10:56 PM Sun 10 May 2009 GMT
Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi SUI1 won the first regatta of the D35 series on Lake Geneva over the weekend.
Bertarelli and the crew on Alinghi SUI1 bounced back from fourth place on the eve of the finals performing consistently today to take a second and another first place after lengthy delays due to weather conditions on Lake Geneva. They won three of the six races over the weekend, facing some of the top multihull experts in the world.
Ed Baird's Alinghi SUI6 team, having progressed all weekend in what is their first D35 regatta ever, jumped from mixed results in the first two days to two 4th places today to finish the series in sixth place, highest ranking of the 'new boats of the championship'. Alinghi is using the D35 championship series on Lake Geneva as part of the America's Cup Defender's preparations towards the 33rd event in multihulls next year.
Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi SUI1 helmsman, explains how his team improved throughout the weekend to take the championship:
'We sailed really well in today's breeze. We were in second position overall before going into race 2 today and we managed to get a good start; with good speed in light airs. The level of the fleet here is very high, but we are pleased that we have improved through the weekend.'
A word on your crew mates on Alinghi SUI6
'Alinghi SUI6 has had a good result, they have progressed well and are the best of the new teams, and the other teams are strong, so I think it is mission accomplished for this first grand prix. Knowing them as well as I do, I'm sure they have learned a lot and their level is going to go up very fast.
Last year the same crew did the iShares circuit, they were a new team and they managed to win the championship.'
How does Alinghi benefit from this platform for the next America's Cup on multihulls?
'This is the best platform we have today to train on because the boats have a large sail area, and they are suited to inshore racing. Also, the fact that there are so many specialists on this circuit such as Lo?ck Peyron, Alain Gautier, Franck Cammas and Pascal Bidegorry, among others, allows us to measure ourselves against the cumulated experience they have on sail trim, sail shapes and more generally on how to sail multihulls. These people are specialists in offshore sailing, racing on Lake Geneva, Olympic Games, and the America's Cup. This is very fertile ground to experiment with how different people approach the same matter: sailing multihulls on the lake.'
Ed Baird, Alinghi SUI6, explains how the weekend went for his team:
'We felt better today with how we were getting off the start line and with our thought process of getting around the course. It's still a great challenge to race in a venue like this with a big separation from one side of the course to the other; it's not what we are used to. We are learning how and we are getting better at making the boat go fast and knowing how to change gears when the wind changes speeds. All of those things are starting to slowly come together, but we need a lot more experience to threaten the top teams and it's certainly good fun to have the chance to learn that.'
Out of the three new teams, you were the best of all.
'We are definitely excited about how the learning curve was for the week. We have proved our capabilities each day, not necessarily our finishes, but we were definitely climbing up and getting better, threatening the top of the heap. As you can see the teams that have been working here for many years are smooth and well prepared and that's were we have to take ourselves to be good on boats like these.'
It's been a great result for Alinghi SUI1.
'All week Ernesto and his team have been really smooth and never slow, never out of the picture; even when they were in difficult situations they were able to pop through and come out on the other side nicely and that's what it takes to win in a tight fleet, so it's a great testament to the hard work of their team over the years and for any team on how important it is to continue to find the right people and to work hard together to be the best.'
The next event is the Grand Prix de Romandie Act 1 on May 23-24, organised by Soci?t? Nautique de Rolle.
Alinghi crew lists:
Alinghi SUI1
Ernesto Bertarelli, helmsman
Pierre-Yves Jorand, mainsail trimmer, performance
Nils Frei, trimmer
Yves Detrey, bow/mastman, boat captain
Tanguy Cariou, tactician
Coraline Jonet, trimmer
Alinghi SUI6
Ed Baird, helmsman
Brad Butterworth, tactician
Warwick Fleury, mainsail trimmer
Lorenzo Mazza, trimmer
Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen, bow/mastman
Race results, day 3 GP Corum:
Race 1: Okalys-Corum, Alinghi SUI1, Zen too, Alinghi SUI6, Ladycat, Julius Baer, Veltigroup, Foncia, Banque Populaire, Zebra 7, Romandie.com, Smarthome
Race 2: Alinghi SUI1, Zebra 7, Julius Baer, Alinghi SUI6, Smarthome, Banque Populaire, Veltigroup, Zen too, Okalys-Corum, Ladycat, Foncia, Romandie.com
General ranking of Grand-Prix Corum
1. SUI-1 Alinghi SUI 1 13pts
2. SUI-2 Okalys-corum 16pts
3. SUI-3 Julius-Baer 18pts
4. SUI-5 Foncia 21pts
5. SUI-4 Zen Too 22pts
6. SUI-6 Alinghi SUI 6 24pts
7. SUI-11 Veltigroup 28pts
8. SUI-10 Ladycat 32pts
9. SUI-7 Zebra 7 37pts
10. SUI-9 Smarthome 39pts
11. SUI-12 Banque Populaire 39pts
12. SUI-8 Romandie.com 58pts
by Alinghi Media
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