Our Story

A 1 second America’s Cup victory...

Alinghi won the 32nd America’s Cup 5-2 against old rivals Emirates Team New Zealand in Valencia on the 3 July 2007 after one of the most thrilling match races of all times. The final and deciding match was won by just 1 second! This put Switzerland and Alinghi firmly in the history books, along with the USA and New Zealand, as a multiple America’s Cup winner.

A look at the present

Alinghi’s vision for the 33rd America’s Cup was “to create an even greater sporting occasion with an exciting new class of boat – the AC90 – and to build upon the successes of the 32nd edition.” The process of accepting a Challenger of Record, presenting a Protocol and crafting the new class rule, the competition and event regulations with the entered challengers was well underway when BMW Oracle Racing and the Golden Gate Yacht Club struck with a law suit that stopped the 2009 multi-challenge 33rd America’s Cup dead in the water. The Société Nautique de Genève, represented by Alinghi, had accepted Spanish Club Náutico Español de Vela as the Challenger of Record in good faith and the American team leapt at the loophole. Through the legal system they continue to try to force their way into the America’s Cup Match, a feat they have never before achieved on the water.

And a turn to the future

While the SNG has recently been forced to appeal the New York Supreme Court ruling in order to speed up the legal process and to address the validity of both the CNEV and the GGYC as Challenger of Record, the team is putting the sport back at the heart of day-to-day business. “I am 100% committed to fighting for the 33rd America’s Cup and defending our title again,” says Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi president. To do this, however, two major factors are pending from the legal system or from BMW Oracle Racing; the date of the event – 2009 if Alinghi is successful in court – and the GGYC’s customs-house registry – in order for the Defender to know what boat to build to defend the Cup should GGYC be ruled the rightful challenger.

Meanwhile, the design team is working on a 33rd America’s Cup multi-hull and the sailing team is training its sights on both the multi-hull and the grand prix monohull scenes to ensure Alinghi are prepared for all eventualities; both through the VX40 circuit and the D35 racing in Switzerland and with crew members on Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo and Dan Meyers’ Vrolijk 66 Numbers. “We have quite an extensive sailing schedule lined up this year for the guys that we have retained after all the uncertainty since winning the Cup in 2007,” says Brad Butterworth. “We are looking forward to getting back on the water and racing again.”

A reminder of the beginnings

Alinghi, created in 2000, won the 31st America’s Cup in Auckland for the first time in a staggering 5-0 victory against Team New Zealand on the 2 March 2003. The Cup was returned to Europe for the first time since the inaugural race in 1851 and was widely acclaimed to be the greatest America’s Cup spectacle ever, with four years of competition, 12 teams from five continents, more than 6.4 million spectators and over 4.2 billion TV viewers.