Alinghi
poised to lose Russell Coutts (06/21/04) (sources
: Sunday
Star&
TV
One)
Just over a year after winning the America's
Cup from Team New Zealand Alinghi looks set to lose
its victorious skipper.
On January, the website sailinganarchy.com posted
a report saying "Coutts and Alinghi team owner
Ernesto Bertarelli may have come apart" which
was denied by Alinghi. But an off the record comment
in a reputable Italian newspaper has really set things
buzzing.
Now, the dissension is widespread as Russell Coutts,
who is in the United States with Alinghi, officially
chose not to sail in the UBS trophy.
Ernesto Bertarelli said he asked Coutts twice whether
he would sail Saturday, on the dock and later in a
chase boat that followed the competitors on the course,
and Coutts "decided he didn't want to helm".
So, Bertarelli said, Coutts will be off the boat for
the remaining 10 races in the UBS Trophy.
"We hoped that Russell Coutts would be helming
and leading us to victory at the UBS Trophy today,"
Alinghi said in a statement. "He clearly decided
not to helm. We therefore have decided to rely on
Peter Holmberg and Jochen Schuemann to helm for us
during the rest of the week."
The New Zealander revealed he and the syndicate's
head, Ernesto Bertarelli, were in mediation over America's
Cup rule 13.12, which restricts sailors from moving
from one team to another.
The rule states that anyone who sailed for one syndicate
within 18 months of the first race of the America's
Cup final round, scheduled for 2007, cannot sail for
another syndicate unless all the teams in the competition
agree.
"That's the reason why I can't helm this week,"
Coutts said. If he sailed with Alinghi, "then
it may restrict me from sailing with someone else
if I don't reach an agreement."
A difference in opinion over management appears to
be behind the rift. Coutts is understood to be disillusioned
at plans for the 2007 defence off Valencia, Spain,
and has been marginalised by the appointment of Michel
Bonnefous as head of America's Cup Management.
"Russell was sidelined because Bonnefous, who
has no experience of the last America's Cup but is
a close friend of Ernesto's, has been the one charged
with setting it up", said yachting correspondent
Peter Montgomery. "His main focus was raising
as much money as possible in the competition between
the European cities bidding and the sponsors, rather
than looking at the bigger picture".
It's understood Coutts wants to introduce larger boats
and make the America's Cup a real spectacle.
Alinghi and Coutts have engaged lawyers to negotiate
the break-up and the result of the mediation could
free Coutts to join another syndicate.
"Anything's a possibility right now," the
New Zealander said. "Hopefully, we'll reach a
resolution. We'll wait and see."
Divorce
time for Coutts and Alinghi? (06/17/04) (source
: Farevela)
According to the Italian website Farevela, citing
"sources close to the team", Alinghi and
Russell Coutts would be divorcing.
After months of rumours, press conference could be
organized next week to officialize the news.
Team
Alinghi launches its new campaign (06/12/04) (source
: Alinghi)
Team Alinghi today launched its campaign for
the America's Cup 2007 with a full team presentation
at Newport Shipyard, Newport, Rhode Island.
New members of the sailing team were introduced
by Jochen Schuemann, Team Alinghi Sports Director.
They are Matt Mitchell (New Zealand), Mike Drummond
(New Zealand), Mark Sting McTeague, (Australia), Matthew
Welling (USA), Peter Holmberg (USA), Mark Newbrook
(USA), Jordi Calafat (Spain), Yann Gouniot (France),
Nicolas Texier (France), and Lorenzo Mazza (Italy).
New members of the design team are Michael
Richelsen (Denmark), and Kurt Jordan (USA).
The entire team showed off a new line of restyled
and technically improved teamwear, and for the first
time the sailing team wore crew shirts bearing a number
so that spectators can easily recognize individual
crew members.
Joining the partners announced in November
last year, Team Alinghi welcomed new Co-sponsors (MSC
Cruises and North Sails) and new official suppliers
(San, Pellegrino, Zerorh+, Ansys, Schaublin Machines
SA, Solidworks, Colle Massari, and Moët).
Following the formal proceedings, SUI 64, sporting
new graphics, was lowered into the water and set sail
for the first time on Newport Harbour.
Alinghi
to launch campaign for AC 2007 (06/11/04) (source
: Alinghi)
Team Alinghi will launch its America's Cup 2007
campaign in Newport, Rhode Island, on Saturday June
12, 2004, at Newport Shipyard.
The celebration will begin at 11am with a formal
presentation by team managers and introduction of
new team members & partners, display of new
graphics on SUI 64, showing of restyled and technically
improved teamwear, and launch of the new Alinghi
website.
"It's an exciting time for Team Alinghi and
our sponsors as we take the first step with this
presentation of the team toward our campaign for
the America's Cup 2007", said Grant Simmer,
Team Alinghi General Manager. "Team Alinghi
is entering a new era of the America's Cup event
which will be a challenging journey to future victories
for the team and our sponsors."
Following the formal presentation, SUI 64 will take
her first test of the waters of Naragansett Bay.
Alinghi's
SUI 59 in Valencia (04/28/04) (source
: Masmar)
As the rumours spread that she was acquired
by the Loïck Peyron's Team France, it's seems
now clear that SUI-59 begins a third Swiss campaign
in Valencia.
In a first time, the former BeHappy comes to Spain
to be a showboat and since thursday she is on display
at the Ciudad de la Artes y de las Ciencias (until
June 8).
In August, the 2000 generation yacht will back in
the water to be a sparring partner for SUI 64, the
yacht that trounced Team New Zealand's NZL 82 to
win the cup.
Following a successful run with Team Alinghi's
prize winner, SUI-64, the Alinghi design team are
once again behind closed doors. The challenge - how
to build another winning boat.
With Valencia confirmed as the venue for the America's
Cup 2007, the designers have a general idea of how
a new boat will require to be moded for the prevailing
weather conditions at that location. Back at the drawing
board, structural ideas are under investigation. Also
underway is the setting up of tools - primarily software
- that will be used in the design process as well
as ensuring certain improvements at the tank testing
site to improve test accuracy over the previous time.
The scheduling and planning of tank sessions that
may be required to complete testing is in progress
and with luck, the design team will start work on
modeling the boats for testing during 2004, with the
goal to go to tank testing some time in mid-2004.
The first items to be delivered in the design process
are the hull lines and basic structure, simply because
these components takes the longest time to build,
and that delivery date is based upon when the sailing
team require a new boat in the water to begin training
so the design team works back from that date.
The priority is designing the hull lines and the first
step is to generate geometries for analysis using
CFD (computational fluid design), essentially numerical
simulation of the fluid movement around the hull and
a more efficient tool to use than scale models. When
the design team is satisfied with the hull line designs,
it's off to Canada for tank testing. Between 10 and
20 models of about 8 meters in length (the length
limit for tank testing models is restricted by terms
in the rules governing the America's Cup), will take
the plunge during an intensive tank testing workout.
The models are run in the tank at different speeds
and angles to test drag and lift in different simulated
conditions. The results from these tests help to build
a picture of the perfect hull and based on these results
a VPP - Velocity Prediction Program - is run, a race
modeling program that provides an impression of boat
performance. TheVPP process simulates weather conditions
and what the statistical chances are, more or less,
of how the boat will perform.
"At this point, the design team evaluate the chances
of that design to beat the other competitors",
said Manolo Ruiz De Elvira, member of the Alinghi
design team. "You can get as complicated as you
want…"
The Alinghi design team are feeling confident that
they already have a good starting point this time
around having built a fast boat in SUI-64. The goal
for the new boat is to ensure it is as reliable as
SUI-64, lighter and faster…
