Big names sign on for TF35 Season 2

2021 TF35 Scarlino II © Lloyd Images

The TF35 Trophy's 2022 season gets under way next week, racing out of Nyon, Switzerland, over 19-22 May, for the Realstone Cup for Léman hope.

Seven teams will contest the TF35's second season, and making their debut on the cutting-edge hydrofoiling catamarans will be some of the sport's top athletes. On the newly announced Vitamina Sailing Team helmed by Andrea Lacorte, Kiwi maestro Adam Minoprio will be calling tactics supported by fellow Kiwi trimmer Stuart Dodson, Italian America's Cup trimmer Pierluigi de Felice and Australian Olympic 470 gold medallist Will Ryan on flight control.

French Olympian and former F50 helm Billy Besson with SailGP teammate Matthieu Vandame have been recruited to join Bertrand Demole's Ylliam XII - Comptoir Immobilier while veteran D35 helm Loïc Forestier takes over the helm of Guy de Picciotto's ZEN Too.

Billy Besson said of the TF35: "It's a precision machine. These are very complex boats, so my role onboard is to bring a little more preciseness to the settings. Everything onboard must be finely adjusted if we want to perform well. We will work hard this year and will build a team with a good spirit."

The top three teams from the 2021 season - Esteban Garcia's Realteam Sailing co-skippered by Jérôme Clerc, Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard's Spindrift have mostly kept the same core team and French household name Loick Peyron continues to call tactics for Frédéric Jousset's Team SAILFEVER.

Going into the Nyon event, defending TF35 champions Realteam Sailing are the nearest to a 'home team', albeit heralding from Lausanne, and will be the boat to beat, having won the second Nyon event in 2021 and the overall 2021 TF35 Trophy title. Clerc's crew is likely to face the strongest competition this year from Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who, following the announcement of their America's Cup campaign, will be clocking up the hours on the water running a two boat GC32 campaign to nurture the young talent within the team.

Supported by Realstone, the event will be a platform to raise awareness for Léman hope, a charity based in Lausanne that supports, inspires and empowers young people in recovery from cancer to embrace their future with optimism. On Saturday, a group of young people from the charity will be invited for a tour of the TF35 boat and will be taken on the water to cheer on the teams as they race. With the onshore hospitality hosted at Restaurant la Nautique by the Société Nautique de Nyon the fleet will also be showcased in a photo exhibition at the Musée du Léman for the month of May.

Find out more at TF35.org

TF35 Trophy - 2022 entry list:

Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI 100)
Owner: Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI)

Realteam Sailing (SUI 7)
Owner: Esteban Garcia (SUI)

Spindrift (SUI 10)
Owners: Dona Bertarelli (SUI) / Yann Guichard (FRA)

Team SAILFEVER (FRA 009)
Owner: Frédéric Jousset (FRA)

Vitamina Sailing (ITA3508)
Helm: Andrea Lacorte (ITA)

Ylliam XII - Comptoir Immobilier (SUI XII)
Owner: Bertrand Demole (SUI)

ZEN Too (SUI 4)
Owner: Guy de Picciotto (SUI)

For more information visit tf35.org/teams