Tommy Hilfiger joins Team Delta Lloyd in this year’s edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The American lifestyle fashion company will supply the crew’s shore apparel, the inshore racing gear and it will bring in its Extreme 40 catamaran to compete during the eXtreme 40 Grand Prix Series. This partnership expresses the shared vision of creating a platform for top sailors to use their talents in a cross training environment. The newly branded Multihull will line up for the eXtreme 40 Grand Prix Series 200-09, to be started on Monday October 6th in Alicante (ESP).
The American skipper Randy Smyth has a major track record in the sports of sailing. He was on the winning team in the America’s Cup 1988 and won Tornado silver at the Olympic Games of 1984 and 1992. Smyth, and the Tommy Hilfiger X40 crew are the defending champions of the eXtreme 40 series, as they finished first in the last edition during the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. His mainsail trimmer and tactician Mischa Heemskerk (NED) has an extensive amount of experience as catamaran sailor. He is the current European and Dutch F18 Champion, bronze medallist at the 2008 F18 Worlds, was second in last year’s Archipelago Raid and won the Round Texel Race twice. He just concluded his first iShares Cup season onboard Holmatro. Jib trimmer Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED) makes his debut in the 40-foot Multihull circuit. At the 2007 ISAF Worlds in Cascais (POR), he won bronze in the Tornado class and he finished fifth at the Olympics in Qingdao. His national team mate Pieter-Jan Postma (Finn class) brought a silver medal home from Cascais and finished 14th at his first Olympic Games. He will be the bowman onboard of the Delta Lloyd eXtreme 40. Four times World Champion Carrie Howe (USA) will take up the fifth man position.
Tommy Hilfiger & sailing
“It has been three years since we entered the eXtreme 40 races, which has proved itself to be the ideal platform to support the development of our Tommy Hilfiger Sailing collection,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “I am proud to be partnering with Team Delta Lloyd, as they share our core values of teamwork, strategy, and adaptability which compliments our brand.”
Team Delta Lloyd as well as Tommy Hilfiger believe in the power of creating a platform for top sailors from different classes. Team Delta Lloyd as a whole, including the Volvo Open 70 and eXtreme 40 crews, brings offshore and Olympic sailors together.
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