Alinghi to race SUI-100 in the America's Cup Match

[Source: Alinghi] Alinghi is pleased to announce that the team will race SUI-100 in the 32nd America’s Cup Match. Earlier today the measurement process was completed and the team will register SUI100 as required.

SUI-100 is the latest of the four America’s Cup Class Yachts that Alinghi has built since the team was created in 2000 and it is the last ACC Yacht built for this edition of the America’s Cup. Grant Simmer, design team coordinator, comments: "We have been very pleased with SUI-100s performance since the launch on 17 March 2007, it embodies all the work that we have done in this Class since 2000 and we have chosen it because we are very confident with the performance of this boat." SUI-100 has never competed officially and the team is looking forward to the first race of the America’s Cup Match on 23 June.

Alinghi's SUI-100 during her maiden test sail in Valencia. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Meanwhile in Valencia... it's rainy, windy and very cold

After a long marathon that lasted more than 3 years, the America's Cup in Valencia has reached what could be the last kilometer. The stadium can be seen but the last hundreds of meters and the laps inside it will be tough and will need great effort and sweat. This must be the situation the challengers are facing right now and all of them (with the exception of Emirates Team NZ) together with the defender went training today in an unusually rainy, cold and windy day.

Thirteen degrees centigrade in late March could be business as usual for our Danish or Swedish readers but here in Valencia it's damn cold. Still, it's not the low temperatures that could make sailors worry but the volatility in weather conditions, although after all it's spring and such abrupt changes are to be expected. Paul Cayard's words that "to get to June, you have to survive April and May", are being verified. It will be very interesting to see what kind of weather next week will bring.

Commenting on the individual teams, the base of Emirates Team New Zealand was the only one with no apparent sign of activity. According to what Grant Dalton, the team's general manager, stated in various press interviews, the six-day holiday ends tomorrow Tuesday. On the race courses, there was lots of intensive races between the various teams and most of the action, surprisingly, took place fairly close to the beach.

Alinghi's SUI-91 being towed out of Port America's Cup for training with SUI-100. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi's SUI-100 being towed out of Port America's Cup for training with SUI-91. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Time for some stretching aboard China Team's Longtze on their way out of the canal. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

ESP-97 of Desafío Español towed out of the canal. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

ITA-99 of Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team towed out of the canal. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

GER-89 of United Internet Team Germany towed out of the canal. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi prepare for an in-house race with SUI-100 and SUI-91 while in the background Areva Challenge on FRA-93 is racing against Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team on ITA-99. Our apologies for the quality of the picture but it was taken from the beach. Valencia, 26 March 2007. Photo copyright, Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi's SUI-100 sails for the first time

Update: Alinghi have published two photos of their brand new boat on her maiden sail off Valencia's coast. We have added them at the end of the article. Just scroll down.

Early Saturday afternoon, Alinghi christened and launched SUI-100, their brand new America's Cup yacht and last to be built for this edition of the event. Valencia Sailing was obviously there to greet the latest arrival to the America's Cup fleet, built at the Décision boatyard in Switzerland, Alinghi's country of origin.

Alinghi's SUI-100 towed out of Port America's Cup for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi's SUI-100 towed out of Port America's Cup for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi's SUI-100 towed out of Port America's Cup for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi's SUI-100 towed out of Port America's Cup for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

For comparison purposes, here is the modified SUI-91 passing in front of us a couple of minutes before SUI-100.

Alinghi's modified SUI-91 towed out of Port America's Cup. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi has published two photos of their brand new boat on her maiden sail off Valencia's coast.

Alinghi's SUI-100 sails for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Alinghi's SUI-100 sails for the first time. Valencia, 17 March 2007. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Décision SA on Valencia Sailing

As of today, we are happy to include Décision as advertizer on our website. The credentials of the Swiss high-end boatyard are very hard to beat since they are the ones that built Alinghi's SUI-64 and SUI-75, the winning boat of the 31st America's Cup in Auckland. They have also built the Defender's two new boats, SUI-91 and SUI-100, and as a result have all the chances of having two consecutive wins in the world's most prestigious sailing competition.

If you want to advertize on one of the most popular sailing websites, just send us an email: info (at) valenciasailing (dot) com

Alinghi's SUI-100 already in Valencia

SUI-100, Alinghi's brand new boat and last of the yachts built for the 32nd America's Cup, is already inside the team's boat shed in Valencia. It took just two and a half days for the hull to be trucked from the Décision boatyard in Switzerland.

Now it's up to the shore crew to fit out the the boat to go sailing as soon as the sailing team is back from the Dubai winter training in early March.

Alinghi's SUI-100 enters the boat shed. Valencia, 26 January 2007. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

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.

SUI-100 on her way to Valencia

This is hot off the press!!!

SUI-100, the brand new Alinghi boat, left the Décision boatyard this Wednesday morning and is on her way to Valencia.

SUI-100 leaving snowy Switzerland and heading to sunny Valencia. Photo from www.decision.ch

Alinghi confirm sail number SUI-100 for their new boat

[Source: Alinghi] Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America’s Cup, has been allocated sail number 100, becoming the first America’s Cup Class yacht to have a three digit sail number in the history of the class. SUI-100, the second of two new builds permitted for this campaign, is under construction at Décision Boatyard in Vevey, Switzerland, together with a team of Alinghi boatbuilders and monitored closely by Alinghi shore crew coordinator Michel Marie and yard director Bertrand Cardis. Several members of the design team led by Chief Engineer Dirk Kramers are commuting between the yard in Vevey, the base in Valencia and Dubai, where Alinghi is carrying out a winter training camp.

Twenty five boatbuilders are involved in building SUI-100, from both the Décision and the Alinghi camps, and the aim is to have the boat finished early in the New Year and ready for the crew to complete structural checks in Valencia and start testing the boat.

Alinghi's new boat or staged unveiling?

Update: We would like to thank an alert reader for pointing out that this picture was taken on 3 February 2005 at the Décision boatyard in Switzerland when Alinghi presented their freshly modified SUI-75.

The following picture was first seen in Alinghi's website accompanied by the following text: And while the sailing team and some designers and shore crew are based in Dubai, Boat 4, the second of our two new generation boats, is being built at the Décision Boatyard in Vevey, Switzerland and will be shipped overland to Valencia to be commissioned in the first quarter of the year.

Could it be sneak preview of Alinghi's brand new rocket? We doubt the Swiss defender of the America's Cup would publish such a photo. Whatever the case, according to the results of our unscientific poll on the left-hand column of the website, 56% of Valencia Sailing's users that cast their vote think she will have to face NZL-92 in next summer's America's Cup match.

Could this be Alinghi's new boat? We strongly doubt the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup would ever make such a photo public, showing the bow of the boat. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi