8:42 PM Sat 17 Oct 2009 GMT
Alinghi held on Saturday a presentation in Ras Al Khaimah in order to make 'official' its arrival in the emirate and carry out the first 'official' sail in front of the media as well as a large number of local and Swiss guests.
There wasn't any extraordinary announcement made this morning in the Al Hamra Golf Club. Both Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's owner, and Dr Khater Massaad, CEO of RAK Investment Authority, repeatedly stressed the suitability of the chosen venue to host the 33rd America's Cup next February and urged BMW Oracle to come here, settle in their base and race. Nothing new there. The infrastructure works continue frantically, in fact there were crew building and dredging at 2am when we arrived from the airport. According to Dr Massaad, the civil works for BMW Oracle's base are ready and the Americans could have a fully operational base just 3 weeks after they specify their needs.
After the presentation, the media embarked on a number of tenders to follow the first 'official' test sail of Alinghi 5, the 'unofficial' one having taken place on Friday. Unfortunately, wind conditions were on the light side and didn't provide us with any heart beating moments. Wind speed ranged from 4 to 7 knots and Alinghi 5 reached a top speed of just over 15 knots without the crew pushing her hard but there was no hull flying, probably to the disappointment of the large Swiss delegation. During their first training session on Friday the Swiss team sailed in winds that reached 11 knots, pushing Alinghi 5 up to 20 knots of boat speed.
The final part of the day was a visit to what will be the America's Cup Village, the artificial island in the center of the lagoon. We got to see the 5 temporary buildings has already in place but the interior of the sheds was, obviously, off limits.
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Bases under construction, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE - media open day 17 October 2009. Alinghi’s is operational, work stopped on the BMW Oracle Racing base two weeks ago - although it is said to be three weeks from completion. -
Valenciasailing.com
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Alinghi 5 first 'official' sail on Emirati waters
Unfortunately, it wasn't a day to write about. As we said earlier, winds were very light, ranging from 4 to 7 knots. Nevertheless, one realizes the speed Alinghi 5 can reach, even under these conditions. We were barely able to keep up with her, obviously observing some basic safety rules, even with a rib that reached 30 knots as Alinghi's catamaran was able to top 15 knots.
In general lines, according to Grant Simmer, Ras Al-Khaimah has a typical seabreeze pattern, starting at 11am and peaking at 1-2pm and the expected range in February should be between 7 and 12 knots. On Friday, they sailed for the first time with a breeze that topped 11 knots. The prevailing wind comes from the Southwest and tends to shift to the right later in the afternoon. As the coastline of RAK roughly goes from south to north, the race course will be at an angle.
One aspect of the Gulf that differs considerably from Valencia is its depth as well as the tides. It is clearly shallow and the tide can be of approximately 1 meter. As a result, in order to comply with the Deed of Gift, the race area must be at least 4-5 miles from the coast. For example, in Dubai, even at a distance of 30 miles from the coast, sea depth isn't more than 30 meters. Inside the lagoon, the minimum depth is 4.2 meters while in the canal that leads to the open sea it's around 5 meters.
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by ValenciaSailing.com
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Troughton Island, WA
