This news fascinates the sailing world at the start of the year: The French are mobilising for the 37th America's Cup. A good 15 years after its last appearance in the 32nd America's Cup, the K-Challenge has now officially confirmed its long-awaited challenge.
"We will announce big things by the end of January"
The team is driven by two well-known French Cup racers: Stéphane Kandler and Bruno Dubois. The team competes under the already familiar name K-Challenge Racing. CEO Stéphane Kandler, whose father Ortwin Kandler was once one of the co-founders of the German AeroSail campaign, said: "Bruno and I are delighted to be joining the other challengers. We have been working behind the scenes for almost a year and will be announcing big things by the end of the month."
Naturally, Grant Dalton, CEO of AC37 Event Limited, is delighted with the campaign's move into the public eye. His reaction: "It's great that the French are now returning to the America's Cup as the fifth challenger and will undoubtedly bring a lot of character and flair to a stunning event in Barcelona. France is an outstanding sailing nation. Nevertheless, putting together an America's Cup team is no easy task. I congratulate Stéphane, Bruno and the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez who have worked tirelessly to get to this point."
The challenger quartet becomes a quintet
The French will announce further details of the campaign later in January. The return of the Cup to Europe was one of the factors that boosted the French campaign. Their challenge had previously been secretly accepted by the New Zealand defenders within the official deadline. This means that the previous quartet of challengers - Sir Ben Ainslie's Team Ineos Britannia, American Magic from the New York Yacht Club, the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team and the Swiss Team Alinghi Red Bull Racing - will become a quintet.
In the 32nd America's Cup in 2007, the K-Challenge with Stéphane Kandler had achieved eighth place. The officially challenging Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez is one of the oldest sailing clubs in the world, having been founded in 1862. The last French challenge was in 2017. Team France with the multi-talented Franck Cammas sailed off Bermuda in 2017.
Bruno Dubois is also a heavyweight in international sailing. He was Director of North Sails France for 20 years and led the French team in the SailGP, which was recently so successful. Dubois managed Team France in the 2017 America's Cup. Prior to that, the top manager had led the French-Chinese Dongfeng Race Team in two editions of the Volvo Ocean. The 2017/18 victory with Charles Caudrelier, Carolijn Brouwer and the team on the red boat will never be forgotten.
France's challengers have started their race to catch up for the 37th America's Cup
The K-Challenge is now facing a huge race to catch up, as the other four challengers and Emirates Team New Zealand as the defender have long since forged ahead with testing and development. The teams are currently preparing for their new builds with half-size test boats. The Swiss team is training on a first-generation AC75, which was purchased by Team New Zealand. All teams have to start building their AC75s for Barcelona this year.
There is still room for the French in the allocations for the teams' Barcelona bases, as the New Zealand organisers assured us. The 37th America's Cup will take place off Barcelona in autumn 2024.
Ten years ago, Stéphane Kandler once said in an interview with YACHT: "Nowhere does the word challenge apply as much as in the America's Cup. You have to come first. But the first from the previous time makes that as difficult as possible. My motivation stems from this fact." This is unlikely to have changed despite the last-minute challenge.
