Alinghi confirm Dubai relocation

America's Cup holders Alinghi have decided to move to Dubai during the European winter as part of their ambitious bid to defend the title in 2007.

The relocation was confirmed by the Swiss team last weekend at the end of a 19-day roadshow through Switzerland. Alinghi are based at a purpose-built training centre in Valencia, Spain, where the next America's Cup match will be staged but will carry out training on their new boats in Dubai from mid-November until the end of February.

"The move wasn't part of our original plans or budget," Alinghi managing director Grant Simmer told Reuters .

"But it's all about finding the best weather conditions. One of the strong reasons for choosing Valencia to host the America's Cup in 2007 was the typical summer breeze you have there but in the winter that just doesn't exist."

Simmer said the move to Dubai would add around "two or three per cent" to Alinghi's overall budget of "slightly higher than €100 million".

Having raced primarily with their old SUI 75 boat during the pre-regattas, Alinghi will now focus their efforts in Dubai on the new SUI 91, which will eventually compete with a still unfinished and unnamed fourth boat for use in the America's Cup final.

That approach means Alinghi will play catch-up to rivals and potential America's Cup finalists Team New Zealand who were beaten 5-0 by the Swiss syndicate in the 2003 final but managed a 4-1 record against the holders this year, albeit with a newer boat.

"Team New Zealand have improved significantly since the last Cup," Simmer acknowledged. "It's true we were sailing an older boat but it's about the sporting as well as the technical side and in the last Act at least, they sailed better than us."

Return to Europe

Boasting an experienced and international team bankrolled by Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi became the first European team to win yachting's most prestigious trophy with their triumph over New Zealand three years ago.

Competition rules prevented the team holding the next competition on the lakes of landlocked Switzerland but the America's Cup is returning to Europe for the first time since the inaugural 1851 contest off the Isle of Wight.

Following two months of qualifying competitions between April and June next year, the eventual Challenger will square off against Alinghi in the America's Cup proper, which starts on June 23.