America's Cup: Silvio Arrivabene ahead of the third Preliminary Regatta
by Magnus Wheatley - America's Cup Media 16 Jul 2024 02:15 PDT
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - June 7, 2024 - Barcelona © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
Alinghi Red Bull Racing has been something of a revelation in this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup cycle bringing a winning mentality, youthful brilliance and some fantastic interaction with the Red Bull family of athletes.
Their base, situated in the heart of the Port Vell is striking and busy with the team sailing hard on a daily basis on their AC75 and the Youth & Women’s teams getting valuable time in the team’s two AC40s.
It has been a pleasure to watch the team develop since they first launched the Emirates Team New Zealand first generation AC75 ‘Te Aihe’ re-branded as ‘BoatZero’ back at the beginning of August 2022 in Barcelona having announced the team at the Société Nautique de Geneve in May 2022.
Immediately the sailing team, made up of young, hungry Swiss sailors fused with America’s Cup winners from their previous successes in 2003 and 2007 made an impression. Their relentless dedication to bridging the experience gap to the teams of AC36 was remarkable as they put endless hours in on the water with one singular focus: The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing showed well in the two Preliminary Regattas in Vilanova i La Geltrú and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, regularly hitting the front of the fleet and coming away from both regattas with huge amounts of technique, set-up and course/race management take-aways.
Behind the scenes, the coaching team have pushed the young Swiss sailors hard with plenty of simulator time and working hard on communication and fine tuning. The results are there to see on the water and when the team revealed their radical and eye-catching Marcelino Botin designed ‘BoatOne’ in May 2024, hopes have been raised high of success in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Now the third and final Preliminary Regatta is upon us at the end of August in Barcelona and Silvio Arrivabene, co-General Manager of Alinghi Red Bull Racing is looking forward to lining up with all the competitors of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup saying: “We can’t wait. It’s been three and a half years since the AC75s last sailed and we’re pretty confident, Barcelona has been a great training venue for us.”
Silvio, an engineer and veteran of several Cup campaigns that began with the Italian Challenger Mascalzone Latino in 2003, is very much looking at fine tuning now with BoatZero and is hoping that the Preliminary Regatta offers “ a comparison against the competition and feedback for some final adjustments. Probably most of the development will be on the sailing side, but certainly the class is far from being fully exploited yet.”
With it being late summer in Barcelona by the time of the start of racing in the Preliminary Regatta on the 22ndAugust, many experts and meteorologists are expecting a change in the conditions from the predominantly champagne sea-breeze conditions that we have seen so far into more challenging weather systems. It’s something that Silvio and the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team are alive to and when asked how the conditions could affect the results, Silvio suggests: “Quite a lot, because the typical conditions are set to change over the course of the event, so it will be interesting.”
Does he expect teams to show their full card in terms of race-pace or will there be an element of sand-bagging ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup that starts immediately after the conclusion of the Preliminary Regatta? Silvio is unequivocal: “Not really, everyone is interested in checking in against the others and the schedule does not allow for such tactics.”
So, who are Alinghi Red Bull Racing particularly interested to line-up against? Silvio, a diplomat to his core, gives nothing away: “All the challengers!” he replies and it’s this respect to their fellow competitors that has made them a very popular team in and around the Port Vell.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing have overcome adversities as a team from a recent broken mast to nosedives and capsizes and whatever the outcome, they have won hearts and minds around the world in this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. For sure, they will have the support of a nation behind them as the team aims to win their third America’s Cup.
Racing starts on 22nd August 2024.