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iShares Cup 2008 - Amsterdam
29.-31.08.2008
www.isharescup.com - Übersicht
2008-09-21
www.alinghi.com
Alinghi wins iShares Cup 2008
With five European venues and 79 races behind them, Alinghi celebrates the iShares Cup season win in Amsterdam! “It’s fantastic to end up winning like this, it’s been a big year of learning…” says helmsman Ed Baird…
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Foto: Jose Delgado/Alinghi
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Amsterdam, Netherlands - (2008-09-21)
With five European venues and 79 races behind them, Alinghi celebrates the iShares Cup season win in Amsterdam! ?It?s fantastic to end up winning like this, it?s been a big year of learning?? says helmsman Ed Baird?
Ed Baird, Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza and Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen won the iShares Cup season trophy today as well as the Amsterdam event trophy, making this their fourth consecutive event win. The team sailed their first race on an eXtreme 40 in May in Lugano, Switzerland, with mixed results and a capsize, but with these early learning curve hiccoughs out of the way, the&xnbsp;crew settled in to a steady winning streak that saw victory in Hyères, France; Cowes, UK; Kiel, Germany and today in Amsterdam.
Ed Baird, Alinghi helmsman, comments on the win today: ?It?s fantastic to end up winning like this. It?s been a big year of learning for us and each day on the water is spent trying to figure out what works best and what makes the boat go fast. I give huge credit to my team, who has really supported me all year; the guys have got the boat around the course safely and fast over and over again.?
This iShares Cup season is part of a much wider picture for the America?s Cup Defender, Alinghi, and is just one of several multihull learning platforms that the sailing team has been focusing on this summer. The Defender faces the possibility of a Deed of Gift (DoG) match, something currently being pursued by the American challenger BMW Oracle Racing in the New York Court of Appeals, and so the team is preparing for all eventualities. ?Over the last six months, we have certainly gained a level of understanding about how boats like this work; however we have also learnt that we are not polished at sailing them and that there is still a lot more to learn and a huge amount more to learn about the great big multihull which is what the America?s Cup could potentially be sailed on if there is a Deed of Gift match,? says Baird. He adds: ?We?re still thinking and asking a lot of questions, some are a bit elementary to people who have been in the sport for a long time on these kinds of boats, but we just want to make sure we cover all the bases and cut as many corners as we can towards learning how to do it!?
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Alinghi is continuing to build the DoG boat in Switzerland and will continue to hone its multihull sailing skills with the Décision 35s on Lake Geneva (where the team is currently leading the Challenge Julius Baer with one event to go) and the 41footer ?Alinghi Black? in Valencia. In parallel the team cannot neglect its monohull training and continues to race on the Vrolijk IRC66 Numbers and the maxi yacht Alfa Romeo and with an eye on the team?s vision of a multi-challenge America?s Cup, Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, is organising challenger meetings this autumn to plan for the future.
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A REMINDER: Don?t forget that if you want to ask the crew your own questions about Amsterdam, you can log on to the brand new ?Alinghi Chat? at 16:00 on Tuesday 23 September, Ed Baird will be there to answer you live!
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Click on the ?Alinghi Chat? banner on the home page of www.alinghi.com
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The Alinghi X40 team
Ed Baird, helmsman
Rodney Ardern, indexsail trimmer
Lorenzo Mazza, trimmer
Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen, bowman
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Today?s results
Race 13: Tommy Hilfiger, Team Aqua, Alinghi, TeamOrigin, JP Morgan, Oman, Volvo Ocean Race, Holmatro, iShares, BT
Race 14: Volvo Ocean Race, BT, Alinghi, Oman, Holmatro, Team Origin, Team Aqua, JP Morgan, Tommy Hilfiger, iShares
Race 15: JP Morgan, Alinghi, BT, Team Aqua, Volvo Ocean Race, Oman, Tommy Hilfiger, Holmatro, iShares, TeamOrigin
Race 16: JP Morgan, BT, Volvo Ocean Race, Alinghi, Tommy Hilfiger, iShares, TeamOrigin, Team Aqua, Holmatro, Oman
Race 17: Tommy Hilfiger, BT, iShares, JP Morgan, Oman, Team Aqua, Volvo Ocean Race, Holmatro, Alinghi, TeamOrigin
Race 18 (for double points): Alinghi, Tommy Hilfiger, Team Aqua, BT, Oman, Holmatro, TeamOrigin, Volvo Ocean Race, JP Morgan, iShares
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Ranking SUI FRA GBR GER HOL Total Position !--Alinghi 6 10 10 10 10 46 1 !--Team Origin 9 9 9 9 5 41 2 !--BT 8 5 5 7 9 34 3 !--Oman Sail 7 2 7 5 8 29 4 !--Holmatro 4 7 8 4 4 27 5 !--JP Morgan Asset Management 10 4 3 3 6 26 6 !--Team Aqua 3 6 2 8 3 22 7 !--Volvo Ocean Race 2 8 4 1 2 17 8 !--iShares 5 3 6 2 1 17 9 !--Tommy Hilfiger 0 1 0 6 7 14 10 (Updated: 21.09.2008)
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Click here for latest images: http://media.alinghi.com Note to editors: Please credit all photography with the following copyright: "©Photographer's name/Alinghi". This photography is solely for media distribution free of charge. It is not to be sold. Daphne Morgan Barnicoat Alinghi Port America's Cup Muelle de la Aduana 46024 Valencia, Spain Mobile: +34 678 659 317 daphne.morganbarnicoat@alinghi.com www.alinghi.com Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, is the culmination of Ernesto Bertarelli’s passion for sailing. The Swiss entrepreneur, former owner of biotech giant Serono, created the team in 2000 to participate in the oldest sports trophy in the world. At its first attempt, Alinghi won the 31st America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2003, and then succeeded in defending it in Valencia, Spain, in 2007 in what was the closest America’s Cup Match of all time. The Swiss Defender – through AC Management – organised an outstanding four-year event with 12 teams from five continents competing for the trophy. The competition was visited by more than 6.4 million spectators and watched on TV by over 4.2 million viewers. Alinghi flies the colours of the Société Nautique de Genève, Switzerland, and stands for a professional, multicultural, passionate, free spirited and self-confident team. Visit our web site at: www.alinghi.com
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