Video: 30 November November 2009
Brad Butterworth Tactician/Team Skipper talks about the recent testing of Alinghi 5 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Ras Al Khaimah www.rasalkhaimah.eu

Video: 10 November 2009

Loïck Peyron on his typical day at the Alinghi team whilst training in Ras al Khaimah. UAE
At Al Hamra Golf Club, training on the beach, football and sailing

Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, in July 2009 welcomed one of the world’s most renowned multihull sailors to the team for the campaign.

Loïck Peyron. The 50 year old Frenchman has crossed the Atlantic 43 times; 18 single-handed. He has raced around the world twice, holds three Transat titles and two Transat Jacques Vabres: “In every sailor’s mind, the America’s Cup is part of life. I have been following it for many years and now to be working for a team like Alinghi makes me proud,” Peyron said, adding: “There is a tremendous amount of work for sure, but it’s a big challenge. An interesting strength of Alinghi is that it has a lot of knowledge from a lot of areas of the sport: monohulls, offshore sailing, multihulls; especially here in Switzerland. The way the team works is based on team spirit and the method works really well; they have proved it many times.

Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper and four-time America’s Cup winner welcomed Peyron: “We are looking forward to working with Loïck; he brings a lot of multihull experience – from both a design and sailing point of view – to a team that already has quite a bit of depth in this area of our sport. I think he will be an asset to this project and a good addition to the team.”

Loïck Peyron – Sailing career highlights
43 Atlantic crossings; 18 single-handed
2 Round the Worlds
3 Transat ‘Anglaise’ wins, single-handed
2 Transat Jacques Vabre wins
2 Bol d’Or wins

Ras Al Khaimah www.rasalkhaimah.eu

Video: 9 November 2009
A day on the water with Joao Cabeçadas, Shore Crew, Alinghi 5 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Profile Joao Cabeçadas
Joao Cabeçadas, Portuguese sailors, with 16 crossings of the Atlantic Ocean 3, and 2 of the Pacific.

Joao father owned a sailboat construction company where at an early age he developed his interest in sailing.
Sailingl at the Club Naval Setubalense was a natural transition, and that there would come into contact with the competition, especially in Vaurien, Snipe and 470.

Between 1979 and 1982 Joao attended the Nautical School for nautical training and obtained certification of official pilot for the merchant navy.

His first experience of competitive saling on the high seas was in a race between Lisbon and the Azores and back.

He was crew member of the Esprit de Liberte Whitbread in 1989. Nine months at sea, which represented the transition to professionalism, that the victory of Esprit de Liberte in its class provides as browser. After that will participate in two more editions of the race.

After several years at sea, Joao Cabeçadas became a member of the ground crew of Alinghi in the America’s Cup, winning two editions of the America’s Cup.

Awards – Joao Cabeçadas
2003: Medal of Merit Sports City Cascais
1998: Blue Dolphin
1991: Medal Vasco da Gama
1991: Medal of Merit Sports City of Setúbal

Video: 6 December 2009

Weather permitting, testing and training continues for Alinghi 5 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Alinghi is currently training and testing its catamaran out of the team base in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.

Join Dirk Kramers, Design Team, Alinghi for the story behind the Alinghi designers day on the water with Alinghi 5.

Guide to Ras Al Khaimah www.rasalkhaimah.eu

Orbit Showtime TV website: http://www.showtimearabia.com/

The Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup set sail today (17 October 2009) for the start of AC training in Emirati waters

Alinghi, the 33rd America’s Cup Defender, cast off from the America’s Cup Island of Al Hamra this morning and set sail for its first training day in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

“The conditions are ideal here for these boats,” said Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, “exactly the building sea breeze that we hoped for which means we can sail as much as six days a week; it couldn’t be better for what we are trying to achieve.” The giant catamaran Alinghi 5 arrived in the Emirates from Europe on 30 September after a 12 day, 4,400nm voyage and since then the team has relocated, reassembled the boat and prepared it for the four-month training session ahead of the first race of the 33rd America’s Cup in February 2010.

“I would like to thank Ras Al Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates, his Highness Sheikh Saud, his Highness Sheikh Omar and Dr Massaad among many others. This is a fantastic venue for the America’s Cup. It is work in progress, but what has been achieved so far is second to none. It’s an honour and a pleasure to be here and I can’t wait to get sailing,” said Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president, at a press conference in Al Hamra Village on Saturday. “Some of the things I see from BMW Oracle read like the trailer of a Hollywood movie, do they really think we and the rest of the world ignore the fact that 40% of the world oil traffic goes through the Strait of Hormuz and as many goods are coming in to provide for what is the fastest growing region in the world over the last 10 years? If the Strait or this area had any security issues, we would know about it. So I say: Come on BMW Oracle, Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts and Tom Ehman; let’s get real and let’s get sailing. Stop inventing things for the sake of it.”

Preparations for the America’s Cup continue apace, both on Al Hamra Island, home to the team bases, and within Al Hamra Village where the teams and America’s Cup visitors will be accommodated over the next few months. The infrastructure is tailor-made for the event, courtesy of Ras Al Khaimah and Dr Khater Massaad, Advisor to H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, whose support has been invaluable. “We are proud to host such a world-acclaimed sporting event and welcome Alinghi with open arms,” said Dr Massaad, “we just hope to be able to welcome BMW Oracle, the challenger, soon in order to finalise preparations at their base on Al Hamra America’s Cup Island. The government of Ras Al Khaimah and the UAE guarantee the security of both teams in the lead up and during the Cup,” he declared.

Grant Simmer, Alinghi’s design team coordinator, has been on site during the early preparations and is delighted at the speed that work has progressed: “The difference between when we arrived here and now is amazing. The support from everyone involved in Ras Al Khaimah has been incomparable and we look forward to a successful America’s Cup Match in February 2010.”

Alinghi will now settle in to a training schedule towards the America’s Cup Match.

Helicopter Aerial Filming in the United Arab Emirates visit the Heli Image FZE website:
www.heli-image.com

Alinghi 5 has arrived at the Swiss Defender’s base on the America’s Cup island of Al Hamra, Ras Al Khaimah – venue for the 33rd edition of sport’s oldest trophy.

Alinghi’s giant catamaran arrived under tow 5 October 2009 from Saqr Port and was lifted out and put in the team’s boat shed where the shore crew will carry out the work necessary to prepare the boat to sail.

Grant Simmer, design team coordinator, comments: “The boat came down from Saqr Port and we lifted it out of the water, washed it down and put it in the boat shed. It’s the first time that Alinghi has been to the Al Hamra harbour so it’s quite a moment! It’s very exciting for us because we’ve done a lot of work to get things ready here and to have the yacht in the base is great. We have some work to do on the boat which we’ve been planning since we were in Genoa, so the boys will start now and we should be sailing mid-month. The weather has been great. One of the reasons why we came here is because of the weather. It’s beautiful: steady light to moderate winds and good weather, so we are looking forward to sailing here.”

Ras al Khaimah, UAE – (2 October 2009)

Statement from Société Nautique de Genève’s Brad Butterworth, four-time America’s Cup winner and skipper of the America’s Cup defending team Alinghi, following yet another lawsuit from the American challenger BMW Oracle:

“Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts and their yacht club, the Golden Gate, seem to believe that the 33rd America’s Cup can be won in court as their 7th legal challenge demonstrates. Our team is ready to compete in Ras al Khaimah, UAE, the official venue for the 33rd America’s Cup and will begin four months of intensive training before the start of the America’s Cup Match on 8 February 2010.

BMW Oracle’s latest lawsuit is further proof of their unsportsmanlike behaviour. We will only return to the legal process to show that it is sporting character and sailing strategy that wins races, not litigation. Meanwhile our Cup preparations and training will continue in Ras al Khaimah where we hope they will deign to join us for the America’s Cup Match.

As Trustee of the America’s Cup, we are convinced that Ras al Khaimah is the perfect and legitimate venue for the 33rd edition of sport’s oldest trophy. New York Supreme Court Justice Cahn’s order of 2008 stated that ‘the location of the match shall be in Valencia or any other location selected by SNG’. As far as BMW Oracle’s security concerns: Tiger Woods plays in the UAE every year, Roger Federer plays here every year, and even Russell Coutts sails here every year.

Their claims regarding the Deed of Gift prevailing over the order of the Court are in conflict with previous submissions on the date of the match. Their complaints as to safety are not truly held by them, demonstrated by the fact that they have relocated personnel to Ras Al Khaimah, and have equipment at the venue in preparation for the Match.

We believe this lawsuit is yet another tactic employed by Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle to avoid racing us for the Cup on the water.”

www.alinghi.com

The Swiss Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup docked in the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah on Wednesday morning (30 September 2009) after a 12 day, 4,400nm voyage aboard Rickmers Singapore, a cargo ship.

The 193m ship left Genoa, Italy, on 18 September with the giant catamaran, Alinghi 5, two masts, seven support vessels and approximately 20 containers on board. It travelled across the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and Gulf, across the Red and then Arabian Sea before docking in Saqr Port, Ras al Khaimah in the Arabian Gulf at 06:30 CET on Wednesday 30 September 2009.

“We are extremely happy that the shipment, including Alinghi 5, arrived safely in Ras al Khaimah,” said Grant Simmer, design team coordinator. “All the equipment that we used in Genoa was onboard so now we can set up our base and workshops and get going. We will be doing some modifications to the yacht over the coming days and the team members are arriving and getting settled so it’s going to be a busy few weeks, we hope to be sailing again as soon as possible. We greatly appreciate the support that we are getting from the local community and from the government of Ras al Khaimah,” he added.

Dr. Khater Massaad, CEO of RAK Investment Authority, added his pleasure at the team’s arrival: “We welcome the arrival of Alinghi to Ras al Khaimah for the preparation of the 33rd America’s Cup event and we also look forward to welcoming BMW Oracle.”

The Alinghi catamaran will travel to the America’s Cup Island of Al Hamra over the coming days along with its entourage and for the next four months the team will be focused on training for the Match for the America’s Cup which is scheduled to starts on 8 February 2010.

Other news:

Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) confirms that it has received the modern day equivalent of the Custom House Registry detailing BMW Oracle’s USA, challenger for the 33rd America’s Cup. SNG published the Measurement Procedures in August of this year. These procedures will be used by the measures to confirm the dimensions of both the Defender and the Challenger’s yachts; checking that the dimensions of the yachts comply with the Deed of Gift and, in the case of the Challenger, with the dimensions of their Certificate of Vessel provided with their challenge. The Defender remains committed to a race for the America’s Cup on the water starting 8 February 2010