After the storms and thunderstorms of last night on and around lake Geneva, the same was looking more like a mirror than anything else this morning. The team suffered from the absence of its trimmer Nils Frei who suffered from a knee infection that kept him on shore for the rest of the week-end. Called on last minute, long time team member Andrew Graham jumped on board after the doctors call to keep Nils at the very last minute. After a risky start towards the shores of "le Vengeron" Alinghi had to fight hard to stay in contact with the rest of the fleet.  The Rolle marks proved to be a nightmare to turn, as there was literally no wind in front of the castle and the wine yards. Alinghi chose to return to Geneva sticking to the French coast, which proved to be the good option as the team managed to take over more than ten boats on the way back to Geneva finishing third of the D35 and 4th at the overall ranking. It's never over until it is over!  A game of patience and passion for the whole crew on board who will start again racing tomorrow in Versoix for the second day of the Versoix GP II where they currently hold the second position. Enjoy the pictures of the day!

Today, despite some negative forecast, a maximum of 6 races were sailed. Alinghi started the day with a first place in race 1. For the rest of the day – consistency proved once more to be key to stay at the top of the leaderboard. After scoring, 1, 5, 4, 2, 4, (7 discard) Alinghi is 2nd after day 1, one point behind Tilt and 3 points ahead of Okalys. Tomorrow the D35 fleet will participate to the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva classic together with 240 other boats from many different classes. Follow us on: http://player.georacing.com/?event=100160&race=91215&application_id=-1&name=geneve-rolle-geneve%20-%20toutes%20categories Day 2 of GP VERSOIX II will take place on Sunday, June 7. Enjoy the gallery of the day at the top of the page.

Photos credit: Guilain Grenier | Bullit GC32 Racing Tour Amid testing conditions on Lake Traunsee, the first event of the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour came to a conclusion in Austria on Sunday 31st May with Alinghi taking third place. Following a minor back injury, Pierre-Yves Jorand had to be replaced at the mainsail on board Alinghi’s GC32, with the team welcoming, at the very last minute, Red Bull Sailing Team member and double Olympian Hans-Peter Steinacher  Throughout the event, the wind had been unpredictable, with the key for the teams being to find – and then stay in – the breeze. On the fourth and final day, this was very much the case, with the race area transported to the southern end of the lake at Ebensee in an attempt to find some wind. When racing did get going it was a mixed day for Alinghi team: two wins were combined with two lower results. Having gone into the day way out in front at the top of the leaderboard it was always unlikely that Sultanate of Oman would be caught and so it proved, with Leigh McMillan’s crew winning the event. Alinghi took third place, with Spindrift second. Commenting after the racing, Alinghi’s helmsman Morgan Larson said: “It was nice to finally work on things that, perhaps, we had been struggling a bit with within the team, such as communication and where to position ourselves. Spindrift had a fantastic day and hats off to them for that, while it’s clear that Leigh and his crew are setting a new benchmark in the class. We can’t wait to come back even stronger in the Cowes Cup in a few weeks’ time.” Before Cowes, of course, is the next event in the D35 Championship with a double counting weekend including the second Versoix GP (5&7  of June) and  the classic Geneve-Rolle-Geneve (6 of June). Highlights Day 1 [VIDEO::https://youtu.be/DhP3_zVUqdk::news] Day 2 [VIDEO::https://youtu.be/1ryf4srmLdk::news] Day 3 [VIDEO::https://youtu.be/ib88PpHLMwk::news] Day 4 [VIDEO::https://youtu.be/HHklNC7_udA::news]

Four races were sailed today on a tricky playground in Traunsee, and Alinghi managed to take the best out of it, winning two races out of four. Hans-Peter Steinacher seems to have found his marks pretty quickly with the core team of Alinghi, composed of Morgan Larson (Helm), Hans-Peter Steinacher (Main in the absence of Pierre-Yves Jorand slightly injured), Nicolas Charbonnier (Tactic), Nils Frei (Trimm) & Yves Detrey (Bow). With talented teams all around and such tricky conditions, everything can change in the coming days but let's bet that this first day of sailing brought a good spirit within the team! Photo credit : Bullitt GC32 - Guilain Grenier

While waiting for races to start in Traunsee, here is a short Film about the preparation of our GC32 at the beginning of the season. [VIDEO::https://youtu.be/s4z1O0IWiAE::news]

This past weekend saw the second event in the 2015 D35 Championship – the prestigious Open de Versoix. Having suffered from a relative lack of wind earlier in the season, conditions couldn’t have been any different on the first day of racing in Versoix. Or, rather, what was supposed to be the first day of racing. Huge winds of 30 knots left the Race Committee with little option but to call off Saturday’s competition, meaning it would all come down to how the teams were able to perform on Sunday.  Happily, conditions on day two were perfect, with winds ranging from 12-20 knots. Alinghi got off to a reasonable start, finishing third in Race 1. The team had, however, been out in front before a penalty turn caused them to drop behind Ladycat and Team Tilt. Alinghi’s luck improved in Race 2, which the team won having led from the top turn. Behind them were Team Tilt, who would be a regular competitor over the rest of the day. Indeed, it was Tilt that would take the Open de Versoix after winning races 3, 5 and 6. Alinghi had to beat Realstone in the last race in order to secure second place behind Tilt overall. Unfortunately, a further penalty meant that the team couldn’t do it and had to settle for third. Still, it was a fantastic day of truly competitive racing – the sort that the class and the Series were designed for. Congratulations to Team Tilt – and we’ll see them at the start line next time. Complete results and rankings of the weekend: http://d35trophy.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Classement-CNV-2015.pdf

Amid challenging condtions, last weekend saw the first Grand Prix of the 2015 Decision 35 Trophy at Société Nautique de Genève. With winds going from 28 knots to zero on Friday afternoon, with a mix of rain, gusts, breakage and even a capsize for Racing Django – taken by surprise by a strong gust when leaving their mooring – the race committee had little choice but to call the day’s racing off without a single regatta sailed. On Saturday morning all of the teams were back at the Société Nautique de Genève, impatient to start competing. But the wind was, again, capricious and the first start gun could only be fired at the very end of the afternoon – the SNG Starting Vessel and the 11-boat fleet of the Decision 35 having spent their time chasing the wind up to almost Nyon all afternoon. The racing finally took place between la Belotte and le Reposoir – in a rather strange direction with very shifty winds… Two races were sailed in these tricky conditions and the race committee did a terrific job managing to get the racing going. At the end of the first racing day, three boats were tight on points, Team Tilt, Ladycat powered by Spindrift Racing and Alinghi, with five points each. On Sunday, a nice Séchard, allowed the fleet to sail four more races in relatively steady wind conditions. Alinghi led race five from start to the finish, showing that the 2013 and 2014 champion is still very much in business. The lasting impression after this first weekend isthat the fleet is more compact than ever and that podium places will not be easy to come by. After six races, the overall ranking of the week-end was: http://d35trophy.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Classement-GP-SNG-2015-officiel.pdf And the provisory season 2015 ranking is: Team Tilt (1pt) Alinghi (2pts) Zen Too (3pts) Ladycat powered by Spindrift racing (4pts) Veltigroup-Swisscom (5pts) Realteam (6pts) Racing Django (7pts) Oryx (8pts) Okalys (9pts) Mobimo (10pts) Ylliam Comptoir Immobilier (11pts)

This week has seen four teams sailing and flying on the waters of the city of Marseille. It was Alinghi’s first regattas on its new GC32. No races were sailed today, as the gusts were up to 30 knots. Alinghi’s crew composed by Ernesto Bertarelli and Morgan Larson at the helm, Nicolas Charbonnier (tactic), Pierre-Yves Jorand (mainsail), Nils Frei (trimmer), Yves Detrey (bow) finished Marseille GC32 test event in second position. This first test event was the perfect opportunity for the team to learn as much as possible, to sail this new foiling machine and improve as much as possible it’s flying abilities before the first official event that will take place in Traunsee, Austria from 27th to 31st of May. Enjoy the magnificent pictures taken by Gilles Martin-Raget in the gallery below. Pictures Copyright: Team Alinghi / Gilles Martin-Raget