37th America's Cup: Alinghi Red Bull Racing's "BoatOne" christened by Chiara Bertarelli
Tatjana Pokorny
· 16.04.2024
Who will have the fastest foiler?
128 days before the first starting signal for the final pre-regatta of the 37th America's Cup, Alinghi Red Bull Racing's Cup yacht was given its name on 16 April. Ernesto Bertarelli's daughter Chiara christened the Swiss sailing pride. The dark-blue racer with the feisty red bull on the bow is to go on the Cup hunt as "BoatOne". America's Cup observer Magnus Wheatley had already remarked at the first presentation: "As the late, great, multiple America's Cup winner Olin Stephens once said: 'If a boat looks fast, it usually is'. The expectations at Alinghi Red Bull Racing have rightly risen."
In the meantime, the New Zealand defenders have also shown their boat uncovered once before it is brought to Barcelona following initial tests. Last weekend, Patrizio Bertelli's Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli celebrated the christening of its silver "Luna Rossa" in Cagliari. The Swiss "BoatOne", which was first shown to the public, joins the ranks of the AC75s in Formula 1 livery, whose roots can obviously all be found in the design of the winning yacht of 2021: the superior New Zealand "Te Rehutai".
The highly experienced master boat builder Ties Rabe also sees "Te Rehutai" as the origin of the different designs. He is the most experienced boat builder in the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team. Shore Crew Manager Tim Hacket brought the experienced man from Steinhagen near Bielefeld onto the team in the summer of 2022. Ties Rabe and his colleagues initially took care of "BoatZero" while the new AC racing yacht was being built in Switzerland. In the meantime, the attention of Alinghi Red Bull Racing's boatbuilding team in Barcelona is focussed entirely on the new "BoatOne".
We are perhaps and hopefully a little better adapted to Barcelona's conditions" (Ties Rabe)
On the christening day, Ties Rabe told YACHT how he had perceived the teams' presentations and christenings so far: "That's interesting! Everyone seems to have started with the last winner. All the teams have slightly different interpretations of what is better than their last boats. We are perhaps and hopefully a bit better adapted to Barcelona's conditions because we have been here the longest. The future will tell us if we are right in that area."
When asked where he would categorise Alinghi's design on the "extreme scale" of 1 (conservative) to 10 (very radical), Ties Rabe said: "I would say that we are a solid eight. We are fully on board." Ties Rabe experienced the christening day as "important", but also as a stopover: "It's a day in the ongoing campaign. The day is more for the outside world than for the inside. As soon as the boat is back in the hall, we will continue our work and have to get it ready for use tomorrow."
New yacht for the America's Cup: 60,000 construction hours for "BoatOne"
Ties Rabe and his colleagues in Barcelona played only a small part in the 60,000 hours of boatbuilding that went into "BoatOne". Their work on "BoatOne" - apart from a few discussions and suggestions for equipment during the construction period - is only now beginning in Spain. "We may have had some influences, but not as many as other people," explains Rabe, who also brought Adrian Bleninger, a boatbuilding colleague he had come to know and appreciate at 11th Hour Racing, onto the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team.
According to Rabe, the old "BoatZero" is now a thing of the past. Now everything flows into the new "BoatOne". "The focus has completely changed with the switch," says the man who has already worked for the Illbruck Challenge, "Uca", the Puma Ocean Race teams and ABN Amro. Optimising the one new Cup yacht per team and the arms race with the other teams will be a major challenge for the shore team and Ties Rabe in the coming months.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing's Design Coordinator Adolfo Carrai described it this way in Barcelona on Tuesday: " Having 'BoatOne' in the water is a celebration of an achievement, it's a special moment that triggers a new phase. Today the contribution of so many different people to our racing yacht becomes clear. It is the first boat that the group has designed and built together. Now it's time to put it into operation and test it."
Three years from design to christening
Chief designer Marcelino Botin said: "You spend three years following the development of the boat on the computer. Then you see it in full size and it's like magic. But you realise that it's not actually magic. It's the result of the skills, expertise and passion of many people who put their skills to work to achieve a result that meets the team's expectations. That's the most amazing thing about a boat like this."
Alinghi Red Bull Racing's skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis took the baton and set the bar high for himself and his sailing team: "We had the opportunity to see and discover a lot of 'BoatOne' in the simulator, but it is even more impressive in reality. The launch of the boat marks the next stage for us to finally sail 'BoatOne'. The sailing team must now continue the great work of the designers and boat builders."
In New Zealand, the Kiwis have also just opened this new Cup chapter and have been busy with the first test runs on their new AC75 for four days. For the New Zealanders, the main focus is currently on running in the control and propulsion systems and beginning the long evaluation of the sails with the wide variety of pre-sets that AC teams use. For teams like the Kiwis, who are competing in their second AC75 campaign, the process is likely to be a little shorter than for the newcomers to the game.
Sail designer Burns Fallow put it this way: "The curve is not quite as steep as in the last campaign. It wasn't a curve, it was a mountain. But still, every boat is new, everyone is different, you're always learning, and that's kind of cool."
A look back at the first "roll-out" of Alinghi Red Bull Racing's "BoatOne" for the 37th America's Cup:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
