Alinghi, the Defender of the 33rd America's Cup held on Thursday a media day in their base in Valencia, presenting their sailing and design teams and giving an update on the status of design and construction of their multihull yacht. Don't hold your breath there wasn't anything spectacular announcement, although we do know now that the start of construction is "imminent". Design & Construction of multihull yacht We would have been foolish if we had expected any major revelation during Thursday's presentation even if hearing Brad Butterworth in his opening words say that construction of the new yacht had started in Villeneuve, Switzerland was indeed a surprise. During the day, and depending one who you talked to, the stage of construction varied slightly. Rolf Vrolijk, chief designer, stated that design is in its final stages and construction could start at any moment after the decision is taken. Regardless of the exact degree of construction, it appears that Alinghi is about to start or has just started the construction process. Obviously, this is the official line and we doubt anyone knows how advanced the construction is, except a small circle of insiders. At this stage, it would be foolish to reveal anything to the adversary. BMW Oracle also sent some days ago three pictures from what they claimed was their boatyard, without showing any specifics or even dating the photos. The Alinghi design team has been reinforced with a number of experts, the most prominent being Nigel Irens, the British designer with more than 30 years of experience in large multihulls. Although he claimed he was just a "small addition" to Alinghi's existing team, it's certainly no coincidence he designed a 75ft and a 97ft trimaran that smashed the round-the-world records. Some general lines were given but lips were tight as far as the details were concerned. With the absence of any predetermined design rules or previous examples of similar yachts it is still a wild guess what they will look like. It appears Alinghi's design team, and not only, was trying to convey the message that because of these reasons and the inherent complexity, it is impossible to build such a boat before the end of the year and for that reason it is impossible to hold an America's Cup match before May 2009, the cornerstone of their legal arguments. Rolf Vrolijk claimed that it takes 3 months just to understand the concept and structure of such a yacht. Its construction takes roughly 9 months, twice as much as an America's Cup from the last edition. These yachts will contain 3 times the amount of carbon fiber in the current conventional boats. Adding 2 months needed for shake down, Alinghi will not be able to race before a year from now. It appears the design and construction of the yacht are trapped in a vicious circle. The design cannot be finalized before the issue of the venue is decided. The venue depends on the date of the race which in turn depends on the outcome of the legal battle. One thing is certain, designers and boatbuilders are entering uncharted territory where anything goes. It is up to them to try to figure out what they can achieve in the limited time they have and provided the following construction time schedule in order to support their claim.  read more »