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Alinghi Red Bull Racing names America’s Cup sailing team

• Toby Heppell
• June 9, 2022

The Swiss-flagged America's Cup team, Alinghi Red Bull Racing has named the key members of their sailing squad as they gear up for the 37th America's Cup

America’s Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing has named the key members of their sailing team as the Swiss-flagged squad prepares their challenge for the 37th America’s Cup , which will take place in Barcelona, Spain in 2024 .

The Ernesto Bertarelli -backed Alinghi racing team officially announced that they would be entering the 37th America’s Cup in December 2021, after months of speculation. Their entry marks a return of the two-time America’s Cup-winning Alinghi team after over a decade out of the competition.

At the same time Alinghi also announced that they would be teaming up with F1 team, Red Bull Racing, forming the America’s Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing . This partnership follows Challenger of Record for the 37th America’s Cup , INEOS Britannia pairing up with the Mercedes F1 team – a clear signal of how hyper-technologically advanced this new period of America’s Cup sailing is in the complex foiling monohull, AC75 class .

Ahead of their official entry announcement, there had been speculation as to which club Alinghi would represent, as the America’s Cup 100 % nationality rule confirmed in the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup requires all sailors to be passport holders of the nation they represent, thus limiting the ability to buy overseas talent into the land-locked country.

However, in that initial statement of entry, it was confirmed that they will once again represent the Société Nautique de Genève, requiring all the team to be Swiss, and the team’s AC75 to be built in Switzerland.

The last time Alinghi were in an America’s Cup competition was the 2010 Deed of Gift match when their huge catamaran was defeated by Oracle Team USA’s wing-sailed trimaran. Photo: Jose Delgado / Alinghi

Now, after many months of waiting, the team has revealed their key lineup of sailors who will be tasked with getting to grips with the AC75 foiling monohull in their bid to win the most sought after trophy in sailing.

The team includes a number of sailors who are, whilst not exactly household names, familiar to those with an interest in high performance racing. However, many of the crew will also be unfamiliar to Cup fans.

This Alinghi team is one based on building home grown, emerging talent – a very different proposition to the 2003 campaign when Alinghi famously poached many of Team New Zealand’s talented sailors.

Heading up the group – and likely to be responsible for helming the team’s AC75 in one way or another (teams may follow the route taken by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the 36th America’s Cup and have dual port tack and starboard tack helmsmen) is Arnaud Psarofaghis. Psarofaghis is a very experienced foiling sailor who has competed in everything from foiling Moths to SailGP and the foiling GC32 circuit – and has previously been involved with French America’s Cup project, Groupama Team France.

The team is nominally divided into two categories, the ‘driving group’ and ‘power group’. This split reflects the dual needs of a sailing team in the modern Cup era, as the possibility of cyclors (as developed by Emirates Team New Zealand for their 2017 America’s Cup win ) may return for this Cup competition.

The ‘driving group’ will be responsible for roles like helm, tactics, flight control, sail trim etc. while the ‘power group’ will be generating the power needed to trim foils and sails either on cyclor-style or traditional pedestal winch grinding stations.

The Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailing team. Photo: Alinghi Red Bull Racing

The Alinghi Red Bull Racing team are:

Driving group:

Maxime Bachelin Matias Bühler Nicolas Charbonnier Lucien Cujean Yves Detrey Augustin Maillefer Bryan Mettraux Arnaud Psarofaghis

Power group:

Arthur Cevey Barnabé Delarze Nicolas Rolaz Théry Schir Nils Theuninck Florian Trüb

These are crew members who Psarofaghis – who’s been at the heart of the project and heavily involved in recruitment – knows well. “Going on this adventure with friends I’ve known since childhood and people I’ve been working with for over 20 years is very exciting,” the 33-year-old said. “Even if I haven’t necessarily sailed with them, this bond is a great advantage.

“We understand each other, which will make communication so much easier. And that’s vital, because on board, good communication is key. And off the boat too: we know when one of us is going through a rough patch, how to talk with them, and when… The only thing that counts is performance, and it’s with this in mind that the teams will be put together.”

“It wasn’t an easy choice, we’re lucky to have excellent potential in Switzerland,” head coach Nils Frei explained. He’s the one who conducted the recruitment jointly with Pierre-Yves Jorand, co-general manager in charge of sports operations. The first sailors who were chosen contributed to the decision-making. “Character, attitude and development potential are as important as skill,” Jorand adds.

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The team does acknowledge the limited Cup experience of the group in their announcement, stating that:

However talented they are, these sailors have had no experience in the America’s Cup yet. A high-level training schedule has therefore been put in place on the water with renowned coaches and internationally recognised designers.

Reflecting the physical needs of a sailing team in the modern America’s Cup it is a very youthful team, with the youngest member being 22 year old Nicolas Rolaz – who won the junior class Optimist World Championship as recently as 2014.

Since coming out of the Cup competition, following their defeat to Oracle USA in the 2010 Deed of Gift match, the Alinghi team has since been competing at Swiss lake events, including the T35 circuit.

Bertarelli points out the team has been sailing in fast and foiling boats, with a young Swiss team so does not consider their relative lack of Cup experience to be an issue. “We expected the [100% nationality] rule, and we’re ready,” he says as the team gears up to challenge for another America’s Cup cycle.

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“Commitment to the commitment” was a most famous phrase that Dennis Conner used back in the 1980’s to describe the dedication needed in America’s Cup campaigns. Alinghi Red Bull Racing are more than applying the quote to their thrilling campaign with another super-intense training session out on the stunning waters of the Red Sea on Saturday.

As so often happens in Jeddah, the early morning Arabian northerly zephyrs give way quickly to a thunderous, boisterous,and almost reliable, north-westerly breeze that builds to 17-20 knots of intensity and ushers in a challenging sea-state. Bang on cue that’s what happened today and although for the sailors, the breeze isn’t an issue and is something they revel in, it’s the sea-state that invariably catches them out with the short hull-length of the AC40 a real handful through the peaks and troughs.

Almost from the outset the Chase Boats were in on Dean Barker and Phil Robertson who nosedived and went into a capsize on a warm-up stint of paralleling with the super-fast Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin. Capsizing as we’ve seen all around the world in both training and racing is very much part of the AC40 game and it’s quite the thrilling spectacle but the boats are resilient and more often than not, so long as the cockpits aren’t too flooded, the professional Chase Boat crews get the boat up and running and back to sailing.

It took about 20 minutes for checks to be completed but Deano and Phil were back at the start-line for some pre-start practice and laps of a laid course. Staying up on the foils in the first race was a challenge and Arnaud and Max capitalised on an error from their training partners and sailed off for half a leg before returning. The next start saw Phil Robertson at his very best on the lead-back into the line with some very good time-on-distance to win the start and repeated it start three – plenty to think about for the young guns.

With gusts of 20 knots now filtering in, start four saw the Barker/Robertson boat come off the foils and then languish unable to get back into the pre-start and allowing their opposition to steal an uncontested start. Arguably the best of the racing was in the final race of the day with Robertson again smashing the pre-start time-on-distance, setting up to leeward and then covering hard as Psarofaghis and Bachelin tacked away. Just nine seconds separated them at the top mark where the Swiss duo almost lost it on the bear-away and allowed the hired guns to keep it cool and ahead down to the leeward mark. After rounding, the call was made to sail back to their Obhur Creek base and conclude what had been another stunning day of training.

Great interview afterwards with Support Boat driver Olly Bampton who was on the Chase Boat trailing Dean Barker and Phil Robertson. Talking about the capsize, Olly commented: “Well from the outside it looked almost like they hit a jellyfish with the rudder! No, I’m not really sure, it looks like we’ve lost the rudder somehow and yeah just did a bit of a pitch pole but quickly recovered it and got the boat back sailing…from my perspective, the chase boat that supports each yacht doesn’t actually right the boat we have another chase here, another asset, so as they are righting the vessel we’re just on standby to pick up any of the pieces or people that need help and then once the boat’s upright we’re alongside and straight into checks just so we can get the yacht back up and running and back out sailing.”

Top work again from all the support teams in Jeddah where the mercury touched 34 degrees on the water and is significantly hotter on land – tough work. More to come on Sunday for the hardest-driving team in the Louis Vuitton 37 th  America’s Cup. Impressive, again.  (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report: Alinghi Red Bull Racing:  Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s AC40-4 (Red) and AC40-7 (Black) were rolled out at 09:50 and 10:15 respectively. Both boats underwent systems checks before a safety brief on the dock for the on-water technical crew. The team docked out at 13:00 with J1s and J2s LE jibs carried on the chase boats, with LE mainsails and J3 LE jibs prepared on the yachts.

The crew configuration remained the same, aside from Phil Robertson and Dean Barker swapping helm positions on the Red boat. A small red maple leaf sticker was added to the port mainsail skin of the Red boat, a small nod to Phil Robertson. The challenging wind chop grew from mild to aggressive within the first hour on water.

Stint 1 (13:23 – 13:53, 13-17kn 305° @ 13:25)  Sailing commenced with each boat free sailing upwind/downwind before joining up and sailing in parallel for sail testing. The stint ended dramatically as Red nosedived and subsequently capsized during a leeward rounding, prompting immediate tech review and a replacement of the bowsprit wind wand.

Stint 2 (14:00 – 14:20, 13-17kn 310° @ 14:00)  While Red continued works, Black set off to practice pre-starts, entering on starboard, as they would be entering on this side for all the starts today. Red set sail 20 minutes from the capsize, briefly testing systems post-repair before aligning for practice starts.

Stint 3 (14:23 – 14:53, 14-17.5kn 315° @ 14:25)  Start 1 saw Red fall off the foils with 1 minute to go, allowing Black to start well ahead. A good fight ensued in Start 2, with Black starting ahead and controlling the one lap race, with a downwind finish.

Stint 4 (14:49 – 15:00, 15-19kn 320° @ 14:50)  Wind conditions intensified, as Red won Start 3 and controlled the first half of the upwind, before both boats turned back downwind and stopped to changed batteries.

Stint 5 (15:13 – 15:25, 15-20kn 320° @ 15:10)  Start 4 saw Red touch down in a manoeuvre and were unable to recover, leaving Black to start alone. Both came to a stop, with checks carried out on Red as the sailors were observed changing sailing kit.

Stint 6 (15:30 – 15:53)  Start 6 continued into a second one lap race. Red started ahead to leeward, as Black tacked off with Red following soon after. Black split off again seeking clear air. Red was ahead at the windward mark by about 9 seconds, maintaining the lead to the leeward gate, as Black almost lost it on the rounding. Both boats sailed half the upwind, before turning downwind to sail back to the Obhur Creek to drop sails and end the day.

After three hours on the water and 115 minutes of sailing, the 100 manoeuvres were observed of the Black boat, of which 90% were fully foiling.

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HYT H4 aboard the Alinghi catamaran

Water and Challenge are the common engines of HYT and Alinghi. The first watch brand to have ever tamed water in its mechanical calibers signs a new contract with Alinghi and Ernesto Bertarelli’s catamaran.

The brand has dropped the bomb of the renewal of its collaboration with Alinghi in the shape of the H2 – a limited series of 25 pieces whose arrival is scheduled for June 2016 and which symbolizes the second part of this collaboration. A little trip down memory lane is in order to remind ourselves of how the first model, the H4, was at the inception of the brand’s connection with sailing.

Hoisting the sails with skipper Bertarelli

Like Icarus, Ernesto Bertarelli dreamed of flying. Alas, as the sky was quite clouded over by many others with the same aim, he devoted himself to what  we now know to be his passion – sailing. A smart call as, with Alinghi, he has carried Switzerland’s colors together with it stylized swirl logo, to the confines of the oceans. In his track record feature two America Cups (the thirty-first and thirty-second) as well as many noticeable or victorious outings on lakes and seas, here and faraway.

The list is long and much water has flowed under the bridge since 1991, when the first sail sporting the identitary codes of this brand – now synonymous of victory, careful preparation and passion – appeared on Lake Geneva.

HYT, water meets watchmaking

On HYT’s side, there is the fluidic vision of Lucien Vouillamoz. The dream of the somewhat crazy pathological inventor and engineer was rather geared towards water. Full of noble intentions, he wanted to recreate and adapt to modern times a kind of contemporary clepsydra. His first aim was to create a mechanical engine that could tell the time and do so with precision and poetry by playing with tiny pipes. Then, he wanted to use water as an indicator by trapping itin a mini tube with technical and scientific characteristics so extensive that it took a few good inventions, innovations and patents to get there.(Read: HYT Technologies Part 1: Creation and launch of the project and HYT Technologies Part 2: Functioning and constraints ). Finally, HYT has gradually refined its technology thanks toits co-founder Vincent Perriard, who is at the head of the new watch brand.  He is a passionate manager whose favorite and almost dictionary-worthy expression is "disruptive attitude".

I remember a pre-launch organized by Vincent Perriard in his private house in the heights of Neuchâtel (where the brand originated) before HYT was at Baselworld – with all pomp and circumstance for that – for the first time in 2012. The brand appealed first to a handful of professional distributors, which even contributed financially, then to enthusiasts, to lovers of storytelling and to all those who get fired up when something can potentially free them from their monotonous existence. Finally, HYT has also recently seduced – alongside its sister brand Preciflex SA– a series of investors who have contributed CHF23 million in fundraising, hence best owing the start-up a more powerful future.

On the Wrist or at sea, the Alinghi red and white will come with you

It was only natural, then, that Alinghi and HYT reunited. Since 2015, HYT has featured next to Swiss – the national company whose logo heralds the confederal prestige – on the sails as well as one of the catamaran flanks of the Alinghi. The GC32 catamaran is a more affordable and popular version that offers technology that only participants in the legendary America Cup usually have access to. It gets the stern and rudder out of the water at high speeds that literally fly the craft above the waves.

It is a very impressive sight, indeed. Icarus’s dream has certainly never been so alive.

H4 Alinghi, a UFO in the race

Finally, and in order to validate both parties’ intentions, the partnership had to culminate in the creation of a timepiece. Borrowed from the H4 family – the "skeleton models that can sculpt shadows and light"– the H4 Alinghi was born at the end of 2015. Obviously, it decided to make red and white its colors. Red was used in the hour liquid indicator, which was an evolution of previous fluidic technologies that allowed coloring, thus opening the door to all kinds of variations. Also red is used for the seams of the canvas strap and the rubber rimon the second push on the right edge of the bezel at 4:30. And whilst  we are here, have you wondered why there is a second pusher for a piece that indicates hours, minutes and seconds? Nothing murky, rest assured! It is actually rather bright. Indeed, a switch was needed for the two LED HYT has concealed under the jumper at 6 o’clock. The switch also works the mini dynamo below the dial between 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock, which gets its energy from the strength of the mechanical caliber.

And the secondary push fulfills its role perfectly, turning at will, and changing through a simple pushthe sculptural architecture of the Alinghi H4 into an illuminated construction. Further, it transforms the entire watch into a fascinating irradiation show throughthe hour indicator fluid.

Finally, red is also to be found on the relief number 6 whose prominence is the visual foundation for the liquid propellant pistons as well as for number 12. To the left of what is used as the dial – since it is a skeleton model and the openwork of the material dictates the aesthetics – one finds between 9 and 10, also in red, the famous Alinghi logo which displays the infinity of its circle while nibbling a little of the transparency of the seconds disc.

The piece symbolizes how watchmaking has colluded with its worst enemy – water. To top it off the sealed box (water resistant to up to 50 meters) of this 51-mmmicro engineered piece is made of a material used in aeronautics and, of course, sailing. It is a fiendishly rigid carbon, a delightful expression of the inventive verve of a particularly fit  Vincent Perriard – the Carbon 3DTP ™.

The antireflective and convex sapphire glass ensures maximum visibility, optimized by a second sheet of glass on the back of the model. The watch is hand-wound and its winding distills its energy to a skeleton 35 jewels caliber, developed specifically by HYT, beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 hertz). Finally, the piece offers to the wearer – whether skipper or not – a 65-hour power reserve. That is almost three days!

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Alinghi The Black - 2000

Fabrication of the 41' catamaran Alinghi "Le Black".

4 time winner in a row of the Bol d'Or between 2000 and 2003.

Winner of many regattas on lake Geneva.

 While designing the Alinghi 5 catamaran for the 32nd America's cup, the team used the boat as a developement platform to test new ideas.

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