Alinghi go catamaran sailing

First training session for the AC defenders in Extreme 40s

Seven months after winning a second consecutive America’s Cup, the Alinghi sailing team is back on the water and training in Valencia.

15 sailors were out racing the Alinghi Extreme 40s on Saturday including Ed Baird, Dean Phipps, Yves Detrey, Warwick Fleury, Murray Jones, Lorenzo Mazza, Francesco Rapetti, Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzen, Juan Vila, Nils Frei, Curtis Blewett, Rodney Ardern, Nicolas Texier, Luc Dubois and Pierre-Yves Jorand.

This is the first in a series of training sessions that herald the beginning of the summer sailing season and kick off team preparations for an America’s Cup, whether in an AC90 in 2011 or on a multihull.

“We are preparing for all scenarios, both with the X40s and the D35s on one hand and with the Farr40 on the other. We have a busy summer sailing schedule lined up,” team skipper Brad Butterworth said.

The current sailing team schedule is to campaign Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi Décision 35 multihull on Lake Geneva, as well as to compete in the iShares regattas with the X40 and to do various Grand Prix events onboard the Alinghi Farr 40.

More photos on page 2...