Countdown 4 days: The America’s Cup on Saturday, finally!
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In 4 days, the starting gun sounds for the 32nd America’s Cup. Alinghi, the Swiss defender against Emirates Team New Zealand, the New Zealand challenger. In the meantime, the scene is calm in the America’s Cup village, on the water the teams are sharpening their skills, the tension is mounting on the radio-dock.
So here we are, only 4 days remain. Four years of waiting, of research, training, thousands of hours on the water, tests in all aspects, the sails, the hulls, all this for several regattas in which we will see Alinghi sailing against Emirates Team New Zealand starting Saturday the 23rd of June. It is an inverse remake of 2003’s match exactly 4 years ago when the Defender Team New Zealand faced the Challenger Alinghi and lost the Cup. The Swiss profited from being led by the very talented Russell Coutts, a New Zealand helmsman hired away by Bertarelli
Since the end of the Louis Vuitton Cup, it has been flat calm in the AC village. It is a calm just like the one before the storm. On the other hand, on the water and in the bases of Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi, the atmosphere is one of work and a total “black out”. It becomes very difficult to go and have a peek or ask for an interview. A little information filters out, but only in drips and drabs.
On the Alinghi side, we don’t know which boat or which helmsman which will be used. SUI 91 or SUI 100? Ed Baird or Peter Holmberg? It will take waiting for the press conference on Friday June 22nd to know more. This is one way for the Swiss to destabilize their adversary in a way that Dean Barker cannot prepare psychologically by knowing if he will face one helmsman or the other. The Swiss have been training alone for several weeks, and have benefited from a few regattas with the Italians and the Spanish, already eliminated but who would want the Cup to remain in Europe. They have certainly not been able to measure their boats speed exactly and the Kiwis speed which awaits them.
In other news, Bertarelli has explained in the Spanish press this week, after local papers published it a month ago, that the Swiss would organize the Cup in Valencia if they won. Bertarelli started the ball rolling in a long interview in the local newspaper, Las Provincias. The owner of the Swiss team thanked the Spanish for all the work that had been done for this edition but explained that there remains a great deal to be done so that the city can host the 33rd edition and so that it can be at the level that this event implies. Overall, the Swiss owner has reopened the game and is preparing the Valencians. Nothing has been won and it wouldn’t be surprising if a new European host bidding call was launched if Alinghi came to hold on to the silver mug. On the Swiss side still, we imagine if the Cup left for New Zealand, it “would be a catastrophe”. Not really “fair play”, but this remark was made after the declarations by Grant Dalton, explaining that if they won, they would reestablish nationality rules consisting of requiring the totality or a majority, of the sailing team, to hold a passport of the country the boat is representing.
In the Emirates New Zealand camp, the sailing team has taken a break while the technical team has been working on their boats. The Kiwis say they have made modifications on their AC class boats with configurations tested in Auckland. Real information, smoke screens, there is no real means to know for sure. Last week, sailing was taken up again, six hours a day, every day. But we will know more soon. The New Zealanders, very sought after, have again closed their base. It is one way to protect themselves from the media who see this confrontation as revenge match of 2003 and the Kiwis supporters haven’t always accepted that part of their sailors moved to the Swiss camp, who want to know what will happen after they win. The only objective is to not to lose their heads and bring the Cup “back home”.
For one weekend and a week, anxiety and excitement will be at its highest.... for the entire sailing world. For the spectators, the supporters, the other teams, the sailors, the designers of the world who will come to analyze the boats in competition, the Valencianos who would like to keep the event here, the families of the Cup who would like to know in which hemisphere they will set up shop next… And for the spectacle which promises to be something grand. Get ready, rendezvous on Saturday!
Fdb-LH/Valencia June 19th 2007
Since the end of the Louis Vuitton Cup, it has been flat calm in the AC village. It is a calm just like the one before the storm. On the other hand, on the water and in the bases of Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi, the atmosphere is one of work and a total “black out”. It becomes very difficult to go and have a peek or ask for an interview. A little information filters out, but only in drips and drabs.
On the Alinghi side, we don’t know which boat or which helmsman which will be used. SUI 91 or SUI 100? Ed Baird or Peter Holmberg? It will take waiting for the press conference on Friday June 22nd to know more. This is one way for the Swiss to destabilize their adversary in a way that Dean Barker cannot prepare psychologically by knowing if he will face one helmsman or the other. The Swiss have been training alone for several weeks, and have benefited from a few regattas with the Italians and the Spanish, already eliminated but who would want the Cup to remain in Europe. They have certainly not been able to measure their boats speed exactly and the Kiwis speed which awaits them.
In other news, Bertarelli has explained in the Spanish press this week, after local papers published it a month ago, that the Swiss would organize the Cup in Valencia if they won. Bertarelli started the ball rolling in a long interview in the local newspaper, Las Provincias. The owner of the Swiss team thanked the Spanish for all the work that had been done for this edition but explained that there remains a great deal to be done so that the city can host the 33rd edition and so that it can be at the level that this event implies. Overall, the Swiss owner has reopened the game and is preparing the Valencians. Nothing has been won and it wouldn’t be surprising if a new European host bidding call was launched if Alinghi came to hold on to the silver mug. On the Swiss side still, we imagine if the Cup left for New Zealand, it “would be a catastrophe”. Not really “fair play”, but this remark was made after the declarations by Grant Dalton, explaining that if they won, they would reestablish nationality rules consisting of requiring the totality or a majority, of the sailing team, to hold a passport of the country the boat is representing.
In the Emirates New Zealand camp, the sailing team has taken a break while the technical team has been working on their boats. The Kiwis say they have made modifications on their AC class boats with configurations tested in Auckland. Real information, smoke screens, there is no real means to know for sure. Last week, sailing was taken up again, six hours a day, every day. But we will know more soon. The New Zealanders, very sought after, have again closed their base. It is one way to protect themselves from the media who see this confrontation as revenge match of 2003 and the Kiwis supporters haven’t always accepted that part of their sailors moved to the Swiss camp, who want to know what will happen after they win. The only objective is to not to lose their heads and bring the Cup “back home”.
For one weekend and a week, anxiety and excitement will be at its highest.... for the entire sailing world. For the spectators, the supporters, the other teams, the sailors, the designers of the world who will come to analyze the boats in competition, the Valencianos who would like to keep the event here, the families of the Cup who would like to know in which hemisphere they will set up shop next… And for the spectacle which promises to be something grand. Get ready, rendezvous on Saturday!
Fdb-LH/Valencia June 19th 2007