The crew is – almost – complete.
Understand the range of economic partners serving the French boat competing at the end of the summer for the 37th edition of the America's Cup, the oldest sporting competition in the world (it was born in 1851).
It being understood that the French team will first participate in the elimination phase, the Louis Vuitton Cup, scheduled from August 29.
As for the final match, the one which will see the title holder - the New Zealand defender - face off against the challenger who defeated his competitors during the preliminary stage, it will begin on October 12.
One year already
Orient Express Racing Team is the name of the structure that oversees the French boat.
A few days ago, it gained a new strong ally with the car manufacturer Alpine.
An arrival which coincides with an anniversary: the French team for the America's Cup was brought to the baptismal font just a year ago, in February 2023, with the arrival of the title partner, the Accor hotel group, via its Orient Express and All.com brands.
Gradually, the main sponsor was joined by L'Oréal Groupe, Photomaton MeGroup and, most recently, by the car manufacturer Alpine.
Knowing that K-Way and the Saur group, the company dedicated to community services for water treatment, are also part of the adventure.
High-tech boat
The desire to line up a French challenge (this is the established terminology) at the start of the America's Cup in 2024 in Barcelona was not born with the officialization of the title partner.
Entrepreneur Stephan Kandler and his partner Bruno Dubois have been working on the project for two years.
The next few weeks promise to be particularly busy, notably with the delivery in the spring of the AC75, a high-tech boat.
The site is taking place in Vannes (Morbihan) and benefits from French know-how in shipbuilding.
The monohull will be transported by road to Catalonia in April for a first test campaign.
Wanting to compete in the America's Cup also involves a serious financial effort.
Depending on the size and ambitions of the teams, the budget varies between 15 and 30 million euros.
Participating in these prestigious regattas in the middle of the “Formula 1 of the seas” is not only a guarantee of visibility for the partners.
It is also the possibility of getting very close to innovation.
Agility and team spirit
Boats are in fact summaries of technologies, likely to appeal to decision-makers and establish links with the activities they represent, in addition to forging a collective.
Philippe Krief, the CEO of Alpine, sums up this bridge well:
“The America's Cup is a competition where the required qualities – agility, team spirit, continuous search for performance – and the technological and human resources mobilized directly echo in the spirit of Alpine.
»
In a competition like the America's Cup, innovation also permeates the surrounding spheres.
As proof, the new regulations require teams to have only one assistance in the racing area, in the form of a high-speed hydrogen foil boat (HSV).
To design this building, Orient Express Racing Team is collaborating with a European consortium as well as an architectural firm.
This project already benefits from the support of the State Secretariat for the Sea, following the signing of an R&D partnership agreement,
“which will make it possible to generalize the use of the technological elements of the hydrogen boat within the framework of the France Mer 2030 initiative
.