Another mutlihull specialist joins Alinghi

Cammas no.2 and Club Med co-skipper signs with the Swiss defender

Franck Proffit, well-known and highly experienced French multihull sailor, has joined Alinghi, the Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, to assist towards a possible multihull Deed of Gift Match.

Alinghi team skipper Brad Butterworth comments on the new appointment: “We welcome Franck to the team and look forward to working with him on developing our multihull skills towards the 33rd America’s Cup both on the water and in the design office. His depth of knowledge will complement that of Alain Gautier, Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, and add to the already very strong design and sailing pool we have at Alinghi.”

The Swiss team, while drawing from its current team members, is also applying the knowledge of several multihull specialists consulting to both the design and sailing team in preparation for the next Cup. Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret are involved with the former while Alain Gautier sails regularly with Alinghi crew on the ORMA 60 trimaran Foncia in Lorient.

The 45-year-old Frenchman, with over 100,000nm of multihull racing to his name, brings decades of multihull experience to the team; he is a two-time Transat Jacques Vabre winner, four-time Tour de l’Europe winner, winner of The Race and was most recently watch leader, helmsman, sails inventory and operational manager for Groupama 3 during its record breaking 2007-08 season which included a Miami-New York record, North Atlantic record in under 100hours and the 24 hour record with 794 miles on the clock.

“Franck brings big multihull sailing knowledge and we need to draw from that and apply it to the possible America’s Cup Deed of Gift Match that we face,” concludes Butterworth.

Proffit adds a word on his involvement with Alinghi for a multihull campaign: “It's a great opportunity. I am very happy to join Alinghi and with the next America's Cup likely to be held on multihulls it's the perfect occasion to put my 20 years of multihull experience to good use. I am delighted to work in the America's Cup which is the summit of international sailing. Being part of the design and sailing team is something exceptional. It's a great adventure.

“There is a huge amount of work to do and time is short. It took us more than two years to build Groupama3 and here we have to build a giant multihull in a very short lapse of time. We have to optimise very quickly. This is a great team though; I feel closer to Alinghi's values than those of the other teams!” he said.

The first session of two-boat ORMA60 training starts in Lorient on 30 June with Foncia and Banque Populaire and Franck Proffit will join the team there.

Franck Proffit sailing experience
2007 24 hour record (794miles), Groupama 3
2007 Miami-New York record, Groupama 3
2007 North Atlantic record, Groupama 3
2001 The Race winner, Club Med
1999, 2003 Transat Jacques Vabre winner, Fujicolor and Groupama 1 (competed in seven Transat double-handed races)
1995 Transat Quebec to Saint-Malo winner, Fujicolor
1992, 1994, 1997, 1999 four-time Tour de l’Europe winner
Five-time Fico-Lacoste crew World Champion