At around 2pm on Friday afternoon, Alinghi went back to water onboard its two Extreme 40 catamarans that sported the team's colors and logos. After a pause of several days, the Defender of the 33rd America's Cup took its black and white catamarans for a test sail off Valencia's coast.

Although it was a gorgeous day for tourists, with clear blue skies and spring-like temperatures, most probably Alinghi's crew didn't enjoy the most ideal sailing conditions. As one can easily see on the photos, I doubt whether wind speed went over 1-2 knots.

According to the Alinghi website, the team will start training from tomorrow. In addition, always according to the website, on board the white X40 were designers Jean Claude Monnin and Pierre Yves Jorand, and sailors Murray Jones, Nils Frei and Juan Vila. On board the black boat were designers Dirk Kramers, Daniele Constantini and Luc Dubois, and sailors Yves Detrey and Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen.  read more »

The 8 champions and their crews taking part in this year's edition of the Trophe Clairefontaine took possession of their boats and carried out their first test and training session, inside Port America's Cup Port in Valencia. Wind conditions during the training session could be defined as acceptable. Throughout the morning, a constant and quite strong breeze was blowing throughout the America's Cup race course as well as inside Port America's Cup. Unfortunately, training started a little bit late, we suppose later than what was initially planned. The 8 boats docked out past 5:30pm and at that time the thermal breeze usually has already started to die down and there the was probably 6-7 knots of wind. There is no doubt that racing will be spectacular once the breeze kicks in. One shouldn't forget that the race course is right inside the basin and yachts have to sail two legs (one upwind and one downwind) inside the canal, meaning that at times they get extremely close to its edges, as seen in the photos. Let's say, I could have almost grabbed Ed Baird's helm if I wanted!!  read more »

Alinghi's media day included a very instructional experience on the water. Not only were we able to watch the team's two Extreme 40 yachts train against each other we were also given the opportunity to hop onboard and witness the races from a privileged position.

The white boat was crewed by Ed Baird, Lorenzo Mazza, Rodney Ardern and Pieter Van Nieuwenhuyzen while on the black one by Murray Jones, Brad Butterworth, Nils Frei and Yves Detrey.

Ed Baird won all 5 of the exhibition match races but of course these results should be taken with a pinch of salt. They did in fact simulate a Deed-of-Gift match, with just one upwind and one downwind leg but the course was set very short, just 1 mile, in order to squeeze as many races as possible for the numerous guests. With such a short distance the two teams tacked and gybed once or twice in each leg, amplifying by much the importance of the start. Of course, one should always keep in mind that Baird is one of the most experienced and successful match-racers in the world, twice claiming the top position on world rankings.  read more »

In this final episode, our cruisers hike up a hill behind the bite on Norman Island. A million dollar view of the BVI awaits. The south side of Norman Island provides an ocean scape as our cruisers comment on a magnificent cruising vacation with our film’s producer, Gary Jobson. With their boats at anchor below, [...]

TSC interviews Fred Cook of Schaefer Marine at the 2005 U.S Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD. Fred demonstrates Boom Furler, Schaefer’s popular mainsail hoisting, lowering and reefing system. Unlike in-mast furling, Boom Furler accommodates a full-batten, high-roach sail for better cruising performance. Be sure to subscribe to this free video podcast series and our [...]

Valencia's main newspaper, Las Provincias published on Monday morning an interesting article concerning the ongoing negotiations between Ernesto Bertarelli and the city of Valencia, regarding the possibility of holding the 33rd America's Cup match here. According to the article Bertarelli had a very busy week in Valencia, not only training aboard Alinghi's catamaran but also negotiating with city officials.

The newspaper claims that according to reliable information it seems that talks are proceeding well and a final agreement shouldn't be too far. Las Provincias is of a mainly right-wing orientation and as such it enjoys close relations to the local and regional governments. As a result, we believe that the article's sources, presumably within these two authorities, are reliable.  read more »