Tudor Team Alinghi have named their squad for the second Preliminary Regatta on the Road to Naples, with two familiar faces rejoining the Swiss set-up.
Laurane Mettraux is back. Part of a well-known sailing family, she sailed with the Swiss team in Barcelona in 2024 for the Women's America's Cup, serving under Nathalie Brugger as a vital trimmer after coming through a tough selection process.
That campaign nearly went all the way. The team finished tied with Emirates Team New Zealand for a spot in the final, winning race 5 and showing real pace around a tricky course in variable winds, before the tie-break rules handed the Kiwis the place in the four-boat semi-finals instead.
Laurane didn't dwell on it. She returned to the Women's World Match Racing Tour in 2024 as a key member of Pauline Courtois' Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, which won the World Sailing Women's World Match-Racing Championship that year.
More recently, she and the team took out the 2026 Nordea Women's Trophy in Marstrand, Sweden, defending the title they first won in 2025. In match-racing circles they are now viewed as close to unbeatable, and Laurane brings that pedigree straight into Tudor Team Alinghi.
The other returning face is Jann Schüpbach, who skippered the Swiss youth team in Barcelona alongside co-helm Arnaud Grange. It wasn't an easy regatta; the team finished sixth in Group A, though Jann took plenty from the experience.
"The racing has been really amazing; especially today the conditions were just perfect with 13 to 18 knots," he said afterwards. "Every time we were rounding the marks, all the group was together, so it was super-tight racing. I want to give a huge shout-out to the other teams, they really put on a show out there. We never gave up, but in the end, it was just not enough. To be part of Alinghi Red Bull Racing was a huge honour, and we've come so far as a team. We're a tight-knit group of friends, so it's been a hell of an experience that we've shared together."
Since then, Jann has thrown himself into the International Moth circuit, one of the most competitive small-boat classes going around. He raced the World Championship in Manly, New Zealand in 2024 and again at Lake Garda in 2025, using Foiling Week in Malcesine in 2024 as a tune-up along the way.
Regarded as one of the coming stars of Swiss sailing, his promotion to the senior Tudor Team Alinghi squad reflects the strength of the pathway behind the team.
The core group remains led by Paul Goodison. Alongside him are Pietro Sibello, Nicolas Rolaz, Phil Robertson, Nathalie Ryan-Brugger and Bryan Mettraux, who is Laurane's brother.
One name is missing from the list. Jason Waterhouse, previously announced at a Barcelona media event, is absent, and is widely tipped to have joined Team Australia for Naples 2027.
Alinghi, two-time winners of the America's Cup, will field a single boat at the Preliminary Regatta as preparations continue for next year. Their angular AC75, known as Boat One, is being completed and upgraded to the new Technical Regulations in Genoa, Italy, ahead of launch.
