VALENCIA, Spain—Alinghi’s A5 catamaran and BMW Oracle Racing’s BOR 90 trimaran have both arrived in Valencia, Spain, in preparation for next month’s 33rd America’s Cup.
“The voyage from Ras Al Khaimah to Valencia went smoothly, and over the coming days we will settle back into our base in the Darsena,” said Alinghi design coordinator Grant Simmer. “The team will focus on readying Alinghi 5 for the final training session ahead of the first race.”
“It’s important that today, with just over a month to go, we keep our focus tight and narrow in on what we have to do to win the Cup,” said BMW Oracle CEO Russell Coutts. “I think we have assembled a really good team. We have a lot of expertise and skills in our group and we have to apply that over the next few weeks in the best way possible.”
BOR 90 traveled from San Diego, CA, where the team had been tuning up both the boat and its hard-wing rig, aboard the cargo ship Oceanlady. In all, Oceanlady carried about 200 tons of team equipment, including the boat’s wing sail, spare masts, 19 shipping containers and 10 support boats.
While BOR 90 is being reassembled in Valencia, the BMW Oracle sailing team plans to spend several days match-racing aboard a number of Extreme 40 catamarans.
The Alinghi team transported A5 and 20 containers of equipment from Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates—where the team had originally hoped to stage the upcoming Dead of Gift match—aboard the container ship Cassandra B.
For more on the match visit BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi.com.
