San Fransisco, USA vs. Geneva, Switzerland

So far the road to the 33rd America's cup has been one of high drama. It looks like it may actually happen early in 2010. From what has happened so far it seems that it will end up in a challenge between cup defenders Société Nautique de Genève facing off against the challenging Golden Gate Yacht Club. The event location is still being disputed but will most likely be either Ras al-Khaimah in the UAE or Valencia Spain.

The thing I am most excited about is that this will mark the first departure from the IACC 12 Meter monohull established in 1992 as the standard set for boats racing in the America's Cup. The Swiss will be sailing the Alinghi 5 a 120 foot catamaran owned by Ernesto Bertarelli's yacht syndicate Alinghi and most likely crewed by top New Zealand sailors. The rival US team will be crewing BMW + Oracle's 90 foot trimaran, originally codenamed the BOR90, and now officially christened as the USA.

BMW

Alinghi