Extreme Sailing Series - Of SpeedDreams and Tilt-ing things

by Extreme Sailing Series on 17 May 2013 The next two Acts of the Extreme Sailing Series are to be staged in Istanbul, Turkey (20-23 June) and Porto, Portugal (25-28 July) and now Team Tilt, the Swiss team selected for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, has announced their participation in both events - as the global tour heads back to Europe for the summer months. Also new to the Series is SpeedDream, an ambitious project that aims to build the world’s fastest monohull, and will join the NeilPryde Windsurf Racing Series as warm-up acts.

Since Team Tilt’s qualification for the Youth America’s Cup, the team of young sailors have embarked on a demanding training programme which includes racing on different high-performance multihull classes including the Decision 35, M2 and the Extreme 40. Just last weekend, the team competed in the first Vulcain Trophy event of the season where they came up against the Extreme 40 crews and their Swiss countrymen onboard Alinghi and Realteam for the first time.

Lucien Cujean, the teams skipper, who started sailing multihulls in 2007 alongside offshore legend Alain Gautier, himself a former Extreme 40 helm, commented:

'The forthcoming Extreme Sailing Series Acts in Istanbul and Porto are a great opportunity for us and perfect to prepare ourselves as best as possible for our ultimate objective, winning The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. The Extreme sailing Series has some of the best multihull sailors in the world and for us it will be a great opportunity to compete alongside these very talented sailors. It’s also a new racing format that we will have to quickly adapt to. So, we have a huge learning curve ahead of us.'

Cujean will be joined by Jocelyn Keller as tactician, Jeremy Bachelin mainsail trimmer, Thomas Mermod headsail trimmer, with the bowman’s position still to be decided between Mikis Psarosfaghis and Jonas Schagen. As well as giving Team Tilt the chance for some valuable multihull training, joining the Extreme Sailing Series will also give them the chance to size up the competition from the Kiwi Youth America’s Cup contingent onboard GAC Pindar, led by William Tiller.

As part of the Series’ continually developing entertainment programme, SpeedDream will add an exciting new element for the VIP’s and public in Istanbul. As part of the projects quest to build the world’s fastest monohull, SpeedDream have integrated some of their innovative design ideas, such as a flying keel, wave piercing bow and stepped hull, into a 27-foot prototype and Cam Lewis, one of the world’s most celebrated sailors as the first holder of the coveted Jules Verne Trophy and winner of the 1988 America’s Cup, will be in the driving seat demo-sailing the boat and bringing high speeds and excitement to the event in Istanbul.

Recognizing that record setting is as much about finding the right people as it is about radical design ideas, the SpeedDream team feel that coming to the very heart of competitive inshore racing where the best sailors compete is a natural fit for them. 'We fully appreciate that if we are in pursuit of some global records that we will need to recruit some top sailors especially those who are used to high speeds,' said Project Leader Vlad Murnikov. 'Clearly those sailors who race the Extreme 40’s in such close high speed competition are amongst the best in the world, and we want to introduce them to the SpeedDream concept and see how we can all work together to set some records and broaden the overall interest in sailing.'

For more information on SpeedDream click here.

Team Tilt Crew List

Position/Crew/Nationality

Skipper / Helmsan: Lucien Cujean (SUI)
Tactician: Jocelyn Keller (SUI)
Mainsail Trimmer: Jeremy Bachelin (SUI)
Headsail Trimmer: Thomas Mermod (SUI)
Bowman: Mikis Psaarosfaghis / Jonas Schagen Extreme Sailing Series website