Thursday, October 01, 2009

Alinghi arrives in Ras al Khaimah, the 33rd America's Cup Venue

[Source: Alinghi] The Swiss Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup docked in the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah on Wednesday morning 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.

Alinghi 5 reaches the venue of the 33rd America's Cup. Ras Al-Khaimah, 30 September 2009. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Alinghi

"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 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 measurers 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 and looks forward to welcoming BMW Oracle at the venue in Ras al Khaimah.

Alinghi 5 reaches the venue of the 33rd America's Cup. Ras Al-Khaimah, 30 September 2009. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Alinghi

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1 Comments:

At 7:18 PM, Blogger Norby said...

they'd better start making arrangements to re-ship the cat to valencia. lol.

 

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