was only officially launched last weekend. My objective is to win the MedCup this year, which is a huge challenge as there's more boats than 2006 and it's a hugely competitive fleet."
Yet Patches two is still only on her first competitive outing and very much in tune-up mode. More than one third of the fleet in the Med this year are 2007 builds and Patches is the beamiest (widest) of all and expected to perform well in windy conditions.
"We need to win one event outright to stand a chance of the overall win," says Conneely, outlining his objectives for 2007. "The one I'd really like to win, of all five MedCup regattas, is the Copa del Rey in July as we'll be defending the title there."
Additionally, Patches was the class Global Champion in 2006 and this defence will take place in Sardinia at the end of September.
