And Now A Word From Our Sponsor!

Corum Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Melges 24 World Championship at Ocean Reef Club - In December as Ocean Reef Club hosts its first world sailing championship regatta, the title sponsor Montres Corum Sàrl., will be celebrating its 50th year crafting dynamic and daring precision timepieces. More than 80 Melges 24 sportboats will set sail each day from the Ocean Reef docks, marking the Swiss watchmaker’s half century and its 45th year of involvement with world level sailing events.

Ocean Reef members will be able to join the action, watching the sailing competition from their own boats or as guests aboard spectator craft kindly provided by fellow members. Members can also get involved in the event as volunteers. “With over 450 sailors arriving for the event, we have a variety of ways for members to help host our international visitors,” said club member Dick Jennings, who is co-regatta chair.

Entries for the 2005 Corum Melges 24 World Championship, December 11-16 don’t close until November 8, but at press time the entry list stood at 73 teams from as far afield as Norway, Italy and France.

The victorious Melges 24 crew in December will take away more than the World Championship Trophy. Corum will present each winning crew member with an Admiral's Cup Trophy 41 timepiece valued at $2,400.

“Corum’s long-time support of sailing and yachting and its links to some of the world’s finest regattas and successful yachts has become part of the fabric of our company,” said Stacie Orloff, president of Corum USA. “In its own way, the Melges 24 Class has achieved international prominence and a reputation for excellence amongst world-class sailors in a remarkably short time. The World Championship regatta of this class sailed at such a wonderful locale as the Ocean Reef Club fits perfectly with Corum’s sponsorship philosophy.”

Corum Swiss timepieces was founded in 1955 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and from the very beginning the brand achieved wide recognition for its uniquely different and distinctive designs. The company’s founder Jean Bannwart and his son Jean Rene, as well as its current owner Severin Wunderman, all espouse the same passion…creating memorable precision timepieces.

In 1960 the luxury Swiss watchmaker introduced the first of its distinctive Admiral’s Cup watches, named after the week-long international regatta series for ocean racing yachts hosted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club at Cowes on the Isle of Wight off Britain’s south coast. The original models featured water-resistant square cases, a feat that is considered a master achievement in watch making.

A completely new Admiral’s Cup watch, defined by its 12-sided case with nautical pennants as hour markers made its debut in 1982. The following year, the winners of the Champagne Mumm Admiral’s Cup strapped these namesake watches on their victorious wrists. Corum has been an active sponsor of international sport sailing ever since and today there are five distinctive watches in the Admiral’s Cup lineup. All models in the Corum collection, including the five Admiral's Cup models can be viewed at www.corum.ch.

In the late 1980s the independent, family-owned company broadened its sponsorship activities with naming sponsorships of elite sailing teams in some of Europe’s most prestigious regattas. The culmination of this support came in the 1991 Admiral’s Cup when the French-owned Corum yachts Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire won the world-renowned ocean racing team series against tough international competition. Other successful Corum sailing sponsorships have included entries in world match racing events, 60-foot offshore multihull events and the Tour de France à la Voile. Recent event sponsorships have included the 2004 Corum World 11-Metre Championships in Sydney, Australia and the 2005 Manches Cup in Britain.

Today, the brand continues to support a variety of yachts and yachting events around the globe. One of these is Great Britain’s Gipsy Moth IV project that will see Sir Francis Chichester’s famous singlehanded world-girdling yacht restored to her former glory and then sailed again around the world. Corum is also title sponsor of the bi-annual Del Rey to Puerto Vallarta race and a contributing sponsor to the Senator’s Cup race in Annapolis, Maryland. Additionally, the company prides itself on its support of educational programs at nautical museums and yacht clubs across the U.S.A.

One immediate result of Corum’s sponsorship of the Melges 24 World Championship has been the inclusion of the brand’s high-quality hand-finished Swiss timepieces at Ocean Reef’s Golden Basket. A broad selection of the brand’s watches is being carried by the store. According to proprietor Bruce Elliott: “The elegance and the quality of these watches and the nautical heritage of the Admiral’s Cup line is synonymous with the Ocean Reef lifestyle.”

To find out more about Corum please visit www.corum.ch