Team Tilt shifts focus to foiling boats in busy 2016 season

by Team Tilt Sailing on 20 Apr 2016 The Team Tilt sailing squad that offers a performance structure to young and talented Swiss sailors, has a busy season ahead. The team’s medium and long term goals are focussed on the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in 2017 and the Olympic Games in 2020.

To prepare for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, Team Tilt will train on the GC32 foiling catamaran, the Flying Phantom and the Decision 35.

The programme and its objectives are as follows:

Red Bull Youth America’s Cup

Of the 40 applications received, 16 sailors were selected for the first trials that began at the beginning of April. The team is now running sailing trials to select between eight and nine sailors that will represent the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in 2017.
Team Tilt will announce the young sailors that are chosen, this summer. The teams officially selected by Red Bull to compete in Bermuda in 2017 will be announced on 15 December.
The young Swiss sailors will train on the Decision 35 to begin with, followed by the GC32 during the second half of the season when they have gained the necessary experience.
The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will be held in Bermuda from the 13-22 June 2017 (qualifiers and finals). The sailors must be between 19 and 25 years old on the 31 December 2017.

Decision 35

After a brilliant 2015 season, winning both the Bol d’Or Mirabaud and the D35 Trophy, Team Tilt is not setting results-based objectives this year.
The Lake Geneva multihull will be used as a training platform for the young sailors preparing for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. The team will rotate the crew throughout the season to guarantee a maximum of time on the boat for the young candidates under the supervision of Tanguy Cariou.

GC32

Team Tilt launched its foiling catamaran at the beginning of April – a voyage of discovery for the whole team!
Glenn Ashby, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand for the next America’s Cup, will sail with Team Tilt bringing his knowledge to the team. The coach will be Pietro Sibello.
For the first half of the season, the GC32 crew will be made up of Glenn Ashby, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Tanguy Cariou, Bryan Mettraux and Arthur Cevey. When Lucien Cujean and Sebastien Schneiter are not busy with their Olympic campaign, they will join the team.
For the second half of the season, the young sailors training for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup 2017 will start foiling.
The objective is for the team to be as efficient as the more experienced crews on the GC32 despite their lack of time on a foiling boat.

49er

Sebastien Schneiter and Lucien Cujean gained a lot of knowledge during their attempt to qualify for Rio 2016. Their goal remains to compete in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. They are sailing on the international circuit under coach Tom Saunt.
Switzerland is first in line should a qualified nation choose not to send their 49er athletes to Rio, so Lucien and Sebastien have a theoretical chance of benefiting. They will know in June.

Flying Phantom

Team Tilt continues its foiling apprenticeship on the Flying Phantom catamarans and will compete in the Red Bull Foiling Generation in Geneva at the beginning of July.

Quotes from the team:

Alex Schneiter, team manager : The whole team is very proud to welcome Team New Zealand and Glenn Ashby to the Team Tilt adventure. It is a great opportunity to further develop these young Swiss sailors who have been part of the Team Tilt project for several years.

Tanguy Cariou, sports director : We have a very good team, but the project is still in the set up phase. We have the potential to do some great things this season!

Sébastien Schneiter, skipper Team Tilt : Our initial sailing experiences on the GC32 went very well, the boat behaves similarly to the Flying Phantom but is more stable. I am looking forward to sailing in stronger conditions like on Lake Garda, for example! As for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup project, we have some excellent candidates, it is very encouraging.

Glenn Ashby, skipper ETNZ : I met the team this week on Lake Geneva and it has been a great pleasure. They are talented and very motivated – I am delighted to be racing the GC32 Racing Tour with them and to be contributing to the Team Tilt project!