VALENCIA - 03/07/2007 | |||||||
ALINGHI WINS AMERICA'S CUP 5-2 | |||||||
Alinghi, the Swiss Defender of the America’s Cup from the Société Nautique de Genève, won the 32nd America’s Cup Match today with a 5-2 victory over the Challenger Emirates Team New Zealand. Alinghi wrapped up the exciting match with a nail-biting, 1 second win in today’s deciding seventh race. | |||||||
"This is a fantastic day for Alinghi, to win the Alinghi was the first European team to win the With many lead changes throughout the series and an average margin of victory of 23 seconds, the 32nd Match will be remembered for its excitement and drama. The tightening of the "Even though the boats are not that similar, in terms of their appendage packages and hull shapes, we thought it would be close," said Grant Simmer, Alinghi's managing director and design team coordinator. "This now is a contest of metres - metres to get you in a position where you can get a strong lee bow, or metres where you can just get across the other boat. It's so close now, that every inch is significant." The close racing was evident again in today's race. Alinghi led at the first windward mark by 7 seconds, but ETNZ snatched the lead back to round the leeward gate 14 seconds ahead. Alinghi pulled even with ETNZ up the second windward leg and the Kiwis tried a drastic move, tacking to port above the layline to the mark. As Alinghi approached on starboard ETNZ opted to try and duck behind to get its bow to leeward and prevent Alinghi from rounding. But the Kiwis failed to keep clear and Alinghi was forced to alter course. The on-water umpires penalised ETNZ. Near the finish, with the win less than one mile away, the wind shifted and died and Alinghi was forced to hoist a headsail and regain boat speed. ETNZ was completing its penalty turn as Alinghi was speeding up. This was just enough for the Swiss team to nudge its bow across the finish line by the slimmest of margins and win the Alinghi would like to thank the main partners, co-sponsors and official suppliers for their support of this campaign and for playing an instrumental role in the team achieving today's victory. © Alinghi |
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