Alinghi head for Dubai

New from the Swiss America's Cup defenders

Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America’s Cup, has chosen Dubai to continue the two boat training and testing programme for three months over the winter. After looking worldwide, the weather team found that the meteorological conditions in Dubai most resemble Valencia’s summer conditions, making the third largest emirate the ideal location to maintain the testing momentum.

Team skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth explains the selection process: “We chose Dubai as, from a sporting perspective, we wanted a place which has sailing conditions comparable to those in Valencia in June. That was our primary criteria. The fact that we couldn't train efficiently in Spain last winter was a weakness, just like everywhere else in the world, Valencia has climate changes. We've taken this decision to help us win the America's Cup again in 2007."

The Swiss team plans to relocate 60 members of the 132-strong team to Dubai, including 34 sailors (the full squad), designers, boatbuilders and engineers. The two 25m America’s Cup Class racing yachts will be transported in early November and the team will sail from late November until the end of February. The host city, aside from a steady 8-14knot breeze, offers excellent facilities and the Dubai International Marine Club is hosting the team.

Grant Simmer, Managing Director and Design Coordinator, comments on their support: “We have found a great host in the Dubai International Marine Club that make us feel welcome and have the resources and facilities needed to operate a team of the magnitude of Alinghi"

This announcement was made at a press event to celebrate the culmination of the highly successful SUI 06 Alinghi Swiss Roadshow in Geneva at the weekend.

Road show

The SUI 06 Alinghi Swiss Roadshow has had up to 70,000 visitors. Team members have visited Lausanne, Bern, Zurich and Geneva taking with them the America’s Cup Class racing yacht SUI75 and an array of interactive toys for the public. As a climax in Geneva, the America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup, which Alinghi won in 2003, were on display to the public for the week.

The Roadshow has demonstrated that the Swiss public is very much in touch with the America’s Cup Defender. Ernesto Bertarelli, syndicate head, was very happy and touched by the reception the team has received: “This tour has been a huge success. It has been very good for the team to know it has the total support of its country. I hope that we have succeeded in bringing Alinghi and the America’s Cup closer to the people of Switzerland and deepened the level of understanding of their Defender. We look forward to seeing you in Valencia next year!”

To mark the final weekend of the SUI 06 Alinghi Swiss Roadshow, Louis Vuitton celebrated the opening of a new Louis Vuitton store in Geneva and hosted an evening for Alinghi team members with special guests Ernesto Bertarelli, Yves Carcelle, LV President, Pierre-François Unger, President du Conseil d’État and Rita Barbera, Mayoress of Valencia, at the Société Nautique de Genève.

UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour finals

The culmination of the match racing series was hampered by bad conditions in Geneva on Sunday and by 15:30, the race committee made the call to cancel the semi-finals and finals and calculate the results based on Saturday’s Round Robin. The Alinghi team with Jordi Calafat, Claudio Celon and Peter Evans, was crowned Swiss Match Racing Champion.

Former Match Race World Champion, Ed Baird, helmsman for Alinghi who handed over the prizes, commented on the event: “The friends, the excitement and the camaraderie that the UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour has produced is exceptional and although I didn’t see any of the racing this time round, the guys were saying that compared to past competition in Switzerland, the standard has lifted considerably. This is a fantastic reflection of how match racing in Switzerland is advancing.”

This second edition of the Tour has taken in Lugano, Zurich, Romanshorn, Thoune and finally Geneva. For more information, please go to http://swisstour.alinghi.com/fr/

Final results:
1, Alinghi (the Société Nautique de Genève)
2, Team Renker (Regatta Club Oberhofen)
3, Freres Monnin (1st ranking Swiss team)



Above: Louis Vuitton hosted an evening to celebrate their Geneva store opening and their passion for sailing. Many Alinghi team members attended as did (from left to right): Mrs Kirsty Bertarelli, Yves Carcelle, president of Louis Vuitton, Rita Barbera, mayoress of Valencia, Pierre-François Unger, Conseil d’Etat, Mr Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi syndicate head, Michel Bonnefous, CEO of America's Cup management, Bruno Trouble, Louis Vuitton spokesperson for the America's Cup and Christine Belanger, director of Louis Vuitton in the LV Cup.