What's that funny name you ask? Team Alinghi is the current defender of the America's Cup, the oldest active trophy in international sport. It's presented to the winner of the prestigeous regatta race of the same name, which began in 1951 (predating the modern olympics by 45 years). Though the race is so old, it's only been run 32 times by my count, every 3-5 years it seems. This is because the defender must be challenged by another yacht club, something that has become more common in recent decades. Following USA's past dominance, Team New Zealand was a strong contender and holder of the cup in recent years, but in 2003 after a controversial rule change allowing team sailors to hail from countries other than the the team's sponsoring nation, Switzerland's Team Alinghi took the "Auld Mug" for the first time. Here the cup is on display in Lausanne on Swiss National Day, August 1, 2009.
Two years ago, upon a challenge by Team New Zealand, Alinghi once again prevailed in the America's Cup at the contest in Valencia, Spain. And next year, Alinghi will face the USA's Golden Gate Yacht Club in a yet-to-be-disclosed location. The Swiss are more than excited about the event and yesterday launched the
Alinghi 5 on Lac
Lèman here at Lausanne's Port d'Ouchy in honor of Swiss National Day. Supposedly the largest boat yet to sail on the lake, it's a huge 90 foot catamaran so big that a giant Russian helicopter (the biggest and most powerful in the world) had to lift it onto the lake. Can't take credit for these two photos, but they add to the post a bit I think. There are some other pretty cool shots of the lift at this
link. To get a look at the massive ship, I ventured down to the lakefront yesterday morning to see what I could see.
Mostly I could see tons of people. But I did get some good looks at the ship, none of which I did a very good job of capturing on camera. Here you can at least see the crowds of people and all the smaller boats that were following along behind the
Alinghi 5 like little ducks or something. Finally, the ship headed out to deeper waters in the center of the lake and raised its sail before turning West-
Southwest for Geneva. You can barely see the helicopter and little (daredevil) biplane above the ship that were in on the action too. In the background are the mountains behind Evian, France. As it was VERY sunny yesterday morning, it was also very hazy across the lake. The view is the best just after a storm when the clouds have lifted.
Last night around dusk the fireworks began to celebrate the Swiss national holiday. With all the regulations around here, you'd think fireworks would not be excluded. But it seems any three year old pyro with a few francs can buy and set off whatever he wishes. Besides the terrific display of fireworks shot from ships in the middle of the lake, random people and children setup their own Roman candles and other "completely safe" crackers in the midst of the crowds without any regard for others' eardrums. With my luck, I was certain to soon be blasted in the face with some errant firecracker, so I moved back to my nice little terrace viewpoint with my cone of Mövenpick ice cream before calling it a night. Random fireworks continued throughout the night, so Sunday afternoon now calls for a nap. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
What's that funny name you ask? Team Alinghi is the current defender of the America's Cup, the oldest active trophy in international sport. It's presented to the winner of the prestigeous regatta race of the same name, which began in 1951 (predating the modern olympics by 45 years). Though the race is so old, it's only been run 32 times by my count, every 3-5 years it seems. This is because the defender must be challenged by another yacht club, something that has become more common in recent decades. Following USA's past dominance, Team New Zealand was a strong contender and holder of the cup in recent years, but in 2003 after a controversial rule change allowing team sailors to hail from countries other than the the team's sponsoring nation, Switzerland's Team Alinghi took the "Auld Mug" for the first time. Here the cup is on display in Lausanne on Swiss National Day, August 1, 2009.
Two years ago, upon a challenge by Team New Zealand, Alinghi once again prevailed in the America's Cup at the contest in Valencia, Spain. And next year, Alinghi will face the USA's Golden Gate Yacht Club in a yet-to-be-disclosed location. The Swiss are more than excited about the event and yesterday launched the Alinghi 5 on Lac
Lèman here at Lausanne's Port d'Ouchy in honor of Swiss National Day. Supposedly the largest boat yet to sail on the lake, it's a huge 90 foot catamaran so big that a giant Russian helicopter (the biggest and most powerful in the world) had to lift it onto the lake. Can't take credit for these two photos, but they add to the post a bit I think. There are some other pretty cool shots of the lift at this link. To get a look at the massive ship, I ventured down to the lakefront yesterday morning to see what I could see.
Mostly I could see tons of people. But I did get some good looks at the ship, none of which I did a very good job of capturing on camera. Here you can at least see the crowds of people and all the smaller boats that were following along behind the Alinghi 5 like little ducks or something. Finally, the ship headed out to deeper waters in the center of the lake and raised its sail before turning West-
Southwest for Geneva. You can barely see the helicopter and little (daredevil) biplane above the ship that were in on the action too. In the background are the mountains behind Evian, France. As it was VERY sunny yesterday morning, it was also very hazy across the lake. The view is the best just after a storm when the clouds have lifted.
Last night around dusk the fireworks began to celebrate the Swiss national holiday. With all the regulations around here, you'd think fireworks would not be excluded. But it seems any three year old pyro with a few francs can buy and set off whatever he wishes. Besides the terrific display of fireworks shot from ships in the middle of the lake, random people and children setup their own Roman candles and other "completely safe" crackers in the midst of the crowds without any regard for others' eardrums. With my luck, I was certain to soon be blasted in the face with some errant firecracker, so I moved back to my nice little terrace viewpoint with my cone of Mövenpick ice cream before calling it a night. Random fireworks continued throughout the night, so Sunday afternoon now calls for a nap. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
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