Meanwhile in Valencia... Desafío's two AC boats almost ready

With just 4 days left till the start of the 2nd Desafío Trophy, the now-famous CNEV annual regatta, Valencia Sailing visited Port America's Cup in order to check upon the latest developments. We were expecting to see Desafío's and Alinghi's (and probably Luna Rossa's) bases buzzing with activity but instead we encountered a typical Sunday afternoon scenery where lazy locals and tourists were soaking up the rare sun rays after more than a month of exceptionally cold and rainy weather.

DesafíoOf all the teams that will officially participate it's obviously Desafío that appears to be the most prepared. Both their America's Cup yachts are masted and according to the initial schedule, ESP-88 should be ready to be launched on Monday. Team Origin will then take her over and carry out the first training session on Wednesday.

The Desafío base. Valencia, 2 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna RossaThe Italian team's base has been open for quite some days now and both doors of the boatshed were open today. There's lots of rumors circulating about Luna Rossa's participation in the 2nd Desafío Trophy and we even wrote about a possible crew list, based on Italian reports. Still, this is hardly the sign of a team whose boat will take part in an official race in 4 days. It could all be related to the expected arrival of the team's STP65 yacht within the following weeks. We shall see..

The Luna Rossa base. Valencia, 2 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

AlinghiJust like Friday, there was no visible activity outside the Defender's base. Alinghi have publicly stated they will be racing SUI-100, the 32nd America's Cup winner, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The Alinghi base. Valencia, 2 November 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing