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A repeat of the two giant sailboats facing off in the America's Cup is not on the books

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alinghi will not participate in the 34th America’s Cup in 2013, the team announced 26 November. The team lost the last race in February 2010 to BMW Oracle. “After a careful evaluation of the protocol and other initiatives taken by the American Defender and its Challenger of Record, Alinghi considers that the existing conditions make it impossible for the team to participate in the 34th America’s Cup,” the Geneva-based team said 26 November in a statement.

“Alinghi remains interested in the America’s Cup and will be closely following its developments in the coming months but for the immediate future it will concentrate its efforts in other world class challenges. The Extreme Sailing Series, a championship raced with 40-feet catamarans that is expanding geographically and commercially in 2011 whilst maintaining a truly level playfield and exciting competition, provides the perfect ground for Alinghi to develop  its international sailing activity.”

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International sports, sailing

(video) Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – Fast, but relatively affordable and fair for everyone: this is the new boat class that sailing’s top race, the America’s Cup, is trying to draw up, or at least that is the word coming out of the first designers’  meeting 18 May in Valencia, where the last race was held. BMW Oracle soundly thumped Geneva’s Alinghi, with both teams racing boats whose masts rose to the skies and whose high-tech prices were equally out of sight.

The World Sailing Teams Association has been asked to help write the rules for the new class. Nonaligned experts will be used to ensure fairness to all teams, which will have the chance to review the new class rule before it is finalized,” reports AP/Mercury News in a long feature on the attempt to move the race beyond its traditional sparring and get it more focused on sailing.

Russell Coutts, a one-time Lake Geneva region man, is the new CEO of the 34th America’s Cup, expected to be held in 2012 or 2013. He said after the meeting that “The teams want a new boat; the fans deserve one too.”

They should know by September 2010, the deadline that’s been set for announcing the new design.

Read more…

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BMW Oracle, Alinghi, 33rd America's Cup in Valencia 14 February 2010 (photo: ©Carlo Borlinghi / Alinghi)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Alinghi’s president, Ernesto Bertarelli, has taken an upbeat tone about the future, now that the team’s solid defeat at the hands of BMW Oracle in the 33rd America’s Cup sailing race is behind him. He praised the resilience of his team in a statement on the Geneva-based Alinghi’s web site Wednesday 17 February, part of an announcement that the boat and its team will celebrate Alinghi’s 10th birthday in September 2010.

“Alinghi has had a fantastic run in the America’s Cup. We created this team 10 years ago.

Read more…

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BMW Oracle team walking out to the boat Sunday 14 February before the race they won, taking the 33rd America's Cup sailing title (photo: ©2010 Guilain Grenier/BMW Oracle)

Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) - BMW Oracle has taken the America’s Cup sailing title, winning the second race Sunday 14 February almost as clearly as it won the first race two days earlier. The American boat finished 5.26 minutes ahead of Alinghi: Oracle’s technology, with its massive rigid sail, was the real winner. The race was close during the first leg but BMW Oracle pulled ahead and the winner was never in doubt.

Links to other sites: Alinghi, America’s Cup, BMW Oracle

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Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) - The boats waited until nearly the last minute to begin their second race of sailing’s America’s Cup sailing race, after delays while the wind shifted. Alinghi began the race with a penalty, just as it did in the first race, which it lost to BMW Oracle by 15 minutes.

Live and Updates on the America’s Cup site.

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Oracle, headed for a clear victory in race 1, America's Cup, 12 February (photo: BMW Oracle)

Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The water and wind were fine at last on Friday, after days of waiting for sailing conditions off the coast of Valencia to be right for the America’s Cup race to begin. But once Alinghi and Oracle put their tall sails to work, American Oracle’s trimaran dominated the race and won neatly over the Swiss catamaran, finishing eight and a half minutes ahead.

The “wing”, as Oracle’s rigid mast has become known, put in a stellar performance, as did the boat’s aggressive crewing. Alinghi’s lead at the outset, due to a stalled start on Oracle’s part, faded, and by the top mark at the end of the 20 nautical mile upwind first leg Oracle was 3 minutes 21 seconds ahead. By the end of the race Oracle’s lead had more than doubled. Alinghi was hampered by a penalty turn handed out early in the race. The Swiss boat was expected to regain time in the down wind leg, but, Sail-World reports, “it was obvious that, in the soft conditions, Alinghi was at a disadvantage.”

Alinghi held a steady pace, but that was no match for Oracle’s performance on the second, downwind leg, and Alinghi’s finish was something of a shambles.

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Waiting for the race to start, Friday 12 February, in Valencia (photo: BMW Oracle

Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The America’s Cup sailing race has finally reached water. The two tall elegant sailboats built using the latest technology are fighting out the first of their two or three races. The race began shortly before 15:00 Friday 12 February after being delayed Monday and Wednesday due to no wind the first day and high seas the second.

The match can be viewed online live on the America’s Cup site or on the TSR web site in French.

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BMW Oracle Tuesday night in Valencia - waiting, waiting

Update / 2 13:05  Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) - The most that can be said about the America’s Cup sailing race is that it’s having trouble filling its sails, quite literally. The race between Swiss Alinghi and US BMW Oracle has been delayed until Friday at least 13:00, due to “leftover seas” from yesterday’s wind.

“The waves were the biggest problem. I think they were about 1.3m average size in the start area,” said Alinghi strategist Murray Jones. “That means we could’ve had a peak of 1.8m and that’s the biggest issue.

“There was a swell coming from one direction and waves from an offset of 90 degrees to that. We’ve been out in conditions not quite that bad, but it’s heinous. I think they’ve done the right thing by not sending us out there,” Jones said.

The race was scheduled to start Monday, but there was too little wind. The teams spent Wednesday morning at their bases, waiting to see which of two contradictory weather forecasts would win out: offshore or onshort breezes were predicted. In the end, they canceled each other out. Races are now scheduled for 12, 14 and 16 February.

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Twiddling their thumbs: Alinghi and BMW Oracle wait for the America's Cup race to start (photo: ©2010 Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle)

Valencia, Spain (GenevaLunch) – The America’s Cup sailing race, scheduled to begin Monday morning 8 February at 10:06, was postponed due to too little wind. By 10:20 the wind was rising from the southwest, but the tall masts of the two catamarans scheduled to race were forced to wait to show off their prowess. The world’s arguably most prestigious international racing cup pits Geneva-based Alinghi against San Francisco’s BMW Oracle.

The two have been sparring for months in courtrooms and now they move onto the water for the real battle, where new technology promises to be a key feature. The three-day fight for the cup is likely to be less gripping, notes Swiss television TSR, than the last America’s Cup in 2007. It lasted three months and had several participants, but which also was a tight and dramatic race between Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand.

The races can be followed live on the America’s Cup site and TSR online. Both teams are using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to promote the race.

The race consists of:

the best of 3 races, as specified in the “Deed of Gift”, official founding document for the competition
•    Race 1: Upwind-downwind 20 miles per leg
•    Race 2: 39 nautical-mile equilateral triangle, first leg
•    Race 3 (if necessary): Upwind-downwind 20 miles per leg.

Background, GenevaLunch

Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle

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Oracle vs Alinghi

© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.

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BMW Oracle on the water in Valencia 3 February

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – America’s Cup, the top international sailing event, may happen in Valencia after all, it appears, after months of legal battles between Alinghi and the challenger, BMW Oracle, threatened to sink the race. Remaining legal challenges, over such matters as Alinghi unilaterally setting the start time of the race at 10:06 Monday 8 February were put to rest by the International Jury Wednesday 3 February, which said yes, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) has the right to set the rules.

The five-person jury early Wednesday refused several challenges from BMW Oracle to what the SNG argues are its rights to set the rules. The Geneva-based SNG, home to Alinghi, holds the Deed of Gift, which traditionally gives the bulk of decision-making power to the defending champion.

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Alinghi on the water in Valencia, 1 February 2010 (photo: ©2010 George Johns/Alinghi)

One of the BMW Oracle objections concerns dumping substances in the sea while racing. The jury refused the San Francisco-based team’s objections to rules for this, it emphasized that all applicable laws apply during the race.

Weather will ultimately determine if the race begins on time. The weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday: 8-20C, 20 percent chance of rain and winds picking up from 10kph Sunday night to 21-25kph.

Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle

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Alinghi sailing near Valencia 21 January 2010 (photo: GJ, Alinghi)

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Left to right: Ricardo Peralta, Spanish government delegate; Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president; Alec Tournier, SNG general secretary; Rita Barberá, the mayor of Valencia and Vicente Rambla, vice-president Valencia regional government (Photo: Alinghi)

New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – New York Justice Shirley Kornreich told Geneva-based Alinghi and San Francisco sailing team BMW Oracle Friday in a telephone conference call Friday 29 January that she will not rule on the legality of sails used by Alinghi in the America’s Cup sailing race before the scheduled start to the competition.

The America’s Cup, generally considered the most prestigious race in the sailing world, is scheduled to be raced in 10 days in Valencia, Spain.

Kornreich has presided over a series of legal battles that have threatened the race since Alinghi won the last one in July 2007.

Alinghi promptly announced that the race “is free to proceed as ordered by previous New York rulings: in Valencia on the 8, 10 and 12 February.”

Read more…

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Alinghi in November 2009

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sailing’s biggest race might just happen after all: Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève have published the draft Sailing Instructions and Notice of Race for the 33rd American’s Cup. The race opens 8 February in Valencia, Spain. The two published draft documents have been sent to the BMW Oracle team, against whom Alinghi is expected to race. The two have been locking in legal battles for several months over a number of issues, including the size and other details for the boats.

The draft Notice of Race provides details for the boats in section 7.

Draft Sailing Instructions, America’s Cup 2010 and Notice of Race

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In search of safer seas (image ©2009 Alinghi/Carlo Borlenghi)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – New York’s Supreme Court has ruled against the Geneva-based Société Nautique de Genève’s (SNG) choice of venue for the America’s Cup 33rd edition. The race was to be held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, in the the Persian Gulf, in February 2010. The  27 October ruling stipulates that the race must be held in the southern hemisphere between 1 November and 1 May.

“This is a disappointing result as we were certain that Justice Cahn’s May 2008 decision allowed the Defender to choose Valencia or ‘any other location’,” said Lucien Masmejan, Société Nautique de Genève legal counsel.

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Alinghi 5, warming up to the America's Cup 2010, in Genoa, Italy 17 August 2009 (© 2009 Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi)

Geneva, Switzerland/New York, USA (GenevaLunch) - The details of the boat BMW will be sailing in the 2010 America’s Cup race do not have to be divulged until two weeks before the race, a judge in New York has said.

The New York Supreme Court announced a verdict 22 September that went against the Société Nautique de Genève, home to the  Alinghi team, and holder of the America’s Cup sailing trophy. It rejected Alinghi’s claim to disqualify the Oracle team from the 2010 America’s Cup race because, Alinghi told the court, the Golden Gate Yacht Club, represented by Oracle, had not provided, by the deadline, the required technical details concerning Oracle’s boat. The court agreed with Oracle, which had argued that a boat undergoes constant technical modifications until the moment it begins to compete.

In her ruling, Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich nevertheless scolded the Oracle team for “unsportsmanlike behaviour” which “resulted in substantially reducing SNG’s (Société Nautique de Genève) advantage as originally contemplated by the Deed of Gift.”

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BMW Oracle 90 foot trimaran, sea trials in Washington, USA, 13 August 2009. Photographer: Gilles Martan-Raget

Both teams remain committed to begin the race in February 2010.

The judge’s decision comes on the heels publication of a previously confidential agreement between SNG and the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

Read more…

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New Alinghi craft sailing from Lausanne to Geneva, July 2009 (photo: D Roberts)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Sponsors are lining up again to provide financial backing to Alinghi, after a dry spell that left multimillionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli on his own paying the bills for the Geneva-based Alinghi team.

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Alinghi 5 flies away, Photo ©Carlo Borlenghi's/Alinghi

Alinghi 5 flies away, Photo ©Carlo Borlenghi's/Alinghi

Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The giant catamaran Alinghi 5 took to the skies and bid farewell to Lake Geneva. A Russian military helicopter Mi26 took the catamaran towards Genoa, Italy where it will continue its training towards the America’s Cup.

Alinghi “flew” along the Rhone River before gaining altitude at the Great Saint Bernard Pass in the border with Italy. The helicopter and sailboat landed safely in Genoa at 14:30.

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Vice-commodore Fred Mayer of the SNG, right, at 1 August arrival of Alinghi in Geneva. Alinghi President Ernesto Bertarelli, left and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. Image: © 2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi

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Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, America's Cup venue 2010

Click on images to view larger

Update 3 10:35  Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The next America’s Cup race, the top event in the sailing world, will be held starting 8 February 2010 in Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) announced Wednesday morning 5 August. The SNG has the right to select the next race’s location, as the home club of Alinghi, holder of the America’s Cup.

“Our absolute priorities in making this decision are the prevailing weather conditions and the resulting safety that they bring to both [Ed. note: Alinghi and official challenger BMW Oracle] teams,” explains Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth.

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Al Hamra, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE

“We looked everywhere for a venue that suited having good racing for the Match dates in February. We had trained in the UAE in the winter with Alinghi before and in the end we settled on Ras al-Khaimah in particular because of the infrastructure in Al Hamra Village and because it has a great building sea breeze during the day, similar to Mediterranean conditions in the summer, making it good for these boats and safe for all concerned.”

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Coming into Nyon, surrounded by small craft (Photo: © Dinah Roberts)

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Nyon, Vaud, and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The crowds lined up along the shores of Lake Geneva to see the giant catamaran that represents the America’s Cup holder, Alinghi 5, Saturday 1 August.

The small boats that were invited to accompany it as it sailed from Lausanne to Geneva before it moves on to the open seas, struggled to keep up whenever it put on speed.

Its destination: Geneva, where Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey had just stepped off the plane from a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC.

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Alinghi tears away from Nyon, heading for Geneva (photo: ©2009 Dinah Roberts)

The Swiss cabinet member welcomed the new boat to its home base, the Société Nautique de Genève.

Di Roberts, who lives near Nyon, said watching the boat was “fantastic” but the crowd in Nyon groaned as one of the large steamboats came into port just as as Alinghi sailed past their ready cameras. And as it sailed out, picking up speed and leaving smaller craft behind, the lake police had to come to the rescue of people on small paddleboats who were unprepared for the enormous wash Alinghi 5 leaves in its wake.

Background: “Alinghi 5, ahhh, what a beauty of a boat!”, 26 July, GenevaLunch feature

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Alinghi 5 in Geneva, jet d'eau fountain, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi

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Alinghi 5, Ernesto Bertarelli, president of Alinghi, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss foreign minister and Fred Mayer, vice-commodore of the SNG in Geneva, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi

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Alinghi 5, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi

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Image: © 2009 Fina championships, Rome

Lausanne, Switzerland and Rome, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Swimming records continue to tumble at the Fina World Championships in Rome but the main issue has been “When is a swimsuit “performance enhancing?” Professor Jan-Anders Manson at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Tecnnology) in Lausanne is leading a group of scientists to provide guidelines on acceptable materials. His group will ultimately decide what is a “textile” and what is not for new rules that ban non-textile swimwear, which go into effect in 2010. The Rome championships are the last major competition where polyurethane swimming suits are allowed, following a decision 28 July by the Fina (International Swimming Federation) to accept recommendations four days earlier by its Congress to change the rules at the start of 2010.

Olympic superstar Michael Phelps has threatened to stop racing until the ban on polyurethane suits is introduced, after seeing Paul Biedermann, an unknown German, beat him into second place and smash his 200-metre freestyle record by almost a second.

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A GenevaLunch feature on the new sailing marvel, Alinghi 5: the boat, the technology, the view for Lake Geneva area viewers

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Alinghi 5, 90-foot catamaran - photo, E Wallace

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Alinghi 5 sailing first time, 20 July 2009 - photo, © Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi

Le Bouveret, Valais, and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - There are sailboats, and then there is Alinghi 5: at 90 feet (27 metres) far larger than anything else on Lake Geneva, technologically astonishing and a delight to the eyes, but also exciting in terms of the sailing challenges it presents. The catamaran,  built at great expense and specially for the next America’s Cup race in 2010, was presented to a mostly-charmed group of international journalists Thursday 23 July, but the weather was not cooperative. “We took it out into the harbour Wednesday and hit 31-knot winds,” said Alinghi’s president, Ernesto Bertarelli. It was forced back to shore, where the Alinghi team then kept busy with shoreline duties for the next two days. “Lake Geneva is a challenging place to sail. Yesterday was a real test for us,” he said of the failed outing.

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Alinghi 5, a giant among sailboats at Le Bouveret, Lake Geneva - photo, E Wallace

A heavy mix of high winds, hail, thunder and lightning made it impossible to hoist sails, but the weekend weather was decent Saturday and is predicted to be beautiful Sunday 26 July: sunshine and good breezes on Lake Geneva. (Ed. note: Twitterati can follow Alinghi on the water via Twitter at alinghiteam)

Lake Geneva area: Alinghi 5 now on the lake

For the next two weeks people who live along Lake Geneva or who are visiting the area will see the new America’s Cup Swiss boat as it runs tests and the team gets used to handling it, working first from the base in Le Bouveret, at the Valais/Vaud end of the lake, then from Geneva.

The Alinghi team will sail the length of the lake, from Lausanne near Le Bouveret to Geneva and its home port at the Société de Nautique de Genève for the first of August Swiss national holiday.

Bertarelli and his team are inviting all interested sailors in the region to accompany them in a public flotilla of pleasure boats, which should create a spectacular sight (cameras ready!).

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Alinghi 5 sailing first time, 20 July 2009

Photos, ©Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi (click on images to view larger)

Le Bouveret, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The long-awaited new Alinghi sailcraft hit the water at the eastern end of Lake Geneva today to much excitement: the weather was glorious,  and legal tussles faded into the background as the magnificent-looking boat had its maiden sail. The Swiss America’s Cup Defender, Alinghi 5, was watched by hundreds of spectators as it went out on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, for the first time at noon, Monday 20 July.

alinghisailing_09_cb03198The 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 Swiss weather service, Meteoswiss.

Strategist Murray Jones, who is running the trials on the new boat, said afterwards:

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Alinghi celebrates its America's Cup win, July 2007

New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – A court in New York will ask the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), home to Alinghi, to show cause why it should not be held in contempt of court, at the request of The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) of San Francisco, California, the GGYC announced 14 July. The GGYC also accused the Swiss sailing club, in its press release, of entering “into a secret agreement with the International Sailing Federation, the organization which will have a central role in selecting match officials and sailing jury.”

This is the fourth time since the last America’s Cup race, in July 2007, that the GGYC is taking the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), notes Alinghi. The SNG, in its reply press release, limits itself to accusing the other club of fighting in the courts rather than on water and saying it continues to wait for the other club to supply the court with required documents. Both groups claim to have court decisions on their side.

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Images: © 2009 Stefano Grattini for Alinghi, mast airborne over Villeneuve 7 July

alinghi_helicopter_080709Update 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.

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© Carlo Borlenghi/Alinghi 2009

Villeneuve, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 90-foot catamaran that Alinghi has spent 100,000 manhours building for the next America’s Cup race was unveiled in Villeneuve 4 July. The boat now goes through a de-bugging process before it will be launched by helicopter into Lake Geneva this week for its first time out on the water. Alinghi, as the winner in July 2007 of the last race, one of the sailing world’s top events,  is the Defender of the America’s Cup. This gives it the right to set the rules, including those for the boat type, for the next race, and the new boat’s design has been a tightly-guarded secret.

The race, says Alinghi, is scheduled for February 2010, but a series of court battles Read more…

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Alinghi into the water, Lausanne April 2009 (image, Carlo Borlenghi)

New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) - Conflicting reports are surfacing about what exactly a New York Supreme Court judge ordered 14 May, in the legal case linked to sailing’s America’s Cup , but it appears that Justice Shirley Kornreich upheld an earlier decision that Alinghi and BMW Oracle must race against each other by February 2010 at the latest. AFP wire service reports that Kornreich insists the two must have what will amount to a rare battle between two boats in the America’s Cup, but the story sheds little light on where this race fits into the planned Cup races that include several other teams.

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Alinghi iD35 shakedown sail, Cup Julius Baer, Nyon 4 May 2009 (image, Carlo Borlenghi, Alinghi)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – There is a new wrinkle in the latest round of the legal battle between Geneva-based Alinghi, holder of sailing’s America’s Cup, and San Francisco-based Oracle, which has been fighting hard in the courts to change the date and rules for the next race. Alinghi is reported by Sailing World News to have filed charges with the New York Supreme Court against BMW Oracle for hiring a spy.

The papers allegedly refer to a police report where a man named Jean Antoine Bonnaveau states that he took photos for Oracle in the hills above Villeaneuve. The story is reported by Bloomberg in New York, which says that the alleged spying “continues a tradition of subterfuge in the event.”

The two teams are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow 14 May in New York, with Alinghi facing a motion from Oracle for contempt of court, charges to which it filed an opposition 11 May.

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Alinghi relaunch, 2008

San Francisco, California, USA and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Your average non-sailor might be forgiven for thinking America’s Cup is a game of ping-pong rather than arguably the world’s most famous sailing race. The legal battle between the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), home to Alinghi, and US-based Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), home to Oracle, continues, with the GGYC asking a court in New York for a new hearing, set for 15 May. Alinghi is the holder of the America’s Cup and Oracle is the official Challenger. Last week, 24 April, the Tribune de Geneve carried the cheerful headline that Alinghi had agreed to Oracle’s demand for a multi-hull race in 2010. For about an hour it appeared that the bickering might be over and a race could be run.

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Alinghi after winning one of the America's Cup races in July 2007 (photo © Th Martinez 2007)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alinghi, as the holder of the 32nd America’s Cup trophy, known as the defender, announced Thursday that 19 teams have been approved for the 33rd Cup, now scheduled to take place in 2010. All of the teams that competed in the last race in 2007, except BMW Oracle from the US, are lined up to take part.

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Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The sailing world in Switzerland has a surprising amount to talk about during what should be such a down-season, when sailing on Lake Geneva doesn’t appeal to many.

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