Alinghi unveils new boats
by Daphne Morgan Barnicoat 1 Apr 2007 13:39 BST
1 April 2007
32nd America's Cup unveiling day - Alinghi © Ivo Rovira / Alinghi
Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America’s Cup, unveiled SUI91 and SUI100, their two new generation racing yachts, on the 1 April at 09:30.
For the occasion, the Defender was exhibiting the America’s Cup, won by Alinghi on 2 March 2003, and the Louis Vuitton Cup, the latter soon to be at the centre of the challengers fight for supremacy over the coming months. Under the America’s Cup rules, the yachts have been skirted since 1 January 2006 allowing the teams to develop their yachts and appendage packages in secret.
1st April is the day where the design teams display the fruits of their work and get the opportunity to assess the work of their competitors.
Grant Simmer says: “We are proud to display SUI91 and SUI100 today. They represent the product of three years of research, development and testing by our designers, sailors and shore crew. We are confident they are capable of retaining the Cup for Alinghi,” he says adding: “As the Challengers head into the LVC selection process, we will be racing everyday in our final preparation for the Cup.”
Rolf Vrolijk, principal designer, adds: “We are looking forward to Louis Vuitton Act 13 and are looking forward to seeing how SUI91 performs relative to the Challengers”.
On the subject of where the major developments have been, chief engineer Dirk Kramers explains: “The interaction between disciplines such as the aerodynamics, the hydrodynamics and the structures, is where the refinement is today. The big development has been gaining the understanding of how all the different disciplines interact and figuring out which different combinations work best. The design game is so complex you can never really achieve perfection.”