WHEN WAS THIS SAID?

There are plans to restructure the America's Cup and take it out of the 19th century and into the 21st century. The proponents, effectively, would take the race away from the yacht clubs and operate it like a mainstream professional sporting event with a single governing body, including a well paid commissioner and full-time staff, that would stage the regatta every two or three years. They argue this would make it more appealing to commercial sponsors by making more money available for the event and the professional sailors who now dominate it.

HALF A LAWYER

That's how America's Cup legend, Tom Schnackenberg wryly described himself at Alinghi's design team press briefing. Afterwards, BYM News took the opportunity to question Tom on a number of issues, ranging from transporting a giant multihull to the sea, to what would happen if the court ruled for a 2008 match.

TIMELINE

Read it & decide for yourself.

MULTI TRAINING

Alinghi sailors are undergoing an intense training programme on multihulls. Volvo Extreme 40s in Valencia, D35s & the famous "Le Black" on Lake Geneva, the ORMA 60 Foncia in Lorient and, later, in Valencia.

There are plenty of exciting images in the BYM Photo Gallery.

HALF WAY HOUSE?

"On the Swiss lakes, there are a variety of trimarans, catamarans and halfway houses and I don’t think anyone can really say what is fastest. We’ve all had the same opportunities to dream up the fastest boat, but I don’t think it’s clear at all. We all have our leanings, but that doesn’t mean to say that they are right." said Nigel Irens.

The latest half way house, Mirabaud LX, was launched on April 29, on Lake Geneva. It has nothing to do with the America's Cup, but it does demonstrate that we can expect some lateral thinking where Alinghi's Deed of Gift boat is concerned.

NEW DIRECTION

John Barnitt rejoined Alinghi, as Sports Director, early this year, having been a member of Alinghi’s winning team in Auckland. Barnitt was also a member of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes team for the last of the 12 metre Cups and the catamaran defense.

Barnitt’s present role is to keep the sailing team on track towards a common goal and to provide communication and feedback between the sailing and design teams. Later he expects to also be integrating with the shore, weather, administration and marketing teams. We began by asking him about the possibility of SNG winning an appeal that would result in the reinstatement of CNEV as Challenger of Record.

WHAT THE SAILORS SAID

Last Thursday, several European media representatives spent a day with the America's Cup defender, Alinghi. Communications Director, Paco Latorre, explained what the day was about.

"What we want to share with you today is that Alinghi is back to sailing; Alinghi once again has sport at the heart of its activity. Since we won the 32nd America’s Cup, last July, we didn’t do a very good job of sharing our ideas for the 33rd America’s Cup; now we are trying to do better, to share with everyone what the goals, the ideas for the future are. As you can imagine, during the last few months, most of our attention has been focussed on the GGYC court case that is taking place in New York. Now, what we want to do is to change the focus and get the attention and the interest back on the water as soon as possible; we want this fight to take place on the water."