Alinghi
put their secrets on sale (04/12/04) (source
: The
Telegraph)
The Swiss Alinghi team ask €1,65 million
for their design secrets, including the lines of
SUI 64, the yacht that trounced Team New Zealand's
NZL 82 to win the cup.
That the Swiss team are selling their data says
much of the self-belief in a design team centred
around skipper Russell Coutts and designers Rolf
Vrolijk, Manolo Ruiz de Elvira, Dirk Krammers and
Grant Simmer.
"It's obviously valuable information and, rather
than sit on it, it is better to get some value from
it now", Coutts said. "What's really useful
is that this allows a team to start off immediately
from the level of winning boat. This will be a big
benefit, especially if a team want to launch their
first boat early."
"If we can sell technology to new challengers it
will kick-start their technology, getting their
design programmes established quickly and at a high
level," Grant Simmer added. "We will be able to
use this funding to further develop our technology
and move ahead of our opposition."
After winning the cup in Auckland, one of the rule
changes Alinghi instigated was to allow an open
market for design data until October 2004.
Coutts confirmed that the much-modified 2000 generation
yacht SUI 59 is for sale too and that SUI 75 will
be marketed quite soon as well.
Though wind and sea conditions in Valencia will
require different design solutions to Auckland,
and the class rule has been tweaked to make a slight
reduction in weight, Coutts said neither will cut
the value of "the general characteristics of the
hull shape" in what Alinghi are selling.
The
Alinghi group presented themselves (04/06/04) (source
: El
Mundo)
In the Auditorio del Oceanográfico de Valencia,
Grant Simmer, Jochen Schuemann and Rolf Vrolijk
met the journalists on Monday morning during a press
conference where they outlined the programme of
Team Alinghi.
In its second incarnation, the new Defender is very
rich, but not as Oracle. The Swiss will pour a €80
million plus budget into the next Cup, 40 percent
more than in Auckland.
Given the individuals, continuity is king. If some
new blood will inject some life into the team, 70
percent of the crew are from previously campaign.
The Bertarelli's syndicate intends to begin in Spain
in June with two boats (the third was sold to an
unknown team) and they will spend their summer in
Spain. Several weeks of hard training, fitness sessions
and intense learning lie ahead for the strong sailing
team.
The final installation in Valencia is scheduled
in early spring 2005. The team will be based there
until the America's Cup.
All
that's new with Team Alinghi (03/31/04) (source
: Alinghi)
It's been just over a year since Team Alinghi
made America's Cup history by being the first European
team to win the America's Cup, changing the face of
the world's most prestigious yacht race and bringing
about a lot of "new" to the event.
Arriving back from New Zealand after their victory,
the Team hit the ground running.
"It's hard to believe that one year has passed since
Alinghi won the Americas Cup and brought it to Europe,"
commented Grant Simmer, Team Alinghi general manager.
"Dreams of a year off were destroyed in the first
month and now we look back on a year where, driven
by Russell, Jochen and I have established our sailing
and design teams even stronger than they were in 2003
and our marketing team have sold virtually all of
our sponsorship packages."
"We have hired some new people, have a solid
funding base and now preparing for 2007."
Speaking of new, Team Alinghi is deep in preparations
for the UBS Trophy regatta that will be raced in Newport,
Rhode Island from June 19-26.
Russell Coutts confirmed he will attend the New
Zealand's most prestigious sporting award, the Halberg
Sportsman of the Year, with his mother Beverly and
is honoured to have been nominated.
The Wellington-born 41-year-old heard of his selection
as a finalist on the radio while holidaying in Mt
Maunganui over Christmas.
He is aware of the anger some people feel because
the win came against a New Zealand team But he sees
little relevance in the argument he should not be
eligible.
"I'm focusing on the sporting side of it. I'm there
for a sporting occasion. This is a New Zealand award
for sport. That's what it's all about," Coutts said.
"In terms of the criteria, as I see it, I'm a New
Zealander and I'm a sportsman."
"Then it comes down to whether I've achieved
on the sports field or in my case on the ocean",
he added. "In the past few years I have been
sailing for a foreign team but that doesn't change
any of those two facts," he said from Lausanne, Switzerland".
"What will be will be. I'm very happy to be nominated.
That in itself is a big enough honour for me."
Coutts is competing for Sportsman of the Year against
American-based Indy Racing League champion Scott Dixon,
world karting champion Wade Cunningham and surprise
K1 1000m canoeing world champ Ben Fouhy.
If he wins his category Coutts is automatically in
contention for New Zealand's top sporting accolade,
the supreme trophy for overall sporting excellence.
"There have been some people who have reacted negatively
over time but there have been a lot of positives",
Coutts said. "I wouldn't say that's all beyond
me now. But I can honestly say I don't think too much
about some of the opinion that's gone on in the past."
After winning the America's Cup, Coutts spent much
of last year scouting sponsors for the 2007 defence
in Valencia. Because of his role, he competed in only
half a dozen regattas in 2003.
But the focus is on sailing this year. And he is making
time for two projects outside of Alinghi. Both include
new concepts in boat design.
"I think there's bigger changes now in the design
field then there has been, combined, over the last
25 to 30 years," he said. "I've been involved in a
project, which if it happens, is going to be very
exciting".
"And there's a little design project I've also
been involved in for a boat that's just over 40 feet
long. It's a lot more conservative but very exciting."
Serious design work for Alinghi's defence hasn't yet
begun. When that starts is dependant upon how involved
Coutts will be. Last campaign he had considerable
input into an innovative design package. The syndicate
has undergone some restructuring and Coutts is reviewing
his role.
"Change for people is a good thing. Some of us have
been doing this game for a long, long time now. Including
myself", he said. "Change is stimulating.
Motivating. I've been rethinking about the future
a little bit. Where the America's Cup fits in. What
motivates me".
"That's why I'm doing some different projects this
year. As you grow you get different interests in life
and I'm addressing some of those now."
The
Lion's Share for Alinghi and Oracle (02/15/04)
(source :
masmar.com)
The "Dársena Interior",
the section of the port that will serve as home
base for the Cup, will not be ready before the end
of the year or the beginning of 2005.
For that reason, a first speed race is now on to
discover provisional solutions that allowed first
training in Valencia imposed by a competing environment.
Here as elsewhere, Alinghi and Oracle have a length
in advance on the other syndicates.
The two billionaires teams agreed with the Club
Náutico de Valencia to use the
3000 square meter place that was the Desafio Español
base for the Louis Vuitton Cup 2000 (the new Spanish
Challenge will compete under a new burgee).
However, it seems that the two megateams are ready
to make a little room in the base for a third team,
which could be the former Défi Areva.
A meeting was recently held about this in Monaco
beetween Pepe Marzal,
the commodore of the Real Club
Náutico de Valencia, and the French
representatives.
It's
business as usual for Team Alinghi (02/04/04) (source
: Alinghi)
Back to the pulse of the action at team headquarters
in Lausanne, the office is buzzing with chat about
Valencia, from where to live to what the racing will
offer.
The design team, with the recent addition Michael
Richelsen (from Denmark and most recently designer
for the Illbruck Challenge) are meeting regularly
to discuss new ideas favoring the moderate conditions
expected in Valencia.
Design team leader Grant Simmer says he expects that
the designers will have a well defined project plan
within the next few weeks and will soon begin to schedule
tank and wind tunnel testing.
Jochen Schuemann has now signed a full sailing crew,
the new guys whom will be introduced at the UBS Trophy
regatta in Newport, RI, during June.
The Alinghi Marcom team is spiriting up a new “look”
for the team, which will be reflected on the Alinghi
website, in a new line of team wear and on SUI-64,
all of which will also be launched in June at Newport.
And needless to say, planning for the UBS Trophy,
an Alinghi sponsored event to be held in the historic
waters off Newport, Rhode Island from June 18 to 26,
is well underway.
It's expected that the sailing the team will reunite
in Newport in early June for training prior to the
regatta. Team Alinghi should begin training in Valencia
by August, and will use the Real Club Nautico de valencia
as a base until ours is ready.
Once the Pre-regattas begin to ramp up in we expect
the next few years will be great racing and as always,
Team Alinghi's goal continues to be to win the America's
Cup 2007.
"I have personally decided that this Cup
will be my last America's Cup as sailor", Russell
Coutts said in December in an interview with the
Spanish Website Masmar.com.
After his victory as skipper of Alinghi in the 2003
America’s Cup, Russell Coutts is now the most successful
skipper in the 152-year history of the America's
Cup.
He won 14 races without a loss, adding the five
wins of 2003 to the nine he earned with Team New
Zealand in the 1995 and 2000 campaigns, surpassing
Dennis Conner for total victories and Charlie Barr
for most without a loss. His third consecutive America’s
Cup victory ties him with Harold Vanderbilt and
Charlie Barr.
Annd there is no doubt that a new victory in 2007
would put Russell Coutts in a leading position for
several decades.
