Alinghi 5 In Valencia (Photo by Luca Butto'/Alinghi)
With less than three weeks to the first race of the America’s Cup, Alinghi held an open day at its base in Valencia for international media to come and learn about the racing and what to expect just 19 days from now. Too much wind prevented Alinghi 5 from sailing, but it gave people a chance to have a closer look at the boat.
Alinghi team president, Ernesto Bertarelli, and team skipper, Brad Butterworth, set the day in motion with a few words on the recent race training with Alinghi 5 in Valencia: “We are ready, we are sailing, the team is in place and the excitement is apparent. We finally saw our competitor sailing yesterday and they also seem ready, so let’s go racing and have a great America’s Cup Match on 8 February. Let’s try to get away from the past two years of troubles and discussions and let’s see who has the fastest boat,” declared Bertarelli.
Sailing and sport was the topic of the day with workshops on ‘AC33: The Match’ by Ed Baird, one of the Alinghi helmsmen, and on ‘Alinghi 5: the design and technical challenges’, by Rolf Vrolijk, chief designer, and Silvio Arrivabene, construction and planning manager. Unfortunately as has often been the case during the 33rd America’s Cup, BMW Oracle’s latest legal manoeuvring could not be ignored. Ernesto Bertarelli’s retort to the American team’s most recent tactic was: “I am in it for the sailing; I am not in it for the legal fight – way back in 2000 when we launched the team, the objective was to go sailing and it remains so. Now we are on BMW Oracle’s ninth lawsuit: their partial interpretation of ‘constructed in country’. Our boat is Deed compliant, but if BMW Oracle continues to contest our sails, they should consider their own issues, beginning with the fact that ‘USA’ is a French boat. On top of that this morning they asked for redress before the Jury. Obviously Ellison and his team’s strategy is to try and gain as much advantage as they can through the New York courts and they have done this quite well so far but, regardless. What matters is who wins on the 8, 10, 12 February.”
With the Sailing Instructions (SI) and amended Notice of Race (NOR) recently published, Alinghi team skipper, Brad Butterworth added a word on the process: “Drafts of the NOR and the SI have been going back and forth between the teams, the Jury and the principal race officer, Harold Bennett. I am a bit disappointed that we might have a redress thrown at us over little procedural elements of the Sailing Instructions which have been in the NOR for a long time. We are in the position of many yacht clubs around the world whereby SNG has the responsibility of putting on the regatta. If GGYC were the Defender, they would have the right to create the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions, but they aren’t. It is SNG’s regatta, we have tried to be as open as we can and asked for their comments and we have implemented a lot of them in the different documents, but it is still not enough to convince them that SNG is running the regatta and they are not. We are looking forward to sailing; we have had some good conditions here, and some hard, but the race training so far has been good, so we’re really looking forward to racing them on the 8th.”
Alinghi 5 Under Sail In Valencia (Photo by Luca Butto' / Alinghi)
Alinghi welcomed the Valencia authorities to its base in the Dársena this afternoon to watch the Defender’s giant catamaran, Alinghi 5, be launched ahead of its first sail in Spanish waters. Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president, greeted Francisco Camps, the president of the region, and Rita Barberá, the Valencia mayoress, who presented him with the Valencia flag which was immediately raised on board Alinghi 5.
“We are ready for the Match!” declared Bertarelli to the media present. “The team is here, I am here and we are prepared for the America’s Cup Match on the 8 February,” he said. “All the pieces are in place for the event to begin, we have an agreement with the City of Valencia to run the shore based side of the 33rd America’s Cup, and we are just waiting for the blessing of the central government in Madrid.”
From left to right: Rafael Aznar, president of the Port Authority of Valencia, Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi head of syndicate, Rita Barber, Mayoress of Valencia, Francisco Camps, President of the Valencia Region, and Fred Meyer, Vice Commodore of the Societe Nautique de Genve Luca Butto' / Alinghi).
As the vast sails were lifted on to the catamaran with a crane, the latest lawsuit – BMW Oracle’s ninth – was discussed; Ernesto Bertarelli was firm on the subject: “Our sails are rooted in Swiss technology and they have been constructed in Villeneuve, Switzerland. This Swiss technology has been used by both defenders and challengers in the America’s Cup since 1995 and we have been through years of development in Switzerland to construct them. Should the American justice system outlaw their use, it would be like asking Roger Federer to defend his title without using his tennis racket. BMW Oracle would win the America’s Cup in court as, without our sails, we cannot race.”
Alinghi 5 Launching (Photo by Luca Butto' / Alinghi)
As Alinghi 5 cast off, Ernesto hopped on board the catamaran and the guests boarded the support boats to watch Alinghi 5 go for a shake down sail ahead of the race training programme that begins tomorrow.
Alinghi 5 In Valencia (Photo by Luca Butto'/Alinghi)
