The Wave Muscat Sailing Team

The Sunseeker Australia Cup begins this Thursday through to Sunday in front of the Perth CBD, and there is no
better viewing platform than the MRT Floating Bar, stationed on the Barrack St jetty.

Thanks to a generous donation by Rottnest Express, the Mirsky Racing Team are able to host the Perth public on a modified ferry with a cash bar, live commentary, a split level indoor/outdoor spectator platform, and regular appearances by the Australia Cup competitors. Free to enter, the bar will be open daily from 1pm through to 8pm from this Thursday through to Sunday.

The Australia Cup is a showdown between the top teams on the International sailing circuit in the build up to the World Championship grand final starts on the 1st of December in Malaysia. So the Sunseeker Australia Cup can boast a world class line up, with three time Olympic Gold Medallist Ben Ainslie, current Match Racing World Champions Bahrain Team Pindar, the current tour leaders BlackMatch Racing, and of course Perth’s own Mirsky Racing Team and many more putting on a show for
the people of Perth.

So come down and cheer on your locals, or just enjoy a drink in the MRT Australia Cup Floating Bar.

More Information about the Sunseeker Australia Cup.

With a cohort of sailing greats arriving in Perth for the Sunseeker Australia Cup, Western Australia is again on the world sporting stage.

The ten world ranked skippers and their teams touchdown mid-week for this exclusive invitation only event from 26-29 November.

The action packed racing schedule will see the who’s who of professional sailing battle it out in Foundation 36 one design Yachts, marking the first time city waters has hosted competitive sailing in Perth’s 145 year history.

Swan River Sailing Executive Officer and former America’s Cup winner, Skip Lissiman said the four day event is sure to produce some exhilarating match racing, with unprecedented close shoreline viewing and a tight course sure to flaunt the skill and team work of these elite athletes.

‘With the course so close to land and a tight challenging space you can be guaranteed some fast action-packed sailing. This is your chance to see the world’s best yacht racing right on the city’s doorstep, the opportunity to see a mini America’s Cup on Perth waters – don’t miss it!’

Perth has built a reputation as one of the World’s more renowned and reliable sailing cities; and this unique event promises to cement Perth’s place a prestigious sailing hub of the Southern Hemisphere – a precursor to next year’s America’s Cup and Malaysia’s Monsoon Cup next month.

The Monsoon Cup is the ultimate decider of the 2009 World Match Racing Tour, and with final positioning and considerable prize money at stake; top Tour skippers are keen to fine-tune crew skills and experience at the Sunseeker Australia Cup just one week prior to the showdown.

The Sunseeker Australia Cup was first held in January 1982 at Royal Perth Yacht Club to provide the best skippers from various countries the opportunity to build their match racing skills in preparation for the America’s Cup.

Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) Vice Commodore, Mike Kilcullen said history has proved that The Australia Cup provided invaluable match racing practice for the competing skippers.

‘The inaugural Australia Cup winner John Bertrand went on to win the 1983 America’s Cup in Newport, Rhode Island onboard Australia II, breaking the longest winning streak which was 132 years in sporting history. The Australia Cup was a vital step in this historic victory,’

Swan River Sailing Executive Officer and former America’s Cup winner, Skip Lissiman said it is a great coup for the event organisers to present such a high calibre of sailing after the Australia Cup’s eight-year hiatus.

‘We are delighted with the very high standard of the skippers and their teams returning to the Sunseeker Australia Cup. Surprisingly most have been to Perth and either sailed or raced in the Foundation 36 yachts before, with Ben Ainslie sailing in the last Australia Cup and six of the 10 teams competing in the International Warren Jones Youth Regatta in Foundation 36 yachts. It is a great pleasure to welcome these elite sailors back to our magnificent city to compete.’

‘With the final event of the World Match Racing Tour held so soon after the Sunseeker Australia Cup, the teams competing in Perth will have a distinct advantage when they go head to head at the decider of the 2009 Tour – The Monsoon Cup.’