Alinghi Red Bull Racing officially presented its race yacht, BoatOne, with a Christening ceremony at dockside that featured a human tower from local Castellers. The local performers were joined by members of Alinghi Red Bull Racing to help support the tower’s base.
The milestone marks a significant shift to the final competition phase of the campaign with the official opening of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup a little more than four months away.
An America’s Cup campaign is like a Swiss watch full of many distinct and fine-tuned moving pieces that make up the sum of the whole. Today, all those various team parts who have worked for the last two years on the new boat came together as one. It was a day marked by collective pride, a moment to celebrate the introduction of BoatOne with her formal christening at the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Base. The special honors were performed by Chiara Bertarelli, who cracked the bottle of Champagne across the bow at 14:00. The racing machine was then craned into the water for her first contact with the sea and some initial systems checks.
“Having BoatOne in the water is the celebration of an achievement, it’s a special moment that triggers a new phase,” said Adolfo Carrau, Design Coordinator. “Today crystalised the contribution of so many different people into our race yacht. It is the first boat the group has designed and built together. It is now time for commissioning and testing.”
“You spend three years seeing the boat evolve on the computer. Then you see it full size, and it’s like magic,” said Principal Designer Marcelino Botin. “But you realise it is actually no magic. It’s the result of many people bringing their skills, their expertise, their passion to reach a result which reflects the team’s expectation. This is the most amazing thing with a boat like this.”
While it was a day for the team to soak in pride, there was also the acknowledgement that there is much work ahead.
“We had the chance to see and discover a lot of BoatOne on the simulator, it’s ultimately much more impressive in real life,” said Skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis. “Launching the boat marks the next stage for us, finally sailing BoatOne. The Sailing team will now have to keep up the amazing work done by the designers and boat builders.”
After these celebrations, it is now time to focus on the next step: her maiden sail in the 37th America’s Cup waters.
