What was a good weekend turned into a great weekend for Alinghi, with victory in the Open de Versoix. Having already won the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva on Saturday, the team – helmed again by Ernesto Bertarelli – led the event overnight after a great day’s sailing on the Sunday. A disappointing lack of wind meant that Monday’s conclusion to the Open was regrettably called off, but it does mean that Alinghi have returned to the top of the leaderboard of the Vulcain Trophy. And the victory makes it three from three for Bertarelli in terms of his own involvement… It is an auspicious time to be in such good form with the Bol d’Or due to take place next weekend. The highlight of the season, the race will see more than 500 boats sprinting to the end of Lake Geneva before returning to the finish line. As it is an event that Alinghi and their skipper have won six times the team will certainly be approaching the start-line feeling good. So, let’s hope the wind is with us and may the best team win!

The maximum of 6 races were raced today at the first day of the Open de Versoix… Alinghi started really well, claiming the first place of the two first races of the day. With two other podium places (2&3) a fifth and a dropped eleventh place, Alinghi is leading the Open de Versoix tonight with a 3 points lead over Mobimo and Tilt respectively 2nd and 3rd. Tomorrow Racing starts again at 12:00 for 6 races maximum in front of the shores of Versoix.

Alinghi wins the Geneva-Rolle-Geneva classic regatta after 4h52min of close combat against Realstone. The gun was fired at 13:00 in Vesenaz, in front of La Tour Carrée, by the Yacht Club of Geneva in very light wind conditions. Alinghi was in the leading group since the very beginning with some very close followers, Realstone and Zen too. After 3:15min of racing, Realstone passed the first mark in front of Rolle two boat lengths ahead of Alinghi, but after a successful jibe battle in front of the Ile de la Harpe, Alinghi was back in the leading position at the second mark located right in front of the Harbor of Rolle. A light breeze pushed then the D-35 fleet back towards Geneva, not far ahead of the first M2. Alinghi crossed the finish line first with Ernesto Bertarelli at the Helm, Nicolas Charbonnier at the Tactic, Pierre-Yves Jorand at the Mainsail, Coraline Jonet & Nils Frei at the Trim, Yves Detrey at the Bow. Sailing continues tomorrow at the Club Nautique de Versoix at 11:30am for 6 races max. The forecast is for little wind again and a very hot day… Let’s bet that the D-35 fleet will battle hard again on the water. Geneva-Rolle-Geneva Results: Alinghi Realstone Mobimo Team Tilt Zen Too LadyCat Powered by Spindrift Racing Veltigroup Okalys Oryx Yliiam Comptoir Immobilier

With 6 races sailed on the first day of the week end, Alinghi’s D35, helmed for the occasion by Luc Dubois in the absence of Ernesto Bertarelli, was in 5th place but within touching distance of a  fight for the podium on Saturday night. But the wind decided not to show up on Sunday, which forced the Race committee to cancel racing for the day. Great job by the two young teams of the circuit, Tilt and Realteam who were in first and second places respectively– proof that their hard work during the first month of the year is paying off and that the level has definitely increased on the D35 circuit. Congratulations to LadyCat powered by Spindrift racing who took third place of this Second Act of the Vulcain Trophy, with which – at this stage of the season – they also take first place overall. We can bet that the competition will be fierce on  the first week end of June (7th), at the occasion of the classic Geneva-Rolle-Geneva Race and that every team will use all their tactical tricks to try to win the prologue of the Bol d’Or. A busy week-end ahead for the Teams as they will be racing the first Grand Prix de Versoix on June 8-9, making this pre-Bol d’Or weekend count for double. Ranking of the Open de Crans Tilt Realstone sailing Ladycat powered by Spindrift racing Zen Too Alinghi Mobimo Veltigroup Oryx Okalys Racing Django Ylliam - Comptoir immobilier Provisional Overall ranking of the Vulcain Trophy Ladycat powered by Spindrift racing Tilt Alinghi Realstone sailing Mobimo Zen Too Veltigroup Okalys Oryx Racing Django Ylliam – Comptoir immobilier

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Alinghi opened their account for the 2014 Vulcain Trophy in style, taking first place in the Grand Prix Les Ambassadeurs, which took place over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of May. Highlights of the dramatic racing, as well as interviews with the teams, are all on this video package.

Alinghi’s D35 SUI-1, helmed by Ernesto Bertarelli, yesterday won the first Act of the Vulcain Trophy, the Grand Prix Les Ambassadeurs. After 13 races sailed in very variable wind conditions and with some tricky wind shifts, it was Alinghi who sat atop the leaderboard to take this first Act of the D35 2014 Championship. The team had fought with three other boats for the right to climb to the first step of the podium: Ladycat, powered by Spindrift, Mobimo and Realteam. With six different teams winning races, the level was extremely high and the season promises to be intense – the whole fleet has been training hard during the early days of the year and the crews looked super-competitive for this first event of the season. At the end of the weekend, Alinghi emerged victorious with Ernesto Bertarelli at the helm, Nicolas Charbonnier (tactic), Pierre-Yves Jorand (main), Coraline Jonet (Trimmer), Nils Frei (Trimmer), Yves Detrey (bow), in front of LadyCat Powered by Spindrift (second). Mobimo (third) and Realteam (fourth). The teams will do battle again in Crans-près-Céligny, May 24th – 25th.

Alinghi emerged victorious from Act 3 of the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series in Qingdao despite being victim of one of the biggest and most spectacular crashes in the Series’ eight-year history. The team had led the Act since race one and it was this relentless consistency – combined with a redress awarded by the international jury following the collision – that ultimately saw them secure the victory and move two points clear at the top of the Series leaderboard. Throughout the Act conditions had varied wildly, with light winds on the first day giving way to gusts of up to 32 knots on the second as the fleet moved into stadium racing mode. Speaking about Alinghi’s ability to master these variable and trying winds, acting skipper Morgan Larson said: “At times the boat that would come off the line last would go on to win races. That goes to show that today there was opportunity, whereas yesterday you needed to have a good start and the positioning needed to stay the same – with the shifty winds today it really created opportunity. Most of the time you have to be aggressive on these boats to do well, if you back off and be conservative that’s when trouble seems to happen. So balancing that today was really key and I think we did a good job – we positioned ourselves conservatively but we sailed the boat physically hard, and I think the results show.” The results did indeed show and Alinghi went into the final day looking to maintain their lead of ten points over the fleet. Ultimately they did so – finishing by the same margin ahead of fellow Swiss team Realstone – but that was perhaps not the main talking point of the day. In one of the final races of the day the unlucky Red Bull Sailing Team were caught by a huge gust that propelled them into Alinghi’s side in one of the biggest incidents of its kind in the history of the Series. As Morgan Larson explained afterwards: “We were lining up at the start, and approaching the line with ten seconds to go and most of the fleet was on port. Red Bull ducked behind us, the winds were shifty and up and down, there was too much of a puff and they couldn’t get the bear away and T-boned us – it happens. It’s great to have won, we had such a great regatta that it was bittersweet to end that way, but I think we earned it so it feels good. We’re just glad that no one was hurt and that the boat is repairable – it will take a week in a good boat yard, but it will be back and ready to race.” Even though Alinghi’s crew had to watch the final races from the dock, the team took the Act victory after a redress awarded by the international jury. So now, with the fleet looking towards Act 4 in Saint Petersburg, Alinghi have stolen a march on their rivals and, with the Series reaching the halfway stage, will be looking to cement their lead. Land Rover Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 Qingdao, for the ‘Double Star Mingren’ Cup standings after Day 4, 32 races: Position / Team / Points 1st Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Anna Tunnicliffe, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 178 points. 2nd Realteam by Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Denis Girardet, Bryan Mettraux, Thierry Wassem 168 points. 3rd Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) Peter Burling, Glenn Ashby, Blair Tuke, Jeremy Lomas, Edwin Delaat 160 points. 4th The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler, Nasser Al Mashari 159 points. 5th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson, Pete Cumming, Aleksey Kulakov 140 points. 6th Oman Air (OMA) Rob Greenhalgh, Tom Johnson, Kyle Langford, Hashim Al Rashdi, Musab Al Hadi 133 points. 7th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Goodison, Pippa Wilson, Matt Cornwell 129 points. 8th Groupama sailing team (FRA) Franck Cammas, Sophie de Turckheim, Tanguy Cariou, Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan 128 points. 9th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Mark Bulkeley, Nick Blackman, Stewart Dodson 126 points. 10th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Peter Wibroe, Nicolai Sehested 125 points. 11th Team Extreme Qingdao (CHN) Mitch Booth, Zhang Yiran, Liu Xue, Nick Moloney, Freddie White 111 points. 12th GAC Pindar (AUS) David Gilmour, Troy Tindill, Ed Smyth, Sam Newton, Alexandra South 98 points. Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 overall standings: Position / Team / Points 1st Alinghi (SUI) 28 points 2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 26 points 3rd Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 24 points 4th Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 22 points 5th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 15 points 6th Groupama sailing team (FRA) 12 points 7th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 11 points 8th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 10 points 9th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 9 points 10th Oman Air (OMA) 8 points 11th GAC Pindar (AUS) 3 points

It was four days of extremely competitive and tight racing, in conditions that ranged from light to strong winds, for Act II of Extreme Sailing Series 2014 in Muscat, Oman. Having led the fleet heading into the final day, Alinghi ended up finishing 3rd behind ‘home’ team The Wave, Muscat and Emirates Team New Zealand. The final result was perhaps harsh on Alinghi as the team were caught up in ‘traffic’ at critical times, though no one could doubt the skill with which the defending champions handled the tough course on the final day of racing. During the majority of the Act, Alinghi had handled  the light wind conditions wonderfully, particularly at the start line, and were leading heading into the final day. Then, however, conditions changed completely, with steady winds of 20 knots supplemented by gusts of 26. That meant that power and brute force became the order of the day, with teams hurtling to the windward mark before unfurling gennakers and powering downwind. For the crowds watching, it undoubtedly made for a great spectacle, but it also made for crowded and high-octane racing and Alinghi were unlucky to be caught-up on a number of occasions. Nonetheless, heading into the double-pointer final race, the team were very much still in the hunt, alongside three others: The Wave, Emirates Team New Zealand and SAP Extreme Sailing Team. Indeed, only four points separated the rivals and 20 were up for grabs. Unfortunately, it was not to be for Ernesto Bertarelli’s team, with a fourth place in the race putting pay to their hopes of replicating their victory in Act I. Speaking after the race, helmsman Morgan Larson said: “We should be pleased with the result in such a tough field but we were quite disappointed with how we sailed today. We need to do a better job staying out of the fray and we didn’t achieve that today and The Wave, Muscat did and you’ve got to hand it to them, they earned the win. It’s a long season ahead and if we can keep on the podium this year we’ll have a shot at the title at the end of the year, this will be our objective”. Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 Act 2, Muscat standings after Day 4, 29 races (22.03.14): Position / Team / Points 1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Kinley Fowler, Nasser Al Mashari 188 points. 2nd Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) Dean Barker, Glenn Ashby, James Dagg, Jeremy Lomas, Edwin Delaat 180 points. 3rd Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Anna Tunnicliffe, Pierre-Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey 179 points. 4th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Peter Wibroe, Nicolai Sehested 176 points. 5th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Paul Campbell-James, Alister Richardson, Pete Cumming, Aleksey Kulakov 158 points. 6th Realteam by Realstone (SUI) Jérôme Clerc, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bryan Mettraux, Thierry Wassem, Nils Palmieri 153 points. 7th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Mark Bulkeley, Nick Blackman, Stewart Dodson 145 points. 8th Groupama sailing team (FRA) Franck Cammas, Sophie de Turckheim, Tanguy Cariou, Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan 144 points. 9th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) Ben Ainslie, Nick Hutton, Paul Goodison, Pippa Wilson, Matt Cornwell 137 points. 10th Oman Air (OMA) Rob Greenhalgh, Tom Johnson, Will Howden, Hashim Al Rashdi, Musab Al Hadi 123 points. 11th GAC Pindar (AUS) Seve Jarvin, Troy Tindill, Ed Smyth, Sam Newton, David Gilmour 94 points. Extreme Sailing Series™ 2014 overall standings: Position / Team / Points 1st The Wave, Muscat (OMA) 19 points. 2nd Alinghi (SUI) 18 points. 3rd Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 16 points. 4th Realteam by Realstone (SUI) 13 points. 5th Groupama sailing team (FRA) 9 points. 6th Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) 9 points. 7th Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) 9 points. 8th SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) 8 points. 9th J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) 6 points. 10th Oman Air (OMA) 3 points. 11th GAC Pindar (AUS) 2 points.