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The Alinghi sailing team travelled
to Lorient (France) to begin multi-hull training
with French sailor Alain Gautier.
"Alinghi is very pleased to have reached an agreement
with Alain Gautier", said Grant Simmer, Alinghi
design team coordinator. "He is a hugely experienced
multi-hull sailor and as we are largely focusing
on designing and racing a multi-hull for a Deed
of Gift Match against BMW Oracle, Alain's expertise
and experience will be hugely valuable to the team".
"Most of us are keel yacht sailors and have
limited experience on multi-hulls, particularly
large multi-hulls, so this is an important step
in our learning process, to understand and to race
a multi-hull yacht."
The Swiss Defender’s primary objective this week
is to learn more about sailing multi-hulls, however
the mix of sailors and designers will also be aiming
to develop a basic understanding of how big trimarans
work; this would include a look at the sails, spars,
hardware and general layout as well as the sequence
of responsibilities during manoeuvres.
, comments on his role as consultant to Alinghi:
"I am very happy to join the Alinghi team as
a multihull consultant and coach for the training
sessions onboard the trimaran Foncia", commented
Alain Gautier, winner of the Solitaire du Figaro
in 1989 and the Vendée Globe in 1992 (among many
other multi-hull grand prix titles).
"The mutual respect that has developed between
Alinghi and I over the last two seasons of the Julius
Baer Challenge is ‘not irrelevant’ to this decision.
I believe I can bring both sailing know how and
technical knowledge although I have no doubt of
the team's ability to design a fearsome machine."
Training begins on Wednesday 26 March – weather
permitting! And further training sessions are planned
in the coming weeks.
Sailing team members present:
Rodney Ardern, Ed Baird, Dean Phipps, Jan Dekker,
Lorenzo Mazza, Nicolas Texier, Peter van Niekerk,
Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzen, Matt Welling, Murray Jones
and Francesco Rapetti.
Design team members present:
Rolf Vrolijk, Dirk Kramers, Kurt Jordan, Mike Schreiber,
Pierre-Yves Jorand, Kirst Feddersen, plus Alain
Gautier as consultant..
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