Images: © 2009 Stefano Grattini for Alinghi, mast airborne over Villeneuve 7 July
Update 18:00 Le Bouveret, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alinghi, the next version of the boat that will fight for the America’s Cup world sailing title in 2010, is sitting on Lake Geneva, after its dramatic arrival by helicopter. The mast of the new Alinghi catamaran was lowered into the lake at Le Bouveret, the eastern tip of Lake Geneva, Wednesday morning 8 July, as crowds gathered to watch. The weather was not been cooperative, however, and delivery by helicopter of the rest of the 90-foot boat was delayed until 16:00.
Lausanne newspaper 24 Heures reports that many in the crowd came to see the gigantic MI-26 Russian helicopter that will deliver the catamaran and that crowds gathered as early as 06:00.
Grant Simmer, design team coordinator
The team will now begin to prepare the catamaran for sailing and testing over the coming weeks.
Related: 24 Heures, Fre and Alinghi’s photo gallery of the boat’s helicopter flight
Background: “New Alinghi catamaran unveiled”, 6 July 2009, GenevaLunch
[...] boat is a 90 foot multihull which took 100,000 man-hours to build. It was put on the lake 9 July and its first foray onto the lake today was in a light 5-7 ESE ‘Vauderon’, according to the [...]