Swiss America’s Cup Defender Alinghi docked in the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah on yesterday morning (30 September) after a 12 day, 4,400nm voyage aboard cargo ship Rickmers Singapore.

The 193m ship left Genoa, Italy with the giant catamaran, Alinghi 5, two masts, seven support vessels and approximately 20 containers on board. It travelled across the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal and Gulf, across the Red and then Arabian Sea before docking in Saqr Port, Ras al Khaimah in the Arabian Gulf.

“We are extremely happy that the shipment, including Alinghi 5, arrived safely in Ras al Khaimah,” said Grant Simmer, design team coordinator. “All the equipment that we used in Genoa was onboard so now we can set up our base and workshops and get going. We will be doing some modifications to the yacht over the coming days and the team members are arriving and getting settled so it’s going to be a busy few weeks, we hope to be sailing again as soon as possible. We greatly appreciate the support that we are getting from the local community and from the government of Ras al Khaimah,” he added.

The Alinghi catamaran will travel to the America’s Cup Island of Al Hamra over the coming days, and for the next four months the team will be focused on training for next America’s Cup – starting 8 February 2010.