Northern Ireland yachtsman Stephen Milne from Bangor in County Down is currently in Slovenia as part of the eight-man Swedish Artemis racing team taking part in the RC44 Cup in Portoroz.
Co-incidentally another Bangor man Bill O'Hara is the Class Umpire. The team is subject to the RC44 class strict Covid protocol.
The competition is back after 18 months and starts today (Wed 19th) with a practice race. This follows a huge effort on the part of the local organisers in Slovenia, the class, as well as the owners and teams arriving from the four corners of the globe. The event finishes on Sunday 23rd May.
Portorez is is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town located in the southwest of the country.
This will be the first time that the high performance 44ft one-design monohulls and their owner-drivers will have met on the racecourse since Palma in November 2019, following the cancellation of the entire 44Cup in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The boat owner/driver is Torbjorn Tornqvist from Sweden and the tactician Andy Horton (USA). Led by Tornqvist Artemis Racing has been involved with the 44Cup since 2008. A force within the fleet, the Swedish team have finished on the match racing or fleet racing podium for the past seven seasons.
Other well-known GBR sailors among the crew are double Olympic champion, Iain Percy (Main trimmer) and bowman Matt Cornwell, a professional sailor with three America's Cup challenges under his belt.
Stephen began his sailing career in Bangor, on Belfast Lough, in Lasers, and campaigned the Star keelboat for Ireland with Peter O'Leary in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao, China. He has since competed in various keelboat classes.
