This means that six groups are currently challenging Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing team: Artemis (Sweden), Mascalzone Latino (Italy), Aleph (France), two as yet unnamed syndicates and the Peyrons with their Team Energy.
As a result, the French Aleph team's efforts to pool all of the country's strengths have failed. After all, France has the highest concentration of experienced multihull experts, especially when it comes to large boats. Loïck and Bruno Peyron are regarded as two of the most distinguished French sailors, with various victories and successes in many classes. Bruno was Jules Verne record holder with "Orange II", Loïck can look back on five titles in the formerly hot class of the Orma 60 tris, was co-steersman on the (albeit inferior) cat Alinghi in the last America's Cup - and is currently leading the Barcelona World Race together with Jean-Pierre Dick on the Open 60 "Virbac-Paprec 3".
The team has not yet named a sponsor, but has signed up other experts such as Tornado Olympic champion Yves Loday and Thierry Fouchier, the only French winner in the AC to date. Fouchier was a trimmer on BMW Oracle Racing's victorious Tri. Or Jean-Christophe Mourniac, with whom the German professional sailor Boris Herrmann took part in the F18 World Championship last year and who has now joined the Energy performance team. Bruno Peyron acts as manager, his brother Loïck as skipper and head of the design team. The cat of the new AC 72 class will be built from September at Multiplast, one of the leading shipyards for this job. The team will take delivery of a cat of the preparatory AC 45 class in March.
The America's Cup starts on 7 September 2013 in San Francisco, the Louis Vuitton Cup for the challengers starts on 13 July. The official closing date for entries is 31 March 2011 and insiders suspect that New Zealand and Russia are behind the as yet unknown teams.
Fridtjof Gunkel
Deputy Chief Editor YACHT
