Alinghi

Alinghi is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup, as well as other competitions. Bertarelli had raced several smaller yachts named Alinghi previously, but 2003 was his first attempt at the America's Cup. Alinghi challenged for and won the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland New Zealand and successfully defended it at the 2007 America's Cup in Valencia, Spain. Alinghi lost the America's Cup to the Golden Gate Yacht Club and their team BMW Oracle Racing in a Deed of Gift match in Valencia, Spain in February 2010.

For the 2003 event, Team New Zealand as the holder of the America's Cup, in consultation with Prada, the Challenger of Record, removed the nationality rule that stipulated that all of the crew members must be nationals of the challenging syndicate.

Alinghi took full advantage of this rule change and hired many of the world's top America's Cup sailors particularly from New Zealand. New Zealanders saw the defection of key members of Team New Zealand to Alinghi as an act of disloyalty to their home country—understandable against a background of strong nationwide public support for Team New Zealand that they saw as representing their country rather than just representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Alinghi (horse)

Alinghi (foaled 20 August 2001) is an Australian Thoroughbred racemare who won four Group One races, including the Newmarket Handicap and A$4,161,740 in prize money. She was by the leading sire, Encosta De Lago from Oceanfast by Monde Bleu (GB). Oceanfast's racing record was 12 starts for 2 wins, 3 seconds and 3 thirds for $82,760 and Alinghi is her only stakes winner up until July 2009.

Alinghi was trained by Lee Freedman. She is one of the few fillies to win the Newmarket Handicap in just her 3-year old year of racing, the Newmarket Handicap is the greatest sprint race in Australia and has been won by some of the greatest horses to have been seen in Australia such as Placid Ark, Schillaci, Bernborough, Wakeful, Ajax and more recently by Takeover Target, Weekend Hussler and Black Caviar.

Some of Alinghi's other Group 1 wins were the AAMI Blue Diamond Stakes which is the second best Juvenile stakes race in Australia, the Ascot Vale which is Victoria’s premier three-year-old sprint race, the Thousand Guineas which is run over 1,600 metres and the Robert Sangster Stakes, a 1,200-metre race held in South Australia.

Alinghi 5

Alinghi 5 is a 90 ft (27 m) (LWL), 90 ft (27 m) beam sloop-rigged catamaran built by Alinghi for the 33rd America's Cup.

She was launched on 8 July 2009 when she was lifted from the construction shed in Villeneuve, Vaud by a Mil Mi-26 helicopter and carried to Lake Geneva. She was subsequently carried (again by helicopter) to Genoa, Italy. At the end of September 2009, the boat was shipped to Ras al Khaimah, the venue selected by the defender for the 33rd America's Cup. At the end of October 2009, the New York Supreme Court (the court of first instance) ruled that the venue of Ras al Khaimah was not compliant with the Deed of Gift. After various discussions, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG—the Defending club) agreed that the venue would be Valencia, Spain. An appeal by SNG regarding the venue was rejected and Alinghi 5 was shipped at the end of December 2009 from Ras al Khaimah to Valencia, where she arrived on 5 January 2010.

Characteristics

Designed by Rolf Vrolijk and an Alinghi design team headed by Grant Simmer, Alinghi 5 was built in Villeneuve, Switzerland, by Alinghi-Décision and required more than 100,000 hours of work.