"May the best team win on the water," Ernesto Bertarelli on the 33rd America's C
Posted on Saturday, February 06 @ 05:35:37 CST by editors
|
*Valencia, Spain - (2010-02-05)*
The 33rd America's Cup has been a long time coming, but after two years of
litigation from the American challenger the Match between two of the world's
most extreme multihulls is just days away.
Ernesto Bertarelli, team president, speaking at the press conference on Friday
evening praised his team: “The nice thing is that for the last 10 years I've
been sailing with the same people and that has been very important to the whole
experience. Three campaigns with almost the same group make each day more
interesting and more rewarding. The fact that the heart of the team has been the
same since the very, very beginning makes this America's Cup campaign rewarding
and I wouldn't be here today without all the members of the Alinghi team. I'll
be helming but I'll be sharing the helm with Loïck Peyron. Neither of us would
be able to do our job without the other guys onboard and the team ashore.”
Alinghi has designed and built Alinghi 5, a 90ft catamaran on load waterline
that spans 110ft overall, with a mast that towers more than 17-storeys above the
sailors and settles on a foundation the size of a tennis ball. The boat has
taken approximately 100,000-man-hours to build and is deeply rooted in the
multihull heritage that Switzerland is so well-known for.
“Designing and building Alinghi 5 has been a huge ask in such a short timeframe,
and the guys on the design and shore team have done an extraordinary job in
giving us this boat. Our opponent is formidable, BMW Oracle has a very good
sailor in James Spithill and their boat is a credit to their design team. I
speak for all of us on the sailing team when I say we are looking forward to
racing and getting the sport back on the water where it belongs,” said team
skipper and four-time America's Cup winner, Brad Butterworth.
Racing is scheduled to start on Monday, with a first race warning signal at
10:00 – weather permitting – and the team will be watching, as Grant Simmer,
design team coordinator describes: “From the design team's point of view, we are
looking forward to Monday. It has been almost two years since we started work on
Alinghi 5 and it will be fantastic to finally see her on the starting line.
Thanks go to each and every team member.”
|
| |
|
