Alinghi is revving up for Louis Vuitton Act 12, the last chance for the Defender to match race the challengers before the America’s Cup Match next year. To recap, the last few weeks since LV Acts 10&11, in which Alinghi won one and lost one. The Swiss Defender launched the first of two new builds, SUI91, and has been two boat testing alongside SUI75. For LV Act 12, she won’t be ready and as Peter Holmberg, helmsman for this coming Act, explains: “We’ve elected to use 75, our boat of choice for the past year. She is the one that has tickled up the best for us, the fastest. SUI91 is brand new and there are a lot of bits and pieces that need to be finished before she’s ready to go racing. We believe that SUI75 is also the right boat to measure our opponents with.”

Much as in previous races, Alinghi will continue to rotate the crew, as sports director and helmsman, Jochen Schuemann, mentions: “It’s still the same policy. We are preparing for the America’s Cup Match in 2007 so it’s about the team development towards then and that is why we have to stick to the crew rotation to keep lifting the game of the whole team.”

LV Act 12 is critical from an observation stand point. It is one year, almost to the day, that Alinghi will be defending the 32nd America’s Cup and the team will be watching the weather patterns as well as the challengers. Team skipper and tactician, Brad Butterworth, outlines the point: “This regatta mirrors what is going to happen in a year’s time and although we sail against everybody, which is nice, it is important to sail in the conditions and the winds that we will hopefully get next year.” The three-time Cup winner doesn’t underestimate the importance of the upcoming competition however: “It will be hard, I think, because you see how the other three big teams have got closer to us. The Spanish have launched their new boat and I’m pretty sure they’ll sail it, and they are not going too badly either,” he adds: “It’s going to be hard to make the final four. Once you do, then it’s all on and in any given day you can make the finals or not. We’ll be pushing our hardest to try to win the regatta, but I think it’s going to be a tough call.”

Louis Vuitton Act 12 plays out from 22 June until 3 July. The 26, the 29 June and the 3 July are reserve days. There will be two matches a day with the first start at 1400 and the second at 1600. See www.alinghi.com for the pairings and current rankings.

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