Switzerland SailGP Team
Switzerland has rounded up its best sailors and hired top-class mercenaries to finally make a start on the most demanding regatta tour.
The apprenticeship is over, now there are no more excuses: the Switzerland SailGP team has to deliver. To end the dry spell, it is playing all its trump cards. Team manager Tanguy Cariou has put together a new crew to help Switzerland achieve the hoped-for success. This is all the more important as the spectacular high-speed racing series is coming to Geneva in September 2025 and they don’t want to embarrass themselves, after all, it’s not just the pictures of the Jet d’eau and the Geneva harbor basin that will go around the world. The Swiss team wants to make an impression at the Rolex Switzerland SailGP as a strong-willed, successful team.
After a frustrating and disappointing 10th place finish last season, the team management, together with Nathan Outteridge, the sporting advisor and substitute helmsman, analyzed the team’s performance – with drastic consequences. The team was largely reshuffled and the approach rethought. “We have reset the counters to zero and are going into the next season with a completely new attitude,” says Tanguy Cariou. “Like some teams in the Tour de France for cyclists, we will try to win individual stages and not aim for overall victory. We are aware that this will fundamentally change the composition of the team and that we are taking a certain risk. But we also know that success can come quickly.”
“Defector” from Alinghi Red Bull Racing
For the new season, the CEO of Switzerland SailGP has signed up the best Swiss sailors and strengthened the team with foreign luminaries who know how to win on an F50. SĂ©bastien Schneiter, who has been confirmed as helmsman, joins his long-time colleagues from Tilt: Arnaud Psarofaghis (sail trimmer) and Bryan Mettraux (foil trimmer) are switching from the America’s Cup to SailGP, bringing with them all their experience from the last three years in Barcelona. Another prominent newcomer is Maud Jayet (4th in ILCA 6 at the Olympic Games) as tactician. The six-strong regular crew is completed by Matt Gottrel aka “Shrek”, who was under contract with Emirates GBR, and New Zealander Stuart Dodson from last year’s winning Spanish team. The two are expected to provide the killer instinct that the Swiss team has lacked in recent months. Laurane Mettraux and Arno de Planta will step in if necessary.
It will be interesting to see how the Switzerland SailGP team performs with the new crew and the new fighting spirit. The championship will definitely be exciting. From the second GP in New Zealand, twelve teams will be racing on the F50s equipped with new T-Foils. A total of fourteen Grand Prix are on the program, one of which, as already mentioned, is in Geneva (20.-21.9.2024).