With the usual "high-performance team + regatta + multihull + one-design" components, Alinghi will be in "flight" mode on the two circuits chosen for the 2021 season. Since 2015, this was already the case on the GC32, but now that the Décision 35 has been replaced by the T Foiler 35, our boats' hulls should barely touch the water! The TF35 hits the piste The recent development in public health guidelines should now allow for the seven TF35s to officially start the very first championship of this new class of foilers. From Friday 30 April to Sunday 2 May, up to five races per day can be launched in the waters off Nyon for the first event. Also on the programme this year are four other grand prix, two of which will be in Italy in the autumn and two Lake Geneva classics in June. No gatherings of more than 15 people will be allowed this weekend, but nevertheless there is still the possibility of watching these flying machines from the shore. And if you do have a boat, please do keep in mind that the TF35s regularly change course to maintain foiling in shifty air. As for the team, after many days spent training and continuing to gain knowledge of their TF35, Alinghi switched to race mode with an emphasis on the preparation of the start phases and the rounding of the marks. Nils Frei, trimmer: Is the team ready to race? "To be honest, we don't 100% know yet, because in the 30 years we've been racing we've never had a year-long competitive break! "But we got together for days, or rather weeks of training and I don't think we forgot everything. With the lack of competition, we will be a little rusty in the phases that are difficult to simulate in training, such as the starts with several boats, contact phases, communication on board compared to our competitors. But I think the automatic way in which we know these things inherently will come back quickly." Nicolas Charbonnier, tactician: "We are aiming for the top of the table on this new circuit, but the TF35 remains a foiler to be tamed, and we will face new, very competitive teams. One of our strengths will be the stability of our team, reinforced by the arrival of a young Swiss sailor, Florian Trüb, who takes his role as replacement sailor very seriously and helps Yves with the electronics and analysis of performance. Obviously we will also seek to win our 8th Bol d'Or, if the public health rules allow it to be held." A revamped 2021 GC32 Racing Tour In 2021, Alinghi has also set itself the goal of defending the titles it won in 2019 at the annual GC32 Championship and at the series World Championship. The health situation at the start of the year forced the organisers of the GC32 Racing Tour to postpone the start of the races until the end of June in Portugal, with the conclusion scheduled for November in Spain. The World Championship should, under the current plan, be held in mid-September in the south of Sardinia. After a blank sporting season in 2020, the whole team is delighted with the prospect of regaining acquaintance with the adrenaline of competition, with, of course, the strictest respect to prevailing public health guidance. For the practical info about the TF35 season, click here. For the provisional 2021 programme, click here. A tracking system will be onboard each TF35 and you can follow all the races live or in replay on the Tractrac website, the TF35 Trophy website, or via these free apps (click here for an Iphone, or here for an Android). #GoAlinghiGo tf35.org gc32racingtour.com  Credit for Photos © Loris von Siebenthal

25 years after its first multi-hull took to the lake, Alinghi is launching its 2019 sporting season on Lake Geneva. Meet us at the Société Nautique de Genève from May 3rd to May 5th for the first of the seven events of the final D35 Trophy, in which seven teams will take part. Pierre-Yves Jorand, Team director : "The D35 fleet has reduced in size for this last championship, but to see the diligence of the boats in pre-season training, I think that the battle on the water will be intense and that each race will be hard-fought. Nothing more is needed to motivate the team less than a week from our first race!"   It is the final D35 Trophy because, after 16 years of good and loyal service, the Décision 35 will, at the end of the season, pass the torch to the brand new TF35. This 35-foot catamaran equipped with "T" foils (hence its name) will become, from 2020, the backbone of the one-design championship that has run from 2004 to 2019 with the D35. Before this transition, the teams will, together, be focused upon testing, developing and debugging the very first TF35, which is currently under construction and which should pull its first edges on Lake Geneva this summer. This is how Alinghi will use its free time between each event in 2019, participating actively in the development of this new racing machine. Ernesto Bertarelli, helmsman and skipper: "We are nine shareholders associated in the creation of the TF35 and each brings their own skills to the development of the boat and to the launch of the class. Our team has been contributing to this project since the start. The emphasis this time is on the development of the flight assistance system that will make the boat more accessible to teams with fewer hours of navigation in three dimensions." Thus, the season comprises the D35, the development of the TF35, but also the GC32 programme, with five events on the GC32 Racing Tour, including the World Championship series at the end of June in Lagos (Portugal). Arnaud Psarofaghis, co-helm and co-skipper: "This year, we are joining the circuit on which we made our foiling debut in 2015. We are familiar with the boat, but we will have to adapt quickly to new race areas, longer race formats that in the Extreme Sailing Series, as well as to our competitors. The first time we will line-up against them will be at the end of May in Villasimius (Sardinia)." The boats have been prepared with care, the circuits are defined, the objectives of victory are laid. The team is the only missing piece of the jigsaw... After a number of successful appearances in recent years, Bryan Mettraux officially joins the core, permanent team, an appointment that meets the requirements of a packed annual calendar, the specifications of foil racing and, as ever, the team's commitment to young Swiss sailing talents. With two titles to defend this year in D35 and GC32 and the ambition to go get a World Title in the GC32... Lights! Camera! Action! The team is ready to 'roll' around the buoys. ABOUT The Team Sailors Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI) - Helmsman and skipper - D35 & GC32 Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) - Co-helm and co-skipper (GC32) and mainsail trimmer (D35) Nicolas Charbonnier (FRA) - Tactician - D35 & GC32 Bryan Mettraux (SUI) - Headsail trimmer - D35 & GC32 Timothé Lapauw (FRA) - Floater and foil trimmer - GC32 Coraline Jonet (FRA) - Floater - D35 Yves Detrey (SUI) - Bowman - D35 & GC32 Nils Frei (SUI) - Coach and spare crew - D35 & GC32 Technical team João Cabeçadas (POR) David Nikles (SUI) Claudy Dewarrat (SUI) Team director Pierre-Yves Jorand (SUI) Club Société nautique de Genève 2019 sporting calendar Find the dates for each event by clicking here. To find out more d35trophy.com / gc32racingtour.com / gc32worlds.com 16th D35 Trophy useful infos GC32 Racing Tour useful infos   #GoAlinghiGo #D35Trophy #gc32racingtour #gc32 Credit for photos © Loris von Siebenthal & Lloyd Images

As in previous years, Alinghi’s programme for 2018 will include D35 racing on Lake Geneva in the 15th edition of the D35 Trophy, as well as GC32 foiling on courses around the world in an 8th season for the Team on the Extreme Sailing Series. There’s a special bonus too: The first GC32 World Championship. In the D35 Trophy, after having come within a whisker of recording a grand slam in 2017, the team will give its everything to notch a 7th victory in the Championship. The one-design circuit, which combines the ultimate competitiveness on the water with friendship among teams off it, enters its 15th season this year. Also to be watched closely this year is the 80th Bol d’Or Mirabaud, which will start on the 9th of June and will feature some 500 boats. Will the D35 manage to hold its own against the foiling boats? The battle to win this anniversary edition of the classic race promises to be exciting. Regarding the GC32, the team remains convinced that this 32ft one-design catamaran is the ideal vessel upon which it can continue its progress in foiling and that the Extreme Sailing Series offers the toughest test in this type of competition. Alinghi will therefore relish challenging for a title that it has won previously in 2008, 2014 and 2016. This year, the Series will, again, see international teams racing on eight courses across three continents. Finally, just before the end of May, the first GC32 World Championship will take place on Lake Garda, with the class having been officially recognised by World Sailing (the International Sailing Federation). Bringing together the competitors from the GC32 Racing Tour and from the Extreme Sailing Series, about 15 flying boats can be expected on the same start-line. It promises to be adrenaline-filled sailing, with the races around the marks sure to be full of tension. Not long now, then, till the start of the season in Muscat, Oman, mid-March. ABOUT           The Team Sailors Helmsman and Skipper: Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI) – D35 and GC32 Co-Helm and Co-Skipper (GC32) and mainsail trimmer (D35): Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) Tactician: Nicolas Charbonnier (FRA) – D35 and GC32 Headsail trimmer: Nils Frei (SUI) – D35 and GC32 Foil trimmer: Timothé Lapauw (FRA) – GC32 Floater: Coraline Jonet (FRA) – D35 Bowman: Yves Detrey (SUI) – D35 and GC32 Technical Team João Cabeçadas (POR)  /  David Nikles (SUI)  /  Claudy Dewarrat (SUI) Team Director Pierre-Yves Jorand (SUI) Click here to learn more about the team. Club Société nautique de Genève 2018 sporting calendar Find the dates for each event by clicking here. To find out more d35trophy.com  /  extremesailingseries.com  /  gc32worlds.com #GoAlinghiGo  #D35Trophy  #Extremesailing