From articles by Julie Ash and Helen Tunnah
February 12, 2003
Source: New Zealand Herald

• "People thought we were going to try to work in the same direction as Team New Zealand. But we think we have been going in the right direction all the time, so we just wanted to improve, rather than try to copy something." - Rolf Vrolijk, Alinghi principal designer
• "These are two boats that are quite different in every respect except for the rig. You would expect one would be faster and one would be slower, but we just don't know." - Team New Zealand designer Mike Drummond
• "The longer bulb gets the center of gravity lower, presumably at the expense of some drag, so it may be faster upwind but almost certainly slower downwind. - Oracle designer Bruce Farr
• (Re the Hula) "I think it is an atrocity that this has been allowed by the measurers to get through the rules. It was never anticipated or intended by the rules. If you look carefully through the rules there are plenty which indicate it is not supposed to be there. - Oracle designer Bruce Farr
• "The hula's job is actually to try to reduce the wave resistance ... If the boat's ghosting along at three knots of boatspeed, there's no waves so the hula's not doing anything. If you're doing 14 knots, it's doing quite a lot." Clay Oliver, Team New Zealand designer

[Editor's Note: To view and learn more about the hulls and appendages of the syndicates discussed below, see the article What's "Down Under" On Each AC Boat. It has photos and more comments on Unveiling Day.]