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On this subject

Alinghi, America’s Cup, D35, Décision 35, Ernesto Bertarelli, Extreme 40, Russell Coutts, Vulcain Trophy

Bertrand Favre

« My dream would be to organize a leg of the RC44 in Switzerland »

Interview: Brice Lechevalier

Year: 2011

Bertrand Favre, sporting director of the D35 and RC44 classes. © Nico Martinez

You saw the birth of the D35s in 2004 and have been their class manager since, what has your most remarkable memory of this experience been?

I was very lucky to be able to make a living from my passion so soon after I’d finished studying. My position as class master was my first serious professional experience, and I am very grateful to the D35s owners who trusted me. The development of the class has been spectacular: we started with eight boats, then ten, then twelve. It was really great to be able to be part of it all. It is still very exciting to meet the different waves of owners and crews. Because the Vulcain Trophy is limited to a small geographic area (except this year), the very nature of the project remains roughly the same, and it is the human factor that makes it so fulfilling: to maintain the motivation and engagement of the first generation of owners, to raise interest and integrate the new ones, to maintain harmony in the group.

The sponsoring contracts for the Vulcain Trophy have been renewed until 2013 and the first D35s are going to be ten years old, what developments can we expect?

In fact, we are lucky to be able to count on a very healthy boat which ages very little. It is a very efficient and well designed work tool, with a platform that has never had any problems except the change of mast right in the beginning. The demand is still strong and there is no reason to deeply change the nature of the circuit. We will most probably drop the Mediterranean option and stay on Lake Geneva, with more local crew members, as some of the sailors will be racing on the MultiOneDesign 70s next year.

How are the D35 perceived abroad?

First of all, it is interesting to note that their reputation goes well beyond Lake Constance and France, they are famous throughout the world. The D35s really are the benchmark for light, racing catamarans. They have a very competitive, high-tech image. Lake Geneva is considered a sailing laboratory and observers are always surprised to see how many sailors there are on our lakes. Our class is well followed, especially now that the America’s Cup will be run on multihulls.

What difficulties could arise in the Mediterranean for the last two legs of the Vulcain Trophy 2011?

We’ll have to watch out for the waves more than the winds! The Decision 35s don’t really like choppy seas, which is why we have chosen areas where the risk is minimal. In Beaulieu-sur-Mer and Antibes, we should theoretically be protected from the Mistral, we will be protected from west winds, but if we have to face east winds or a south-east residual swell, then it could be difficult, but that’s part of the game.

What are your feelings about the proposal for a common platform for the D35 and Ventilo M2?

I think it would be something to look into. We have a sailing area and an efficient mode of racing, we also have a pool of talented, multihull enthusiasts. When the time comes to renew the two fleets and to welcome the new generation of owners, why not work on a more federative project?

What influence may the America’s Cup have on such circuits as the D35, RC44 and Extreme 40s?

Although I can’t really say for the Extreme 40s as I’m not involved, the influence seems to me very different from one class to the other, but is never major. Though there are two America’s Cup teams who use the Extreme 40s to train, but they will probably stop at the end of 2011 for calendar reasons. On the D35s, the influence is almost null. Torbjörn Törnqvist would have sailed anyway on D35 Artemis, whether for the Cup or not, because he lives in Geneva and loves racing. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that the public’s interest for our catamarans may grow with the first multihull races of the 34^th America’s Cup. As for the RC44s, the Cup has only affected the planning, which was reorganized to minimize date conflicts: our class aims at setting up a circuit that is convenient for our owners, there are very few commercial issues, and races amongst an owners’ fleet might not be compatible with the training of professional sailors who would take part if the Cup was on monohulls.

What is the RC44 Championship Tour’s situation today?

The championship is now mature, although it continues to develop. In 2008 the first circuit was set up on the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, it was then developed in Northern Europe, in the Middle East and in the United States. In 2011 the fleet grew from ten to fifteen boats, which will meet this year in Croatia at the end of September, and in the Canary Islands at the end of December. Each event represents approximately 300 people, including the organizing staff; their sporting quality satisfies everyone, and the media impact is real. But we’d need to strengthen our commercial teams to give a new dimension to the different legs. My dream would be to organize one in Switzerland, in a 3-meter deep harbour to allow for launching.

What is Russell Coutts’ vision for this circuit in the future?

The project is very dear to him, for two particular reasons: one, it’s his project, and two it’s his hobby. Sailing on RC44 allows him to relax, which is also true for the other owners. He would of course like to build more boats, and race on a circuit with a few more participants. The only limit is set by logistics: at present we arrive with 35 containers and the host cities have to have sufficient capacity. We also tend to prefer a progressive growth so as to continue to integrate the new teams smoothly (each team means at least twelve people), and slowly teach them how the class works in order to keep a nice atmosphere. It’s quite like the spirit of the D35s, but with more turnover and more nationalities, so less easy to manage.

You have managed to keep both Russell Coutts and Ernesto Bertarelli’s confidence, at a time when they were in conflict over the America’s Cup, what were the most difficult moments?

As far as I am concerned, there weren’t any difficult times, everything was very transparent with both of them when the time came to make choices. As I am not directly involved either with Alinghi or with Oracle, there was no conflict of interest. The important thing for me was to be able to continue to work peacefully with both and to avoid any calendar conflict, especially now that both circuits share the same owner (Artemis’s); but everything works perfectly well.