Switzerland SailGP Team on course for the final for the first time

SailGP

After a convincing performance in San Francisco and a mixed Grand Prix in New York, the Swiss team is currently in 7th place in the overall standings. With this performance curve, the first podium should be within reach.

The SailGP returns to Europe after an instructive North American tour. The world’s best regatta sailors fought a top-class battle in the three historic waters of the American cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The Swiss team has been competing since 2022 and has been making its way to the top ever since. Alex Schneiter backed the right horse when he was looking for a suitable boat three years ago so that Team Tilt could shift up a gear. The standard of the SailGP is stratospherically high. Every regatta, every course is a battle. In this demanding environment, the Switzerland SailGP team has a tough time, but they don’t let it get them down.

In two and a half seasons under the flag of the Société Nautique de Genève, the team has built up solid structures and gradually approached the top of the world, without airs and graces, with a clear view of reality and growing self-confidence. This season, Sébastien Schneiter and his crew seem to have found a promising formula. With the new additions of Arnaud Psarofaghis and Bryan Mettraux, part of the successful GC32 and D35 team is on board. Maud Jayet, one of the best female Laser sailors in the world, and Arno De Planta, who has won two world championship medals and 8th place at the Olympic Games in the 49er class in the last two years as Sébastien Schneiter’s co-sailor, also bring a breath of fresh air. They all belong to the same generation and have known each other for many years. Together they form a well-rehearsed team with a lot of assertiveness that meets the other teams at eye level at every GP.

The Switzerland SailGP team put in its best performance to date in San Francisco. There they could even dream of reaching the final for the first time. You need to know this: At the SailGP, only the final round decides who wins and who loses. Only the three teams with the most points after the two regatta days qualify for the final. An exciting but merciless format that can be very frustrating both at the front and at the back of the field. The overall winner of the act is decided in a single race, with all others virtually going home empty-handed. Who remembers a fourth, fifth or sixth place finisher? They are forgotten, even if they missed the final by a hair’s breadth. All the glory belongs to the winning boat and the other two teams on the podium. However, coaches, fans and connoisseurs know how much sweat and nerves of steel it takes to sail within striking distance of the world’s elite.

In San Francisco, the Swiss team was only seven points short of reaching the final. They missed out on these valuable points in the qualifying regattas on the windy and current-heavy waters off the Golden Gate Bridge. However, Sébastien Schneiter mastered the difficult conditions with aplomb. He almost cheekily left the competition standing with some spectacular maneuvers. With a 7th place as the worst result, the Swiss team was always very close.
very close. It even crowned its consistent performance at the start of the second day with a victory. In fact, everything went like clockwork in the fifth race. From the perfectly sailed start to the final reaching in front of the spectators, the “little” Swiss came up trumps. Their victory was not due to chance or any luck with the weather.

There was a month and a half break between the acts in San Francisco and New York. Apparently this break was too long for the Swiss, they seemed to have lost their rhythm a little in the Big Apple. And without consistency in the starting phases, the SailGP is a difficult place to be. The New York Grand Prix was also the first appearance of new CEO Boet Brinkgreve, who took over from Tanguy Cariou. Cariou had accompanied the project from the start and played a key role in shaping it during the difficult years of development. It is thanks to him that Swiss sailing talents are no longer scattered across several projects, but have come together in one team. The Switzerland SailGP team can therefore approach the European tour highly motivated and with combined forces and hope to take off at the first SailGP in Switzerland on September 21 and 22 in front of the Geneva Jet d’eau. The team has been dreaming of a first final in front of thousands of spectators waving red flags with a white cross since it was founded three years ago. Alex Schneiter was already toying with the idea of a GP on Lake Geneva back then. Many thought it was unrealistic, but thanks to his persuasiveness and cooperation with the SailGP organization and the Geneva authorities, it worked out despite everything. Now it’s up to the crew to turn the promising start to the season into something tangible and turn the home race into a success story.