98 Claimed, Leaving Only 100

UPDATE 0730 Thu 11 Jan -- Last evening Alinghi confirmed that, indeed, they have been allocated sail number 100.


Today BMW ORACLE Racing confirmed what many had come to suspect once Luna Rossa announced, some weeks ago, that they had been allocated sail number 94 -- that 98 is, indeed, the American team's second (and final) new sail number for AC 32.

That leaves only number 100 allocated but unclaimed. Most of our readers will have long since deduced that it likely belongs to the Defender and joins SUI-91 as the other Swiss sail number for this AC cycle.

And with there not being enough lead time now to start and reasonably finish a new ACC yacht, it can be safely assumed (as we long ago projected here on the CCB) that for AC 32 we will get to sail number 100, just. When you think about it, that is some major achievement for an expensive, high-tech class that has been around only since 1990.

Most would agree the ACC continues to serve the America's Cup well. Many believe, including your Ed., that racing in the forthcoming LVC and Match will likely be the best in the long and storied history of the America's Cup -- in large part to the maturity now of the Class Rule, and the wisdom of those who penned the current "Version 5".

So here is the latest, and probably our last (for this Cup) update on the status of new-for-AC 32 ACC yachts, to the best of your Ed.'s knowledge, and with appreciation to Pierre Orphanidis of Valencia Sailing for his always helpful input....


RSA 83 -- Shosholoza, launched early 2005.
NZL 84 -- Emirates Team NZ, launched late 2005.
ITA 85 -- Plus 39, launched Q4 of 2006, sailed briefly.
ITA 86 -- Luna Rossa, launched in Q2 of 2006, raced in Acts 10-12, already been extensively modified and sailing again.
USA 87 -- BMW ORACLE Racing, launched in Q2 of 2006, raced in Acts 10-12.
ESP 88 -- Desafio Espanol, launched in Q2 of 2006, raced in Act 12.
GER 89 -- United Internet Team Germany, launched at Kiel in Q2 of 2006, now sailing in Valencia.
ITA 90 -- Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team, launched in Q2 and sailing in VLC.
SUI 91 -- Alinghi, launched in Q2 and sailed (not raced) in VLC; now sailing in Dubai with 64. 75 remained in VLC.
NZL 92 -- Emirates Team New Zealand, launched (Auckland) in Q4 of 2006, sailing now in NZL; said to be arriving VLC by plane from AKL in late February.
FRA 93 -- Areva Challenge, arrived at their base in VLC in late November and has been sailing in VLC since early December.
ITA 94 -- Luna Rossa's second boat was shipped from Italy to their base in VLC just before Christmas, where it is being fitted out for sailing in January.
CHN 95 -- China Team, was shipped from China to VLC in December, where it is now being fitted out for sailing in February.
SWE 96 -- allocated on 10 October to Victory Challenge; was unveiled in Sweden last week. Victory announced this afternoon that 96 is now en route (by ship and truck) to VLC. Following fitting out she should be ready to sail when the team returns from Dubai. Speaking of which, last week the team began training in Dubai alongside Alinghi with their AC 31 boats SWE 63 and SWE 73.
ESP 97 -- also allocated on 10 October, to Desafio Espanol; yacht in the final finishing out phase and expected to be sailing in VLC shortly.
USA 98 -- allocated on 13 October; built in Anacortes, Washington and shipped (by ship) over the year-end holidays to New Zealand where it arrived at BMW ORACLE's temporary "winter training" base this morning. 98 will tune against USA 71 in Auckland for an undisclosed number of weeks before being shipped (flown?) to VLC.
ITA 99 -- Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team, construction well along in Italy; to be launched in VLC in Q1 of 2007.
100 -- allocated on 27 November; as yet unclaimed. There can be little doubt that it belongs to Alinghi, who say they have a yacht under construction in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been rumoured that the deck is actually being constructed in Valencia at Alinghi's original, temporary base at the RCNV. Expected to be sailing in VLC in March.



Il Moro di Venezia I -- ITA 1 -- sailing in San Francisco Bay in 2003. The first of nearly 100 ACC yachts to be built (no. 13 was skipped and one or two others were allocated sail numbers but not completed), she was launched in Venice on 11 March 1990.



ITA 1 sailing upwind in SF Bay in 2003. Compared to today's increasingly narrow ACC yachts, do the words "aircraft carrier" come to mind?



The latest ACC yacht to be launched, AREVA Challenge's FRA 93, sailing upwind in Valencia during December. Photo: Frank Socha/AREVA Challenge.