Alinghi - defenders of the America's Cup - announce crew on eve of first race 22/6/07

 Alinghi syndicate head, Ernesto Bertarelli, team skipper, Brad Butterworth and design team coordinator, Grant Simmer, faced the media this morning to announce the race crew for the 32nd America’s Cup. The race yacht SUI100 had been announced earlier in the week to race in the Match.

Team skipper Brad Butterworth who listed the 17 crew members commented: “We have great depth in our team and are spoilt for choice in every area, for this reason it has been hard to find a final 17 crew to race the Match. We are very fortunate to have such a high level of ability as it means we can operate as a squad and rotate crew if we have to.” He went on to insist that the whole crew is on stand-by to rotate in during the Match.

Alinghi crew to race the America’s Cup which starts at 1500 on Saturday 23 June

Bowman – Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzen

Midbowman – Curtis Blewett

Mastman – Francesco Rapetti

Pitman – Josh Belsky

Grinder – Mark McTeigue

Grinder – Matt Welling

Trimmer – Simon Daubney

Trimmer – Lorenzo Mazza

Grinder – Will McCarthy

Mainsail trimmer – Warwick Fleury

Strategist / traveller – Murray Jones

Runner / pitman – Dean Phipps

Runner / grinder – Rodney Ardern

Navigator – Juan Vila

Afterguard – Runner – Ernesto Bertarelli

Tactician – Brad Butterworth

Helmsman – Ed Baird