São Paulo – The catamaran Alinghi 5, which is going to compete in the upcoming America’s Cup, the world’s most traditional regatta, arrived on Wednesday morning in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), in the United Arab Emirates, where the event will be held in early 2010. The information was disclosed yesterday (1st) by the Alinghi team’s press office.
The Swiss team is currently the champion of the competition, which had its last edition in Valencia, Spain, in 2007. As the title-holder, it was up to the team to choose the location of the next regatta. The challenger will be the BMW Oracle team, from the United States, which is going to compete with a trimaran, a three-hull vessel.
According to a release issued by Alinghi, the catamaran left Geneva, Italy, on September 28th and took 12 days to arrive in RAK, aboard a cargo vessel. The 4,400-nautical-mile trip passed through the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and through the Arabian Sea, before arriving at the Saqr Port, in the Gulf.
In the next few days, the ship should be taken to the island of Al Hamra, where the regatta will take place. According to the release, the team is going to spend four months training, up until the beginning of the competition, on February 8th.
Alinghi informs that it is awaiting the challenger. The two teams are battling each other in the New York Courts over several details concerning the regatta, therefore it is not yet known whether the dates and even the location of the event will be changed.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
