Alinghi 5 has arrived at the Swiss Defender’s base on the America’s Cup island of Al Hamra, Ras Al Khaimah – venue for the 33rd edition of the event.

Alinghi’s giant catamaran arrived undertow yesterday morning (5 October) and was lifted out and put in the team’s boat shed where the shore crew will carry out the work necessary to prepare the boat to sail.

Grant Simmer, design team coordinator, commented: “The boat came down from Saqr Port and we lifted it out of the water, washed it down and put it in the boat shed. It’s the first time that Alinghi has been to the Al Hamra harbour so it’s quite a moment! It’s very exciting for us because we’ve done a lot of work to get things ready here and to have the yacht in the base is great. We have some work to do on the boat, which we’ve been planning since we were in Genoa, so the boys will start now and we should be sailing mid-month.”

“The weather has been great. One of the reasons why we came here is because of the weather. It’s beautiful: steady light to moderate winds and good weather, so we are looking forward to sailing here.”