Image copyright Lanz/Alinghi.
by Paco Latorre
Alinghi's attempt to set a new Ruban Bleu record on Lake Geneva was aborted at the halfway mark in Le Bouveret on Monday when the wind died. We catch up with mainsail trimmer and project manager, Pierre-Yves Jorand to find out what happened:
“The weather situation looked good on Monday so we started at 12:00 from the Société Nautique de Genève in a strong 20-22 knot north north-easterly. It was a bit choppy so we started with one reef in the mainsail and the storm jib – we had seven crew, so the boat was going well.
"We had good numbers and it took us an hour and 20 minutes to exit the Petit Lac, which is the west part of the lake. From there we tacked over on to port and started to accelerate a little bit, but unfortunately the breeze didn't turn left as expected and our top speeds weren't that good. At the end of our approach in to Le Bouveret the breeze died completely and we couldn't round the mark and get back to Geneva, so the attempt was cancelled. Up to there we were on time and sailing as fast as Julius Baer, the current record holder...
Image copyright Lanz/Alinghi.
"It is a hard record to break as you need good wind direction to avoid too many tacks in the Petit Lac, you need flat water if possible and most of all you need breeze across the whole lake – this was the missing factor.
"It was cold, but it was fun and I think every one enjoyed the sailing. We will try again next year perhaps because the boat is now in Villeneuve to be taken out of the water.”
This record attempt concludes the Alinghi D35 2010 season.
Alinghi
