The Swiss had already announced their comeback in the America's Cup at the end of 2025. Motivated by the self-initiated new Cup structure (America's Cup Partnership) and the Italian venue of Naples, the Rome-born Italian-Swiss entrepreneur and passionate Cup hunter Ernesto Betarelli and his Swiss team will be hunting for the Cup for the fifth time since the resoundingly successful premiere in Auckland in 2003.
Core team nominated for Tudor Team Alinghi
This Thursday (23 April) in Barcelona, the Swiss have prepared their team for the upcoming first pre-regatta from 21 May in Cagliari and also officially unveiled the new look of their AC40 spoilers. The racing team had kept a conspicuously low profile in recent months with public appearances or Cup comments. Behind the scenes, however, the team has been working hard. The team has grown from seven to around 50 members.
Currently still based in Barcelona, where the last America's Cup edition was held in autumn 2024, the sailing team for Tudor Team Alinghi has also been formed in the Catalan metropolis. For the time being, it is the core team that will contest the upcoming pre-regatta on the smaller AC40 yachts, which will be sailed by crews of four. Further sailors are to be added on course for Naples by the coming Cup year.
Five sailors have been selected for the Cagliari challenge to represent Tudor Team Alinghi in the first test of strength. The team will be led by former Laser Olympic champion Paul Goodison as skipper and helmsman. The Briton will be able to call on a further five players when selecting the respective AC40 quartet. The most prominent newcomer is Phil Robertson, one of the most experienced and aggressive helmsmen from the SailGP. Robertson also coached the Alinghi team in the 37th America's Cup.
America's Cup opportunity for SailGP ace Phil Robertson
The New Zealander is finally getting his long-awaited America's Cup opportunity. He is currently helming for Red Bull Italy in the SailGP. In the America's Cup, Swiss trimmer Nicolas Rolaz joins Robertson on Tudor Team Alinghi's second Cup endeavour. He will be joined by his compatriot Nathalie Brugger, who sailed for the Swiss team in the Women's America's Cup in 2024. Pietro Sibello completes the strong line-up. The Italian was already active as a trimmer and head coach for Alinghi during the last Cup campaign and is now authorised to sail as a national sailor in the 38th America's Cup cycle in accordance with the regulations.
Dave Endean, Technical & Sailing Director at Tudor Team Alinghi, said: "We have only been sailing with this line-up for a week. We are rebuilding the team by combining very experienced sailors with younger talent. We see ourselves in a race to catch up and know that there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us, but that is exactly what motivates us."
Even though we are still new to each other as a crew, I am impressed by how quickly a strong bond has formed on board." Paul Goodison
Following the training block still underway in Barcelona, Tudor Team Alinghi, racing for Société Nautique de Genève, will travel to Italy to continue preparations for the first pre-regatta. There, the other teams will also get ready for the first small Cup summit.
First pre-regatta for the 38th America's Cup: five teams, eight boats
Five of the now six America's Cup teams want to get involved in the Sardinian waters. Three of them will be competing with two boats each: the Cup defenders from Emirates Team New Zealand, Sir Ben Ainslie's British Team GB1 and the "hosts" from Patrizio Bertelli's Team Luna Rossa. The French La Roche-Posay Racing Team and the Swiss will each have one boat. The event came too early for the just-announced last-minute campaign with the American Racing Challenger Team USA.
It is interesting to note that the teams with two boats each have to crew one of their foilers with a prescribed 50:50 mix of youth sailors and women. This could result in high tension if the youngsters put pressure on the establishment and attack. The Cagliari regatta will be the first in the history of the America's Cup where Cup celebrities and young talent will compete on the same stage. A total of eight AC40 crews will be in action.
In accordance with the rules, most teams will not announce their crews until the first day of racing before midday. However, some line-ups and directions are already known. For the Kiwis, a helmsman duo of Nathan Outteridge and newcomer Seb Menzies seemed to emerge after star sailor Peter Burling switched to Luna Rossa.
Many Olympic champions in the America's Cup teams
Jo Aleh is also likely to be involved as skipper of the New Zealand team in the Women's America's Cup. The 470 Olympic champion from 2012 and silver medallist from Rio is currently regarded as the strongest sailor in her team. The final crew selection for the New Zealand team will be made by renowned coaches Ray Davies and Sam Meech as well as Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge.
Team GB1 are most often seen in training pitting 49er Olympic champions Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish against the in-house Athena Pathway team of CEO and 470 double Olympic champion Hannah Mills at the helm. According to the team, results have been very close in recent internal races on the turf of the first pre-regatta. It is considered likely that Moth ace Ryan Littlechild will be given the nod to take the second helm alongside Hannah Mills off Sardinia. She and all the other up-and-coming sailors have the chance to sail into the limelight off Cagliari with possible victories over the A teams.
Luna Rossa trained most intensively on the AC40s in the run-up to the regatta off Sardinia; the helmsmen changed regularly during the training sessions. It is well known that the competition in the Italian team is fierce. The helmsmen for the A team could be three-time America's Cup winner Peter Burling and Nacra 17 double Olympic champion Ruggero Tita. The latter has just announced an Olympic comeback with Caterina Banti in parallel to his Cup activities.
No longer an outsider: the La Roche-Posay Racing Team
Currently, the successful Italian mixed team of Tita/Banti the Semaine Olympique Française and immediately leads the field again. In the Italian youth and women's team, Marco Gradoni, just 22 years old, is the clear favourite as one of two helmsmen. Margherita Porro, who was part of the Azzurri's winning team in the 2024 Women's America's Cup, could take the other helm. Here is a small foretaste of the Cup pre-regatta in May.
The fact that the French La Roche-Posay Racing Team with Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botin will be at the helm has been recognised for a long time. the official team presentation in mid-March in Lorient as very likely. However, there is another strong alternative in the shape of Moth world champion Enzo Balanger. Ocean Race Europe winner Amélie Grassi has also already left the starting block for her first outing in the America's Cup.
At the official presentation of the new French Cup team in March, one of the two directors, the German-Frenchman Stephan Kandler, also declared, Why the America's Cup and SailGP inspire each other and condition. A look at the eight crews and their potential members shows this not only in Tudor Team Alinghi.
View of the Cagliari area for the first pre-regatta of the 38th America's Cup - it starts here on 21 May:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
