Photo: © Loris von Siebenthal – myimage.ch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ernesto Bertarelli’s D35 Alinghi whipped into Geneva Saturday afternoon to complete the Bol d’Or sailing race in a record 6 hours 25 minutes. The previous D35 category record had stood since 2004 when Zebra 7 finished in just under 9 hours.
Bertarelli’s craft, one of a number of his boats named Alinghi, took the lead at the outset and never let up, winning a tough race fought out with 25 knot winds and high waves at Le Bouveret, the eastern end of the lake, on a cold, rainy Saturday. The top four boats crossed the finish line within 10 minutes of Alinghi’s arrival.
Runners-up after Alinghi’s 16:25 finish were: Foncia, with Michel Desjoyeaux; Ylliam, with Arnaud Psarofaghis, and Okalys-Corum, with Loïck Peyron.
Hydroptère fast, but not consistently so
One of the much-awaited shows of the race, Europe’s largest inland sailing competition, was Alain Thébault’s Hydroptère, which had trouble getting going, then put on a fine show at high speeds along the shores of Evian before eventually pulling out of the race.
14:30, the race viewed from above Lutry: more than 500 boats joined the Bol d'Or in 2011
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.
Alinghi in less contentious waters. Photo: © Dinah Roberts
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The oldest, most prestigious sailing competition may be decided in a New York courtroom instead of in the Persian Gulf waters off the Arabian peninsula. The defending team Alinghi, representing Geneva’s Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) put their huge catamaran into the water off Ras al-Khaimah (RAK), United Arab Emirates Saturday 17 October, but a New York judge must still decide whether the venue, traditionally chosen by the defender, may be allowed to stand.
On Saturday, Ernesto Bertarelli, the billionaire backer of Alinghi, called on the BMW-Oracle team to get down to business and start sailing.
Coming into Nyon, surrounded by small craft (Photo: © Dinah Roberts)
Click on images to view larger
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.
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
Alinghi 5 in Geneva, jet d'eau fountain, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
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
Alinghi 5, image ©2009 Guido Trombetta/Alinghi
A GenevaLunch feature on the new sailing marvel, Alinghi 5: the boat, the technology, the view for Lake Geneva area viewers
click on images to view larger
Alinghi 5, 90-foot catamaran - photo, E Wallace
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.
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!).
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.
The 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:
Going nowhere fast, Bol d'Or 2009 (image: P Gaechter)
Lake Geneva, 10:00 starting time, view from Montreux: little wind
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The wind failed to show up for the Bol d’Or (“Golden Bowl”) race which goes from Geneva to the other end of the lake at Le Bouveret and back.
The record for the race was set in 1994, at 5h01’51″ but this weekend the winner, Alain Gautier, for team Foncia, took 19h33’51″ and arrived at 5:00 in the morning, having inched along all night. The Alinghi team came in ninth.
Details, RSR, Fre
Madrid, Spain (GenevaLunch) – Alinghi’s president, Ernesto Bertarelli, and skipper Brad Butterworth, are taking the first steps with the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) towards organizing the 33rd America’s Cup.
