French firm designing Oracle's America's Cup multihull
MADRID (AFP) — French ship designers Van Petegem Loriot Prevost are working with Oracle to design a new multihull boat for the US syndicate's America's Cup duel with Swiss champions Alinghi, Oracle said Monday.
"The French multihull community in general are leaders in these yachts and we are benefitting greatly," Oracle design coordinator Mike Drummond said in a statement, adding the French firm has designed yachts that break speed records.
Van Petegem Loriot Prevost have designed boats that achieved victories in almost all offshore multihull regattas, including the Route du Rhum and the Jules Verne Trophy, the statement said.
The multihull, a trimaran acording to informed sources, is being built in Anacortes, north of Seattle on the US Pacific coast.
Last month Alinghi's design team coordinator Grant Simmer said the Swiss syndicate was "looking at building a big beast of a boat" for its America's Cup duel with Oracle whose date has yet to be set.
The two sides will be facing off in a duel, or Deed of Gift Match, for the 33rd America's Cup because they failed to reach an agreement on the rules for a traditional regatta involving several teams.
The New York Supreme Court, the trustee of the Deed of Gift, the 1887 document which details the complex rules of the America's Cup, is expected to rule shortly on the next date for yachting's showpiece event.
Alinghi prefers May 2009 while Oracle insists on October 2008.
The Swiss syndicate retained the America's Cup by beating Team New Zealand in a hugely successful event in Valencia in July 2007.
The 33rd America's Cup had originally been scheduled to be held in Valencia in July 2009 as a traditional regatta involving several teams.
But organisers postponed the event in November because of the legal wrangling betwen Oracle and Alinghi over the rules of the event.
