Alinghi's SUI-100 sets sail for Valencia

[Source: Alinghi] This morning as the snow fell, Switzerland bid fair winds to SUI100, Alinghi’s latest America’s Cup Class yacht. The 25m carbon fibre racing machine, cloaked in secrecy, was rolled out of the Décision boatshed and loaded onto a Planzer truck for a five day 1,250km overland trip to Valencia.

Over 20,000 hours of work have gone into the second of Alinghi’s new builds with boatbuilders from Décision and Alinghi working around the clock. The Swiss yard in Vevey has an established relationship with Alinghi, having built SUI64, the 2003 America’s Cup winning yacht, SUI75 and SUI91. Michel Marie, shore crew coordinator for Alinghi looks back over the path to SUI100: “At the beginning of this campaign, we created a ‘master plan’ with a series of events that would take us all the way to the Cup. This included of course two new builds. Back in 2003, Boat 4’s estimated departure from Switzerland was the 26 January 2007. Today, it is leaving for Valencia and we are the 24 January. This shows how well the project has been executed and demonstrates the excellent coordination between the two teams at Alinghi and Décision SA.”

SUI-100 leaving snowy Switzerland and heading to sunny Valencia. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Ernesto Bertarelli, team syndicate head, led celebrations at a private get-together at the boatyard the evening before, attended by Alinghi sponsors, EPFL project leaders, the boatbuilders and their suppliers. “SUI100 is the culmination of much work from many different people: the designers, the boatbuilders – both Alinghi’s own and those at the Décision boatyard – and the sailing team of course. I am very proud to see SUI100 finished and on its way to the 32nd America’s Cup. With this boat, we are taking another step towards fighting to win the Cup again.”

Bertrand Cardis, yard director at Décision SA comments on another successful build: “At Décision boatyard, we are mostly sailors and so we are very well aware of the challenges and potential pitfalls of boatbuilding. The aim at Décision is to lead in the field of innovative composite construction, and this attitude fits well with the requirements of the America’s Cup and Alinghi. I also believe that we are one of the fastest build teams.”

When SUI100 arrives in Valencia, the shore crew at Alinghi headquarters will start readying the boat to go sailing as soon as the sailing team is back from the Dubai winter training in early March.