Challenge Julius Baer - D35

05.09.2009 (12:43 CET) - Bellevue, Switzerland - Alinghi

Two firsts for Alinghi at the D35 GP Cup La Reserve

Trimmer Nils Frei gives today's 'Quote from the race boat'

(Photo credit: Chris Schmid)

On day one of the GP Cup La Reserve - the penultimate D35 regatta of the season long Julius Baer Challenge on Lake Geneva - the Alinghi D35 SUI1 took two bullets. Alinghi.com talks to Swiss trimmer, Nils Frei, about the day's racing: 

How did the day go for Alinghi?
Nils Frei, trimmer: It was a good day for us, we managed to get in four races and two wins. The conditions were light, but fair; around 8-10knots. Overall we are happy with the results even though we made a couple of mistakes during the day. We could have done much better and hopefully we will tomorrow.

How do you manage the transition from the giant Alinghi 5 to the much smaller D35?
NF: Well it's a really big change in terms of the loads and the scale of things, but having said that, when we sail Alinghi 5 we are lucky enough to be able to apply our knowledge from the small boats certainly in terms of the onboard communications and manoeuvres. It's always good fun and good practice to get back to the small boats as we learn things on the D35 that we can take back to Alinghi 5.

What does this type of small boat racing bring to the overall Alinghi programme for the 33rdAC?
NF: On the small boats, the small things make a big difference, for example the way we twist the sails or anticipate manoeuvres. You can learn all these things much more easily on small boats and then take the knowledge back to big boats.

A look forward to tomorrow, the final day of the GP Cup La Reserve?
NF: Well we are leading today after the first four races and the forecast is looking promising for tomorrow: a 10-12 Northeasterly "bise". We hope to be able to get in another four races and then we can discard the worst race of the weekend.
 

Alinghi SUI1 crew
Ernesto Bertarelli, helmsman
Pierre-Yves Jorand, mainsail trimmer and performance
Nils Frei, trimmer
Yves Detrey, bow/mastman and boat captain
Tanguy Cariou, tactician
Coraline Jonet, trimmer

*NB: Other Alinghi team members participating in this weekend's regatta include Alain Gautier, helmsman on Foncia and Loïck Peyron, helmsman on Okalys-Corum.

Overall season championship ranking

1. SUI 1 Alinghi SUI 1 6 pts
2. SUI 5 Foncia 9 pts
3. SUI 2 Okalys-Corum 9 pts
4. SUI 3 Julius Baer 18pts
5. SUI 12 Banque Populaire 23 pts
6. SUI 9 Smarthome 23 pts
7. SUI 6 Alinghi SUI 6 24 pts
8. SUI 4 Zen Too 24 pts
9. SUI 7 Zebra 7 – FirstCaution 27 pts
10. SUI 10 Ladycat 34 pts
11. SUI 11 Veltigroup 36 pts
12. SUI 8 Romandie.com 44 pts

For more information go to www.challengejuliusbaer.com