"Sailing is more than a passion for me" remarked billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's proud owner of his latest conquest, the America's Cup. Born in Rome in 1965, he never tires of pointing out that his favourite sport is sailing.
"I've learnt how to walk aboard a boat as a child by hanging to the lines and sheets," he once said in an interview.
Contacting match racing super skipper Russell Coutts was like putting a message in a bottle in the ocean to reach him. That's how difficult it was for Bertarelli to achieve his dream of owning the best America's Cup crew on behalf of Switzerland. History proved in the end that Bertarelli not only managed to grab Coutts and most of the best of his Team New Zealand guys, but also got the America's Cup in Europe for the first time.
But then, Coutts found himself out of the 2007 AC by Bertarelli himself, at least that is what we are led to believe up to now.
Being an America's Cup scrutiniser myself, I say this, that for the moment this could be more than a convenient tack on the part of witty Bertarelli. This way, the America's Cup could be more attractive to other challengers old and new... the odds for winning will be more or less even. With Coutts out of contention, it's like having the World Cup without Brazil.
The 'plan' is working so much that deadline registration recorded a heavy participation of 12 boats to battle it out in Act 4 of the pre-regattas in Valencia last week.
The Italians are the leading protagonists with three syndicates - Prada's Luna Rossa, Capitalia's Mascalzone Latino, and +39. Italians also have their fingers on South African boat Shosholoza with Salvatore Sarno as Team Manager.
Alinghi also have Italian hands on board. These are five of the big boats in the big game with Italo connections. No wonder the land of song feels that this time the cup will go their way.
The other big guns from the other continents are once more in it with Emirates Team New Zealand working out their way to square off their humiliating defeat in the last AC edition.
Amazingly though, it's a sole participation from the United States with mega-rich Larry Ellison exceeding the 130 million dollars he forked out last time to sustain BMW Oracle Racing's challenge in the Mediterranean.
Together with Shosholoza and France's Le Defi, Spain presented their AC boat Desafio Espanol for the Act 4 starting line. With the regatta being sailed on their waters, the Spaniards are the ones to watch very closely.
China is not renowned as a seafaring nation. They have no history in competitive sailing but became the latest debutant country in the America's Cup when beating the registration deadline with a guarantee of one million euros. Joining them in the same week was the United Internet Team from Germany, another first time country ever in the AC.
"We have 12 teams from five continents, full of colour and culture re-enforcing the global appeal of the America's Cup," rightly boasted organising committee CEO Michel Bonnefus.
One sour note though is the notable absence of both Australia and Great Britain, two traditional AC nations that have run out of time to raise financial arrangements.
The 2007 participation falls just short of the all-time record achieved in Australia in 1987 when 13 challengers from six countries took part.
Louis Vuitton Cup - Acts
Racing began in September with the Marseille Louis Vuitton Cup Act.
BMW Oracle Racing showed winning form to top the competition that included Fleet and Match Racing in one event.
The AC show then moved to its new home for the pre-season AC 2007 campaign. In Act 2 match racing Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa were the top-of-the-table, upsetting the favoured Alinghi.
The Valencia series of the Louis Vuitton Cup Acts 4-5, got underway recently off the coast of Spain.
Alinghi stormed through Act 4 in a most commanding way by beating all 11 challengers for a clean sweep.
TNZ outmuscled BMW Oracle Racing for second place as Luna Rossa had to succumb to all the big three.
Swedish Victory Challenge won the tie against Desafio Espanol for fifth place.
Act 5 is currently underway.