The magnificent Port Vell base of Alinghi Red Bull Racing was the hottest ticket in Barcelona for friends, family, sponsors and dignitaries from Spain and around the world for the ‘reveal’ and roll-out of the AC75 that the whole of Switzerland is hoping will bring the two-time winners more glory at the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
With the Alinghi Red Bull Racing bell – a huge brass bell engraved with the team logo that they use for every dock-out – tolling the arrival of ‘BoatOne’ as she slid from her shed under the spotlights, with scenic music and faux-smoke, this was classic Swiss dramatism at its very best.
To ‘oohs and aahs’ from the assembled crowd and hundreds peering over the fence to get a first look as the hull form came into slow view, what was revealed was a dead straight, ultra-slender bow profile leading the way back to a long, tapered bustle trailing all the way aft along the centreline and ending right in the stern beneath the communications tower.
