Alinghi's 41ft catamaran 'Le Black' is relaunched on Lake Geneva

[Source: Alinghi] On Friday ‘Le Black’, the 41ft Alinghi catamaran designed by Jo Richards and Sébastien Schmidt and built in 2000 for racing on Lake Geneva, was relaunched by helicopter from the yard facility in Villeneuve in Switzerland.

This high performance light air speedster is far from the future 90ft monster multi-hull that is to be built for the 33rd America’s Cup, but has been undergoing modifications by the Alinghi shore crew for use by the design team as a research tool with the Deed of Gift Match in mind.

Alinghi's 41ft catamaran 'Le Black' is back on the water. Geneva, 4 April 2008. Photo copyright Loris Von Siebenthal/Alinghi

Pierre-Yves Jorand, member of the sailing team, is a regular onboard: “The original objective of this boat when it was first launched in 2000 was to compete against trimarans in strong wind and against catamarans in light air. Eight years later, the whole team is very happy to see such a successful boat back on the water. It is the perfect platform for team training and is not intended in any way to be used for racing.”

The 41ft catamaran has a winning pedigree having claimed the Bol d’Or four times consecutively from 2000 to 2003.

Alinghi 41ft catamaran information
Launched in 2000
Largest catamaran ever built in Switzerland
Designers: Jo Richards and Sébastien Schmidt
Builder: Décision SA
Boat captain: Yves Detrey, pitman for Alinghi
Crew: 6
LOA: 19.6m
Hull length: 12.5m
Beam: 8.5m
Mast: 24.5m above water
Weight: 1,850kg

Alinghi's 41ft catamaran 'Le Black' is flown back onto the water. Geneva, 4 April 2008. Photo copyright Loris Von Siebenthal/Alinghi