33rd AC

11.12.2009 (08:46 CET) - Monaco - Alinghi

Brad Butterworth gives an update on Alinghi and its 33rd America’s Cup preparations

(Photo credit: Gianni Armiraglio)

Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, presented an update on Alinghi and its 33rd America’s Cup preparations at the World Yacht Racing Forum in Monaco on Thursday to 350 delegates from the yachting community. The four-time America’s Cup winner reminded the audience of the ground rules of the 33rd America’s Cup: “The founding document of the America’s Cup is the Deed of Gift. The rules of engagement can be amended if the parties agree by mutual consent, the highly successful 32nd America’s Cup being one example. However, in this case, there is no mutual consent and that means the rules are those of the defending yacht club and the defender chooses the venue. The challenger decides the boat and the date.”

He spoke with enthusiasm of the Alinghi 5 catamaran, highlighting some of the huge figures the crew sailing onboard is dealing with daily: the gennaker is 1,100m2 – one of three largest in the world – the compression on the mast is equivalent to 50 SUVs stacked on top of each other on a foundation slightly bigger than a tennis ball… The underlying message was that these boats are at the cutting edge of technology and are fun to sail: “In the future,” he said, “we should seriously consider a multi-challenge America’s Cup on multihulls.” He confirmed that Alinghi will be ready to race on 8 February 2010 whether the race is in Valencia or in Ras Al Khaimah and expressed a wish: “I would hope that whoever loses is magnanimous and stands aside to allow the new defender and the challengers to move forward unfettered by lawsuits.”

He outlined Alinghi’s vision for the future to the challenger discussion panel that followed, saying: “I think everyone realises the success of the 32nd America’s Cup and it would be a great footprint to build from. If we are lucky enough to win it again, then we would love to have a multi-national, multi-challenge 34th America’s Cup and we would like to discuss the type of boat with the challengers.”

Enjoy the slideshow that was presented by Brad during the forum.