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Red Moon Rising This will be the first new AC boat to arrive in Valencia since Shosholoza's 83 arrived almost one year ago. 84 is Team NZ's new yacht which is now en route to Valencia after a month of testing in Auckland. 85 is the new yacht of the Italian Challenger +39, still under construction. Dockside rumour in Valencia is that +39 continues to suffer from an acute shortage of cash, and that construction on 85 has, at least for now, stopped. We also hear from a normally reliable source within Alinghi that +39 has asked if they could transfer their challenge from Italy to England, which leads to the obvious conclusion that there must be some British financing lurking in the wings. So far none of the teams has laid claim to 87. It could be the new boat of Oracle, Mascalzone or even Alinghi. SA is betting on Oracle, but only time will tell. 88 is the Spanish team's new boat now nearing completion. 89 is the new German boat being built in Kiel. Sail number 90 has been issued but, like 87, no team has publicly claimed it. If 87 belongs to Oracle then 90 likely is Mascalzone. That would make Alinghi's new boat, construction of which we are told began in early January, number 91. The next weeks and months will be interesting times in Valencia as the teams begin to receive and ultimately go public with their new babies. With shrouding now permitted until the end of March 2007 we will not get a look at the underbodies. But the world will begin to get an idea of where each of the teams has gone on the interesting question, under the newly restrictive AC rule, of max beam and waterline beam. 02/17/06 |
Amid
much secrecy the Italian America's Cup team, Luna Rossa (ex Prada),
will take delivery of their new AC yacht ITA 86 at their base in Valencia
next Monday. This we have learned from our "deep throat" inside
the organizing committee in Valencia known as ACM. Internal documents
leaked to SA about ongoing roadworks around the team bases has spilled
the beans on what Luna Rossa hoped could be kept secret - to keep away
the prying eyes of their competitors.