America’s Cup defender sets up winter training base in emirate to prepare for showdown in Valencia
Pictured at the press conference in Geneva (From left), Khalid bin Dasmal, Executive Director of the DIMC sailing department, Brad Butterworth, Alinghi skipper and tactician, Saeed Hareb, Managing Director of DIMC, Sid Bensalah, DIMC sailing director and Alinghi managing director Grant Simmer.
America’s Cup holder Alinghi will conduct an intensive winter training programme in Dubai in readiness for its defence of the most prestigious prize in sailing in Valencia next year.
Alinghi, which created history by defeating New Zealand to capture the world’s oldest sports trophy for Switzerland in 2003, will base itself in Dubai for three months from late November to fine tune its preparations for the 32nd America’s Cup showdown.
Dubai’s ideal year-round sailing conditions, and the wide range of facilities available at Dubai International Marine Club where the team will be based, were the key factors which persuaded Alinghi to choose the emirate ahead of other international sailing venues.
The decision, announced at a press conference in Geneva yesterday, provides another major endorsement of the extensive plans being formulated to reinforce Dubai’s position as a world-class venue for international sailing events.
"We’re very happy to be hosting Alinghi during what will be a critical period for the team as it prepares for its defence of the America’s Cup in Valencia next year," said Saeed Hareb, Managing Director of Dubai International Marine Club, at the press conference.
"The team’s presence here will be of enormous interest to the local and regional sailing community, and Dubai will benefit from the huge international media and public interest that centres on the America’s Cup defender."
Alinghi chose Dubai to continue its two boat training and testing programme after a worldwide search. The Alinghi weather team found that the meteorological conditions in Dubai most resemble Valencia’s summer conditions, making the emirate the ideal location to maintain the testing momentum.
Team skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth, said: "We chose Dubai as, from a sporting perspective, we wanted a place which has sailing conditions comparable to those in Valencia in June. The fact that we couldn't train efficiently in Spain last winter was a weakness. Just like everywhere else in the world, Valencia has climate changes. We've taken this decision to help us win the America's Cup again in 2007."
Dubai International Marine Club is a world-class venue for a myriad of water sport activities, and under Hareb’s guidance in recent years has staged a growing number of top-class international sailing events.
These include the Dubai Junior Regatta, one of the world’s top junior sailing festivals, the Maktoum Sailing Trophy, the rapidly emerging fleet racing series which returns in a new ten-day format next February, and the Dubai Match Race series.
Plans for more sailing development in Dubai, which have been approved by H.H.Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman of DIMC, include the opening of a new, state-of-the art sailing academy later this year, expansion of a junior training programme which has created a UAE national team, and the staging of more international events, with a particular emphasis on match racing.
Alinghi’s America’s Cup Class racing yachts will sail in Dubai from late November until the end of February.
DIMC’s superb range of facilities combined with ideal sailing conditions in Dubai make the Maktoum Sailing Trophy in particular an inviting prospect for visiting teams from overseas who can take advantage of special assistance packages. A beautifully-located marina offering easy access to the ocean features 150 berths equipped with electricity, water and slipway. There are unlimited craning facilities, a 24-hour refueling and rescue service and a fully-equipped workshop.
Owned by Ernestdo Bertarelli, the Swiss biotech industrialist, Alinghi was formed in 2000 to challenge for the America’s Cup in 2003.
After winning the Louis Vuitton Cup that year by defeating American challenger Oracle BMW, Alinghi went on to become the first European winner of the America’s Cup – and the first team from a land-locked country - to hold the trophy when they defeated New Zealand.
Alinghi plans to relocate 60 members of its 132-strong team to Dubai, including its full squad of 34 sailors, as well as designers, boatbuilders and engineers. The two 25-metre America’s Cup Class racing yachts will be transported in early November and the team will sail from late November until the end of February, taking advantage of the emirate’s steady wind conditions of 8-14 knots which allows for largely uninterrupted sailing.
Beginning next April, 11 challengers from nine nations will battle it out for the Louis Vuitton Cup and right to take on Alinghi in a final head-to-head America’s Cup showdown taking place between 23 June and 7 July.
- Tony Lewis, Narayana Marar , Total Communications Dubai-
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