Alinghi update

Jochen Schuemann gives thedailysail his views on the Cup and the latest goings-on in the Swiss camp

At the recent America's Cup competitors' meeting Valencia Alinghi were out in force with the notable exception of Russell Coutts. However all Alinghi's department heads were present including Jochen Schuemann, the Swiss defender's Sporting Director and one the team's three helmsman alongside Coutts and new recruit Peter Holmberg. The German Olympic hero brought us up to speed with what is happening within the team.

Thedailysail: So why isn't Russell here?

Jochen Schuemann: We’ve been present here with five or six people, so all the departments are present and it isn't always necessary for Russell to be here.

TDS: Has your role changed within Alinghi?

JS: No, not at all. I am heading the sailing team, the sports team, but we never had a big hierarchy within Alinghi, so it is quite a flat structure and we overlap the different departments. There is not a clear hierarchy. Russell is the undoubted team leader.

TDS: Michel Bonnefous has obviously left Alinghi to run America's Cup Management (ACM) and Russell has taken over his role as Executive Director. Have there been any other changes to the management?

JS: Grant Simmer is design co-ordinator as he used to be, but he is taking on more of the general management of daily operations. Rolf Vrolijk is still leading the design team. Nick Mason is leading the marketing department replacing Michel Hodara who left to go to ACM. Bernard Schopfer is still our Chief Press Officer. Michel Marie is still the construction and operations manager for the shore team, so we are nearly as before.

TDS: How is the recruitment of the sailing team going?

JS: We have remained stable with 70% of the crew we had signed in the successful Cup campaign in 2003 and the most of the remaining people we signed during the last year. There are a few people still to sign, but there is no rush, because there is no nationality rule. We can sign people from all over the world in the coming years. So after the Olympics it will be the big moment to see which talent proves to be strong with technical and tactical skills and having the mental strength to win Olympic medals and they are obviously candidates to join the team. The 70% goes through all our departments. That is a good confirmation that we have been a successful challenge, not only in terms of the result but also co-operation within the team.

TDS: So where do you stand at the moment?

JS: We have over 90% of the sailing team. We need a couple of spare guys. It depends during the long preparation - you might have injuries so we might respond to that. Right now we are ready to sail with two boats.



Jochen Schuemann with Russell Coutts and Peter Holmberg

TDS: How will Peter Holmberg fit into the team?

JS: We have been short always with afterguard in Team Alinghi. Two boat sailing I was kind of alone challenging Russell in our sparing sailing and in our in-house racing and even in the races I was on the race boat joining Russell so we never had the complete second afterguard. And that is why it was an early conclusion that we needed a third helmsman.

TDS: Peter will primarily drive the B boat?

JS: We always had the philosophy that there is no A and B team. We work on an even level with all our crews rotating a lot. Basically we want to give everyone the chance to prove how good he is and to have his chance to be on the race boat and to race. This is more important than ever for Alinghi, because we have to have a very motivated team in our in-house testing and racing because we only have a maximum of nine races in the coming Cup. So we can’t live with a situation where people are cruising and not fully motivated. That is why it is important to have an open situation and everyone takes his chance and is pushing hard.

TDS: With Peter Holmberg on board is Russell planning on spending more time managing and less time steering?

JS: Definitely in the first years he’ll sail less and we’ll see how that develops. There is competition between the three of us and we’ll push each other to that top level and we’ll see what that battle results in.

TDS: So it might be a case of he who wins in the training gets to steer?

JS: It is difficult to say from here. Definitely in the future pre-regattas and in Newport we’ll sail there with different helmsman. We want to give everyone even chances to prepare with the team.

TDS: Who are the other new personnel you've bought in since Auckland?

JS: Related to Spain we have two key Spanish sailors. One is Juan Vila who was working with us already as a navigator during the practise and tune-up last time, but he was not eligible to race due to the nationality rule because he came straight from the German illbruck Challenge. This time he is eligible to race. We have signed Jordi Calafat, the 470 Olympic Gold medallist [from 1992] who is still a very successful sailor here in Spain and is also a sailmaker. He will join our afterguard like Peter Holmberg. We have Lorenzo Mazza a trimmer coming from Prada. We obviously improved our team that was the whole reason to sign new people.

On the design side we have Michael Richelson, a Danish guy, who was with illbruck Challenge [and before that America One].

TDS: Obviously we're into another generation of Cup boats. Do you think there are still significant developments to be made with their design?

JS: There will be a lot of small details, because it will be four years of technology and the technology will be moving forward in all the little areas. But I think we will watch what is going on and it is always possible that there will be huge innovations coming. And good on those guys finding the right innovation at the right time. Generally the new class rule version 5 will not produce a completely different boat to version 4, but we have to learn how that works and what the conditions are really in Valencia so I expect there will not be a significant different between the top boats. And I think over the next three years we hope and expect there will be some very strong competition that will result in a couple of boats being at the same level.

TDS: When will you start building new boats?

JS: There is a long time to go before we build the next boats. First we will start with our two existing boats, they will be modified so there is more to learn from them before we start the new building process. We will sail all the pre-regattas with SUI64, the winning boat from Auckland. That will remain as it is and will do the UBS Trophy in Newport and the pre-regattas in Europe. There will be in-house tuning and testing but that will only start in 2005 when the base is ready in Valencia. We have no other home than Valencia.

TDS: So what is left in Switzerland?

JS: We have our offices in Lausanne at EPFL [the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne]. They have always been our technology partner and I think it was a good move to move our offices into the place of our partner, so we have a lot of good valuable contacts with young technology firms and we get a lot of ideas. Obviously all sailing operations will run from here in Valencia.

TDS: Do you think the new structure of the America's Cup helps the defender more than it did than for say Team New Zealand last time?

JS: There are different stories about that. When you look back everyone said ‘ok, Team New Zealand has to win it again in 2000 because they had the home advantage and Prada had no chance and they lost 0-5 and next time it was the opposite and now they say they had a big advantage. So I think it is not black and white. Everyone knows the rules early and the rules are the same for everyone. The battleground is even so it is up to you how you use your chances and I think that was basically for the same for Prada, for Team New Zealand and for us this time. We are playing the same rules as everyone else, so finally it is up to us.

TDS: With the pre-regattas (Acts) there is more opportunity for teams to guage the competition, hence the Cup should be even more competitive?

JS: I think it will be a more even event, so the competition will not climb much higher compared to last time, because the top teams invested in their preparation. But everyone is now required to participate in the pre-regattas so that makes it more visible to suit the spectators and media, but also the sailing teams because racing is the best training you can have and that will result in a more even level of preparation for all of us.

TDS: Alinghi and ACM seem to be entirely independent of one another. Is this in fact he case?

JS: I would say that unfortunately there is a very clear split between the two entities. We provide all the rights as defender to ACM and I think it is a major strategic step to have done that. I think it will suit the sailing world, the America’s Cup and then the event this time in Valencia to have a more transparent, more attractive and probably the best Cup ever seen. It is more difficult for the defender, because we are a defender on the water and only have a small chance to race against the best challenge, but all the other rights went to ACM and from what we have seen so far they have been handling it well and preparing a nice event.

TDS: There are 18 challenges here in Valencia. At this stage who impresses you?

JS: Oracle don’t impress us because they’ve been there since the very beginning. But 18 challengers impressed us. It is good to see there is a lot of interest and there being so many challengers at the meeting shows that there will be a lot of challengers to make it a nice event. We will see during the season the number of challengers in the pre-regattas and that will confirm who are the real challengers. I wouldn’t name one challenge. You can see Prada is set up already in the Yacht Club of Valencia and they will probably hoist sails first here. So there are impressive names behind these potential challengers and we are happy about that.

TDS: How do you think teams will raise the game for this next Cup?

JS: There will be obviously a lot of technology areas where there will be improvement. In general the America’s Cup will be a more professional event, more of a media event, and that requires we are more reliable in our schedules and the way we perform. So I think we will see improvement in all these areas. I think it will go from private people funding teams to more corporate sponsorship, so they become real marketing tools with a marketing concept and that will raise more attraction for everyone - media, spectators, etc.

TDS: So you think there will be less Peter Harrisons and Ernesto Bertarellis?

JS: We know these people exist and it is good that so many are interested in sailing and they will always support it and we are proud to have some of these wealthy individuals in our team.

TDS: So it will be possible to have America's Cup teams that can survive on commercial backing alone?

JS: Alinghi is close to that and if you look at the last Cup you see the media analysis, I think there is good return for the money companies invest in the America’s Cup and sailing in general.

TDS: We can expect to see budgets go up for this next Cup?

JS: It goes up a little bit especially for us. Last time we started only in 2000 and the Cup was in the beginning of 2003, so 2.5 years. This time we have to cover four years and some services are more expensive in Europe than New Zealand. We will have a budget between 80-100 Euros. That is a little increase. We were about $65 million last time. That is especially due to time.