After the Team New Zealand had successfully
defended the AC 2000 with its first class NZL-60,
both the LVC 2002/03 and the AC were again held
in the Hauraki Gulf of Auckland.
A yacht club from a landlocked country (.. "the
land-locked Switzerland .... with no arm to the sea
..") challenged for the first time the AC and
brought it back to Europe after 152 years.
Money was the most important role. The New
Zealand team was falling apart. More than 30 crew
members have been bought up mainly by Alinghi
and OneWorld.
From the sail numbers SWE-63 (Örn = eagle) to
NZL-82 20 new yachts were built.
Ilbruk Challenge, supported by the entrepreneur
and off-shore sailor Michael Ilbruk was the first
German team ever signing up its challenge.
As the challenge was subsequently withdrawn,
their GER-68 was launched, but not completed.
As in many previous cases before the LVC showed a lot more candidates interested in a challeng
than the 9 remaining teams
The New Zealand journalist and photographer Ivor Wilkins described them as "a pack of 9 hungry
challengers, many of them supported by the richest men in the world and armed with transplanted
New Zealand talents and their ingenuity."
SUI-64, the winner of
the AC 2003
NZL-82 the hapless
defender of the AC
2003
AC 2003
A yacht club from a landlocked country (.. "the land-locked Switzerland
.... with no arm to the sea ..") challenged for its first time the AC
SUI-64 Alinghi first European winner of an AC after 152 years
Yacht / Country : “ALINGHI “ / CH
Sailnumber : SUI 64
Syndicate : Team Alinghi
CEO : Ernesto Bertarelli
Yacht Club : Societe Nautique de Geneve
Design : Grant Simmer, Rolf Vrolijk
Boat Builder : Decision SA, CH
Skipper : Russel Coutts
This Cup was not running very well for the
Team New Zealand. Their organisation was
falling apart and more than 30 members joined
other syndicates.
For example the skipper Russel Coutts and the
tactician Brad Butterworth moved to Alinghi, the
designer Laurie Davidson to OneWorld.
The design team developed a hull appendage,
called “Hula”. A shell, - separated by a thin gap-
after the fin and around the rudder should
increase the volume and the length of the hull.
In five races NZL 82 could not finish 2 times.
Shortly after the start in race 1 she took
plenty of water (estimated 1-2 tons)
running over the side into her cockpit.
In race 4 her mast was stressed in a
couple of short and heavy waves and
broke. SUI - 64 won 5 : 0
NZL-82: The dramatic loser of the AC 2003
This Cup was not running very well for the
Team New Zealand. Their organisation was
The British magazine Yachting World described Alinghis CEO
Ernesto Bertarelli as “one of this second generation
phenomenon turning his fathers traditional pharmaceutical
company into a biotech powerhouse.” (Remark: which
he sold later at a very profitable price.)
In the same stile he founded and organized his team Alinghi.
He collected a top team including Russel Coutts, Brad
Butterworth and others who know for example the wind
situation in the Hauraki Gulf very well.
Grant Simmer , Rolf Vrolijk and others of the design team constructed a top yacht.After the not very
successful team FAST 2000 with SUI-59 “Be Happy”, Alinghi became 3 years later the second Swiss team
challenging for the AC, which they won with SUI-64.
The first time after 152 years the America’s Cup returned to Europe.
At the "unveiling day" when all its
participants must show the
substructure of their yachts,the
Swiss painted as fun a cow on the
keel.
AMERICA’S CUP HISTORY 1983 - 2013
