Alinghi start building multi-hull yacht

VALENCIA, Spain -- Defending America's Cup champions Alinghi of Switzerland have revealed they are to start building a multihull yacht for their duel against American challengers Oracle.

Alinghi's design team coordinator Grant Simmer said: "We are looking at building a big beast of a boat and the loads are off the scale compared to most of the boats we've been involved with."

"Obviously from a naval architecture point of view this is an extremely fast and exciting boat," he told a news conference in the Spanish port of Valencia which hosted the last America's Cup in July 2007.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Oracle, backed by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison, announced that construction of a multihull yacht for its America's Cup challenge was "well underway" on the US Pacific coast.

While Alinghi, which is backed by biotech tycoon Ernesto Bertarelli, has not yet started to build its boat, the Swiss team have been training on both catamarans and trimarans in Europe.

The two sides will be facing off in a duel, or Deed of Gift Match, for the 33rd America's Cup because they failed to reach an agreement on the rules for a traditional regatta involving several teams.

The New York Supreme Court, the trustee of the Deed of Gift, the 1887 document which details the complex rules of the America's Cup, is expected to rule shortly on the next date for yachting's showpiece event.

Alinghi prefer May 2009 while Oracle want October 2008.

The Swiss team argues it cannot build a competitive multihull yacht by October in order to adequately defend their crown for what would be their third straight title.

"Today we have a way forward," said Alinghi team skipper Brad Butterworth.

"Ernesto has committed to building this multi-hull and as long as we can get the pending issues resolved by the New York courts, including a race date in 2009, we'll be sailing in a huge multi-hull against Oracle," he added.

Butterworth said Alinghi had retained most of the sailors that it had during the last America's Cup "with a slight downsize" and had recruited people with experience in a multi-hull challenge.

Alinghi retained the America's Cup by beating Team New Zealand in a hugely successful event in Valencia in July 2007.

The 33rd America's Cup had originally been scheduled to be held in Valencia in July 2009 as a traditional regatta involving several teams.

But organisers indefinately postponed the event in November because of the legal wrangling betwen Oracle and Alinghi over the rules of the event. E-mail to a friend