Alinghi fired up for tomorrow

Afterguard confirmed for Act 1 of 32rd America's Cup

Winner of the America's Cup 2003 and current holder of the coveted trophy, Team Alinghi will be back in action in the waters off Marseille on 5-11 September for Act 1 of the America's Cup 2007, where she will do battle against the 5 other teams: BMW Oracle Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Shosholoza, K-Challenge and Le Défi. Ready for the fray and with victory as its only objective, Team Alinghi has been training hard on and off the water all this week.

The crew has been putting Alinghi SUI-64 through her paces in the waters off Marseille every day since 25 August, while the shore team has focussed for long hours on perfecting every tiny detail that could squeeze the last few hundredths of a knot from the boat. New sails have been designed and built especially for this event and are being used with the best-performing mast and rigging.

"We've had some great sailing conditions", says Alinghi Tactician Brad Butterworth. "And, more importantly, we've come head-to-head against Team New Zealand in speed testing and in practising pre-start manoeuvres. My own feeling is that we're ready".

The competition - a first for Europe - promises to be spectacular. For Alinghi, the objective is clear: the Cup holder is here to win. "Most of the effort we've put in over the last 18 months has been directed at design", explains Alinghi Team General Manager Grant Simmer. "On the other hand, we've eased off on the sporting aspects to give our crew time to recover after what was a very demanding campaign. Now though, our objective is clear".

The victorious 2003 crew has been joined by ten new faces, so it's a completely new team that will defend the colours of the Société Nautique de Genève this Sunday, with Peter Holmberg at the helm, Brad Butterworth as Tactician and Jochen Schuemann as Strategist. As skipper and Team Alinghi Sporting Manager, Jochen is particularly bullish about the new challenge: "This is the first time we've sailed together as a team in Europe, and we'll also be sailing against some of the new teams for the first time here. It promises to be a fantastic week for Alinghi, for our supporters and for all the spectators here in Marseille".

The curtain goes up on Act 1 at 12:40 on Sunday 5 September, with a three-day programme of fleet racing, during which every team will sail two races per day, each race lasting approximately 90 minutes.

Wednesday is a rest day, and from Thursday to Saturday, all six teams will fight it out under match-racing rules.