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The new boat is in Switzerland together with a team of Alinghi boat builders and is being monitored closely by Alinghi shore crew coordinator Michel MARIE and yard director Bertrand CARDIS. Several members of the design team led by Chief Engineer Dirk KRAMERS are commuting between the yard in Vevey, the base in Valencia, Spain and Dubai, UAE, where Alinghi is carrying out a winter training camp.

The relationship between the Swiss Defender and Décision Boatyard is a strong one; the yard built both SUI64, the 2003 America's Cup winning yacht, and SUI75, the 2005 America's Cup Class Championship winner. Then in 2006, SUI91 was built and shipped to Valencia. The first of two new boats, SUI91 has not raced the challenger fleet yet and is currently in Dubai with SUI64, where the testing and training programme is underway.

Twenty five boat builders are involved in building SUI100, from both the Décision and the Alinghi camps, and the aim is to have the boat finished early in the New Year and ready for the crew to complete structural checks in Valencia and start testing the boat.

SIMMER Happy With Progress

Grant SIMMER, managing director and design team coordinator, commented on progress, 'The construction of the second of our new builds for the defence of the 32nd America's Cup is progressing on schedule. We have put into this design all the information that we have been collecting from the two-boat testing programme that has been underway since 2000 when we started Alinghi.'

He also added a word on a very happy marriage between Alinghi and the Décision SA Boatyard in Vevey, 'We enjoy a very productive relationship with Bertrand CARDIS' team at Décision and we benefit from the collaboration and experience both within Alinghi and at the yard. Michel MARIE is in Vevey regularly while our head boat builder Gary HUTCHINSON and six other Alinghi boat builders are working full time to complete the boat.'

The America's Cup Match and Challenger/Defender Series are designated as ISAF Special Events. For more information on the America's Cup, the Louis Vuttion Acts and the teams competing, visit the official America's Cup website - www.americascup.com.