Michel Bonnefous
Skipper:
Russell Coutts
(NZ)
Despite hailing from a landlocked country, Team Alinghi were quickly cast as favourites for the 2002 Louis Vuitton Cup. Swiss pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli hired many of the
Team New Zealand personnel
who successfully defended the Cup in 2000, including skipper Russell Coutts
and tactician Brad Butterworth.
History
Coming back from his trip to New Zealand for the America's Cup 2000, Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli realised that winning the Cup was about people. So he went about getting them. When Coutts decided to share Bertarelli's dream of taking the cup to Europe, the Alinghi Challenge was born.
Crew
While Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth are a big enough threat on their own, there's a lot more experience throughout the Alinghi crew. Along with a handful of skilled ex-Team New Zealand members, the team also includes triple Olympic champion and silver medallist in the soling class, Jochen Schumann, and Christian Karcher, a veteran of three America's Cup campaigns. But with a crew made up of 14 different nationalities, the question is, can Alinghi pull it together as a team?
The crew includes:
Richard Bouzaid, trimmer (NZ)
Brad Butterworth (ex Team NZ tactician)
Allan Coutts, grinder (NZ)
Russell Coutts (ex Team NZ skipper)
Simon Daubney (ex Team NZ trimmer)
Warwick Fleury (ex Team NZ trimmer)
Murray Jones (ex Team NZ tactician)
Dean Phipps (ex Team NZ bowman)
Money
One of the big-budget campaigns, Alinghi have a $120 million budget for a three-year campaign.
Strengths
Coutts and Butterworth are probably Alinghi's greatest assets. The two know the Hauraki Gulf well and seem to have good crew members to back them up. Alinghi have had the better of the other challengers in training sessions leading up to the event.
Prospects
Alinghi are the hot favourites to win the Louis Vuitton Challenger series and the right to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup. They seem to have the right crew, adequate boats and enough money - which looks very much like a winning formula.
New boats:
SUI-64
SUI-75
Designers: Grant Simmer (Australia) and Rolf Vrolijk
Hull colour: grey with circular red logo
Trial horse:
SUI-59
(formerly Pajot's Be-Happy)
Club:
Société Nautique de Genève
, Switzerland
Team website
