Alinghi grabs opening victory
Switzerland's Alinghi team has drawn first blood in the battle for the America's Cup.
Alinghi comfortably won the opening race in the best-of-nine series after defending champions Team New Zealand pulled out with gear problems.
Team New Zealand was forced to abandon the opening race after its boat broke down twice in 20 minutes.
Switzerland is bidding to become the first landlocked country to win the prize in the 31st edition of the race, which is taking place off the Auckland coast.
“We’re pretty confident that Alinghi has the potential to win,” said Ernesto Bertarelli, the billionaire behind the Swiss team, speaking before Saturday’s opener.
Alinghi made it through to the America’s Cup last month when it swept past the United States’ Oracle team in the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Nine teams entered the competition in October last year to decide who would win the right to challenge Team New Zealand.
The Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin, recently congratulated Bertarelli on coming one step closer to his dream. The billionaire yachtsman runs Europe’s largest biotech firm, Serono.
“All of Switzerland is behind you and even if you don’t win the America’s Cup, you will still have our admiration for coming this far,” said Couchepin. “But of course, we hope you will win.”
Swiss advantage
Bertarelli believes the fact that his team has raced competitively over the past few months will give Alinghi an advantage over Team New Zealand during their best-of-nine series.
“We’ve been training and racing for the past six months, so we’re warmed up and we’ve progressed a lot,” he said. “They’re coming into the race cold.”
On the other hand, he concedes that the Louis Vuitton Cup provided Alinghi’s opponents with an excellent opportunity to observe the team’s moves and tactics.
“Team New Zealand has had the advantage of following and watching us,” he said. “We know, for example, that the form of our large sail has been copied by all other challengers.”
Optimism
Bertarelli added that he had been looking forward to Saturday’s race for as long as he could remember.
“I can’t wait for the moment when the two boats go up against each other for the first time,” he said. “I hope we will make America’s Cup history and that Alinghi will be able to show off all of her good qualities.”
The billionaire yachtsman fell in love with sailing at an early age and has since turned his passion into a multi-million dollar hobby.
His bid for the 2003 America’s Cup has cost him an estimated $70 million (SFr96 million) – a large chunk of his inheritance.
The Alinghi team has had problems to contend with in the run-up to Saturday’s challenge.
On Tuesday a key member of the crew, bowman Bernard Labro, broke his collar bone when he fell from his motor scooter.
Labro’s accident came just days after Alinghi lost one of its most experienced sailors, Christian Karcher, to a hip injury.
Neither man will be able to take part in the competition.
History
If, despite the setbacks, the Swiss boat does go on to triumph against Team New Zealand, it will be the first time in the competition’s 152-year history that it has been won by a landlocked nation.
It would also present Switzerland with the welcome headache of deciding where to host the next America’s Cup series.
There has been much speculation that the Swiss would choose to hold the race somewhere in the Mediterranean, but Bertarelli said it was too early to take such a decision.
“It’s a complicated process and we’ve started thinking about it,” he said. “Our choice will be based on a series of criteria including weather conditions and logistics.”
“If this event does come back to Europe, we want to make it a great sporting event and include as many people as we can.”
swissinfo, Anna Nelson in Geneva
Switzerland’s Alinghi is challenging defending champions Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup.
The event, scheduled to run from February 15 to March 1, will be decided over a best-of-nine series
The America’s Cup is viewed as sailing’s ultimate prize.
If Alinghi wins, it will be the first time in the competition’s 152-year history that a landlocked nation has won the prestigious race.
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