“Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE" announce three year sponsorship deal and new boat build to compete on the 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit

The Franco-German team, managed by Jochen Schümann, becomes “Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE”, following a new three-year agreement reached with title partner Audi. The team have confirmed the build of a new TP52 in Sydney, with which they aim to finish among the podium positions on both the Audi MedCup Circuit and at TP52 World Championship.

ALL4ONE introduce both a new name and a new boat in 2011 as a result of reaching a sponsorship agreement with main sponsor, Audi. The campaign, led by France’s Stephane Kandler, will be known as “Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE”. The team have confirmed they are building a new TP52 designed by Judel/Vrolijk at McConaghy in Sydney, Australia. Their objective is to finish the 2011 season on the Audi MedCup Circuit in a top three overall position, and then will compete on the TP52 World Championship in October.

The new boat launch is expected to take place in Valencia in May in time for the boat to be ready for training prior to the first Audi MedCup Circuit competition event.

Expectations for Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE crew and skipper, Jochen Schüman, triple Olympic gold medalist and two-time winner of the America’s Cup, are high:

"First, we are pleased that the new Audi contract allows us to take part next season in the Audi MedCup Circuit. With the new TP52 our goal is to finish among the top three in the overall standings and win one of the season’s five events," said the German skipper.

There will be no major crew changes from 2010 line up:

"Jochen Schumann (GER) will be our skipper and Sebastien Col (FRA) will continue as tactician. There is no reason to make big changes. The three-year collaboration with Audi and their confidence in our capabilities is great news for "ALL4ONE" and all this allows us to work in ideal conditions: continuity, a permanent base in Valencia, a media agreement and a competitive boat. This is the recognition of a great new team in 2010," said Kandler, whose team will continue to enjoy the support of the French television group, Canal +, partners since 2004, by following of Kiel Woche, the 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit and TP52 World Championships.

The Franco-German campaign will particularly encourage the integration of young talent to the team, which, in the words of Jochen Schumann “it allows for German sailors in the Audi Sailing Team Germany, the German national sailing team, to train with us and participate in the boat deliveries. This is a great scouting opportunity which could see between 25 and 30 young sailors sailing in TPs over the next years and maybe even a skipper to replace me.”

"ALL4ONE" is a pan-European team founded and directed by Stephan Kandler, ex-crew member of the French America's Cup syndicate K-Challenge, and Jochen Schumann, triple Olympic gold medalist and double America’s Cup winner, with crews members from France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Holland and Italy.

Pictures rights free for editorial use only:

1) © Stefano Gattini_Studio Borlenghi/Audi MedCup

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New build TP52 Container to compete on 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit

The new Container, owned by Udo Schütz from Germany, will debut in the world’s leading monohull class, the TP52 Series on the Audi MedCup in 2011. She will compete with an experienced, professional crew led by Markus Wieser, a European Champion and World Championship runner-up in the Dragon Class. Wieser is also experienced match racer and has frequently sailed in the afterguard aboard TP52s.

Udo Schütz’ Container, known for its campaigns recently in the Mini Maxi class and further back as a winner of the Admiral’s Cup as part of the German team, will campaign in the TP52 class of the 2011 Audi MedCup with a new Judel & Vrolijk design. The team will make its debut at the first event of the circuit in May.

“It is a great opportunity to lead the Container team into a new era – a highly skilled group of people, some of whom already have experience in the TP52 class,” said Wieser. “We remain realistic and we know that competition is very strong but anything can happen during the short windward-leeward races.”

“It was a logical step for us, based on our experiences from the Mini Maxi class”, explained Team Owner, Udo Schütz. “There is no higher professional way of sailing on monohulls in the world – the perfect environment to showcase and develop our products.”

Schütz is a successful businessman who’s state of the art technology is used in the construction of lightweight components for principally the aerospace and automotive industries.

The new TP52 Container is being built by Green Marine in Lymington, UK and is expected to be delivered in a record time of just four months. Container is the sistership to another new TP52 under construction at Green Marine, Niklas Zennström’s Ràn.

This is the first of a number of team announcements expected for the coming season.

Boat Specifications

CONTAINER

Class: TP52

Length: 15.85 m (52 feet)

Width: 4.42 m

Draft: 4.35 m

Weight: 7,300 kg

Mast Height: 23:80 m

Upwind Sail Area: 93,5 m² (main sail) and 65 m² (foresail)

Gennaker: 260 m²

Capacity: 13 crew

Design: Judel / Vrolijk & Co

Builder: Green Marine Ltd., Lymington/UK

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Sisters of slain Portuguese journalist Carlos Castro arrive to claim body

Carlos Castro / Photo: Caras Portugal

Two sisters of the Portuguese journalist found slain and sexually mutilated inside a Times Square Hotel arrived in the city Tuesday to claim their dead brother's body.

The weeping women exited the gates at Newark Airport and were met by other friends and family of Carlos Castro. Then they made the sorrowful trek to New York.

Renato Seabra, 20, was charged with killing Castro, 65, inside the pair's room Friday at the InterContinental Hotel.

"I was very sad coming here," one of the sisters, Maria Amélia Castro, told the Daily News.

Castro - a prominent gay rights advocate and society columnist - came to the city with his young, hunky companion on Dec. 29 to ring in the new year.

"Carlos was very happy to come to New York," Maria said.

After a heated argument, Castro was found in the 34th-floor room in a pool of blood - brutally beaten and with his scrotum severed by a corkscrew, sources said.

Seabra was captured hours later at Roosevelt Hospital, after he sought treatment for cuts to his face and wrists. Detectives believe he may have tried to kill himself.

"I feel very sorry for his mom," Maria Castro said of the accused killer. "She's probably suffering a lot."

She said Castro introduced her to Seabra just a few months ago.

"I met him one time," she said. "He looked like a cold person, very quiet. But I would have never thought he would kill my brother."

Sources said Seabra later confessed to the gruesome murder, saying he did it to rid the journalist of his sexual demons.

The family is planning a private funeral for Castro in New York and a small ceremony in his native Portugal.

BY Edgar Sandoval and Joe Kemp

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

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KONICA MINOLTA receives award BERTL's

The multifunctional Konica Minolta Bizhub C35 received the award for "Best Feature Rich A4 Color MFP" assigned by the lab BERTL. The BERTL - Business Equipment Research and Test Laboratories Inc. is an independent laboratory that tests, evaluates imaging equipment, printing and workflow solutions in an objective, unbiased and do comparative analysis of them.

Among the strengths of the bizhub C35 BERTL is evidenced by the premium 4.3-inch touch screen either allows a simple and intuitive navigation menu on the operations of the equipment. The advanced scanning technology and proprietary Emperon were other factors highlighted by BERTL. The bizhub C35 is ideal for small workgroups.

The versatility in scanning and faxing are other criteria which have received the BERTL highlighted the premium. As a device aimed at small workgroups and small companies the functions of scanning, printing, copying and faxing are an essential requirement. Users will benefit from features such as Scan-to-Email, Scan-to-FTP, Scan-to-SMB, Scan-to-USB, Scan-to-HDD that allow you to scan for media alternative to the computer in order to facilitate sending and transmission of files. The bizhub C35 is equipped with Super G3 fax that includes forwarding, fax and PC faxing.

With print, copy, scan and fax, the bizhub C35 has a print speed of 30 pages per minute in color and black-and-white duplex performance at all the features.

The equipment has a resolution of 600x600 dpi copy. The bizhub C35 uses Simitri HD that reduces the environmental impact during production and consumer use. The environmental concern was a factor taken into account in developing the bizhub C35 is that the Blue Angel and Energy Star.

One of the aspects stressed by the lab BERTL was the bizhub Extended Solution Technology Developer Support Program, better known by the acronym BEST. The bizhub C35 is equipped with this technology by providing an interface between one or more bizhubs and software applications of computers or servers. As part of the Open Platform (PA) of Konica Minolta's bizhub, BEST technology facilitates access for customers and integrators to the device functions and software applications.

Together, the bizhub C35 qualities make it a very suitable equipment for the working group, a fact underlined by BERTL and valued by awarding the prize of "Best Feature Rich A4 Color MFP."

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