A freighter delivered the American challenger's equipment early on Monday morning, followed by a container ship from Ras Al Qaimah with Alinghi's catamaran in the afternoon. Training begins the day after tomorrow.
Within 20 days, the "Oceanlady" transported around 200 tonnes of freight for BMW Oracle from the training camp in San Diego to the venue, including the hull of the "BOR 90", the main element of the wing mast, spare parts, 19 containers with accessories and ten team boats.
The "Cassandra B" took six days less to cover the 4,500 nautical miles from the Arabian Gulf with a similarly large and valuable cargo. Defending champions Alinghi had spent two months there preparing intensively for the Cup regattas.
The Americans want to familiarise themselves with the local conditions from Thursday with match race training on Extreme 40 catamarans. According to Alinghi, they plan to start training on the water "in the middle of the month".
Whether the races will start as planned on 8 February, however, remains questionable - the legal skirmishes between the rivals continue unabated. A decision on BMW Oracle's accusation that Alinghi did not fully laminate its sails in Switzerland, as required, is still pending.
In return, Alinghi's club, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), is criticising the new berth of the American mega-trimaran. While the defending champion moved into its traditional base in the Americas Cup harbour of Dársena, which opened in 2007, BMW Oracle has set up in the nearby commercial port of Valencia. And in the opinion of the Swiss, this is in breach of the joint Notice of Race (NOR).
In a letter to the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), under whose banner BMW Oracle is competing, it says ironically and sharply: "As you may know, according to the NOR, the competitors' boats must remain in their assigned places in the Dársena or outer Dársena harbour. Any mooring of the GGYC boat in the commercial harbour is in breach of the NOR, negatively impacts the 33rd Ameicas Cup and significantly damages the SNG and Alinghi. The SNG will make every effort to enforce the NOR."
The problem: the Dársena harbour is not at all suitable for the giant trimaran with its wing mast, and the challengers are vehemently opposed to the move. The safety of all participants and the yachts is the top priority, says GGYC Commodore Marcus Young. And this is not guaranteed in the Dársena harbour. In fact, the 30-metre-long carbon projectile may no longer be controllable there in certain wind conditions.
