Tudor Team Alinghi has confirmed the six sailors who will represent the Swiss challenger at the opening regatta of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup, a preliminary event set to begin in Cagliari, Sardinia, on May 21. The crew announcement came as the team unveiled a refreshed livery on its two AC40s during a sailing session in Barcelona.
The team only confirmed its entry into the 38th edition at the end of December 2025, and the organisation has grown rapidly since then, expanding from seven people to around 50 members. Throughout this build-up the team has kept a deliberately low public profile while working intensively behind the scenes.
Training is currently under way in Barcelona, on the same waters that hosted the 37th America's Cup, with sailors working through different configurations aboard both AC40s. Because the AC40 requires fewer crew than the AC75 racing yacht, the broader sailing roster remains under review, though the six names heading to Cagliari are now confirmed.
Paul Goodison of Great Britain leads the crew as skipper and helmsman. An Olympic champion and multiple world champion, Goodison heads a line-up that includes, in alphabetical order, Nathalie Brugger, Phil Robertson, Nicolas Rolaz, Pietro Sibello, and Jason Waterhouse.
Swiss sailor Brugger competed as helmswoman in the inaugural Women's America's Cup in 2024 with Alinghi Red Bull Racing. New Zealander Robertson is a helmsman who served as the team's coach throughout the 37th America's Cup campaign. Rolaz, the youngest member of the squad and also Swiss, is a trimmer preparing for his second America's Cup. Italian trimmer Sibello was head coach during the previous campaign and now qualifies to race as a national sailor under the current event's rules. Waterhouse, from Australia, takes a helmsman and trimmer role, having also been part of the coaching group during the 37th campaign.
Dave Endean, Team Director Technical and Sailing, brings experience across six America's Cup campaigns to the role. He offered a frank assessment of where the team currently stands. "We've been sailing in this line-up for only a week," he said. "We are rebuilding the team by combining highly experienced sailors with younger talent. We see ourselves as playing catch-up and know there is a lot of hard work ahead, but that is exactly what motivates us."
Goodison was equally candid about the crew's early stage of development, though he remained upbeat. "Even though we are still a new crew together, I have been impressed by how quickly strong connections have formed on board. We are now eager to line up against the other teams and measure ourselves on the racecourse."
Once the Barcelona training block concludes, the team will relocate to Italy, with on-water preparation in Sardinia scheduled for mid-May ahead of the Cagliari regatta.
Founded by Ernesto Bertarelli in 1994, Alinghi arrived at the 2003 America's Cup as a challenger and left with the trophy, becoming the first challenger ever to win on debut and the only European team to have lifted the world's oldest sporting trophy. The team went on to defend the title as host of the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007. Now sailing under the flag of the Société Nautique de Genève and supported by Swiss watch brand TUDOR and UBS, the team competes as Tudor Team Alinghi and is chasing a fifth America's Cup victory, with the 38th edition scheduled for Naples in the spring and summer of 2027.
