The nautical world is currently undergoing a truly epoch-changing transition. While the automotive sector has Elon Musk as its touchstone, we have Ernesto Bertarelli and Alejandro Agag as ours. The former has announced his return to the America’s Cup with Alinghi flanked by Red Bull Racing this time. Agag for his part will be revolutionising the powerboat racing world with the E1Series. We have been waiting for Bertarelli’s return to the America’s Cup for years and so, it is not exactly news. But it was he who began the transformation process that brought a breath of fresh innovative air to the competition. I feel that there is a thread linking Alinghi 5 of 2010 with the AC75s of today because the experience gained in the 2010 edition planted the seed for a whole new generation of multihulls, the AC72s, protagonists of the 2013 San Francisco edition. The new partnership between Alinghi and Red Bull augers well because the latter’s Adrian Newey is an undisputed engineering genius with a love of sailing. “We want to retain the signature successful Alinghi spirit,” Bertarelli said at the announcement press conference. “But we want to do something completely unique and different for this challenge too”. Which brings us to Agag’s E1 Series. It’s an ambitious challenge: to repeat the success of Formula E and the Extreme E, two events that have left their mark on motorsport. The protagonists in this case will be the SeaBirds, boats with foils powered by an electric motor. Because Agag also wants to shake up the nautical sector by accelerating the transition to sustainable mobility on the water. Ah yes! The future is now!
