Teamorigin, the British America’s Cup team headed by Sir
Keith Mills, today announced their intention of securing a venue in the UK to
host a Louis Vuitton Trophy event – as early as August/September 2010 or during
the 2011 season – and possibly repeating annually thereafter. The overall
objective is to bring America’s Cup type racing to British shores as soon as
possible.

In 2009 the team, skippered by Ben Ainslie competed
in two successful Louis Vuitton Trophy events – the first being the Louis
Vuitton Pacific Series that was held in Auckland in February 2009 and, more
recently, the first ‘Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta’, in Nice in November 2009.

During 2010 the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA)
will organise a further four or five Louis Vuitton Trophy events in venues such
as New Zealand, Italy, the Middle East and Hong Kong. Teamorigin’s Principal
Sir Keith Mills strongly believes that one of these events should and could be
hosted in the UK during either 2010 or 2011.

“I set up Teamorigin with the clear ambition of
ultimately winning the America’s Cup and bringing it back to the UK from where
it all began. I know we have some fantastic sailing venues here in Great
Britain and as part of Teamorigin’s build-up to the next America’s Cup it would
be really positive to see Cup teams racing in British waters as early as 2010.
To that end we are looking for serious expressions of interest from British
coastal venues by the end of January 2010. Following that we will explore
further the criteria required, through a relatively brief event venue tender
process, to mobilise the necessary facilities, infrastructure and funding
required to bring a sailing competition of the highest calibre, along with its
economic benefits, to a venue on our shores.”