Team Tilt to compete in Extreme 40 exhibition regatta in Portofino

by MaxComm Communication on 26 Apr 2013 The Swiss team, selected for the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, continues to train very hard ahead of the participation in the Youth America’s Cup scheduled in San Francisco Bay next September. Next step: the Extreme 40 exhibition regatta in Portofino, Italy.

In parallel to their training on the multihull Decision 35 and their participation in the Vulcain Trophy, Team Tilt will compete in two Extreme 40 series events: the 'Pirelli' regatta in Portofino and the Act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul, June 20 to 23.

The intense and varied training plan of the team is a good preparation for the AC 45 wing mast catamarans used in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup: 'Sailing on different high performance multihulls forces each sailor to adapt quickly to the new support and its particularities', analyses the coach, Arnaud Psarofaghis.

Five members of Team Tilt will compete in Portofino: Lucien Cujean will be at the helm, Jonas Schagen will be the bowman, Thomas Mermod the trimmer, whilst Jeremy Bachelin and Sébastien Schneiter will share the mainsail trim. Moreover, each boat will have a sailing star guest on board: Bruno Peyron, Torben Grael, Tommaso Chieffi and Francesco de Angelis will be in charge of the tactics and will share their knowledge with the young sailors.

The Portofino event, sponsored by Pirelli, gives the opportunity to Team Tilt to compete against three other Youth America’s Cup sailing teams: the French, the Italian and the Danish. 'We will be able to evaluate the sailing level of the French Youth Team, with whom we will be racing against in San Francisco. We still don't know them as they weren't present during the selection series', says the skipper, Lucien Cujean. 'It’s also a good opportunity to train on the Extreme 40 catamaran, ahead of the act 4 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul', adds Alex Schneiter, team leader of the project.