When a nation without sea surprises all
The home team means business in the SSL Gold Cup, will use all of its local knowledge to be faster than the challengers from abroad, and holds the trophy right in the first edition.
Located in the middle of Europe, Switzerland has a strong tradition in sailing on its various lakes and on the seas of the world. After the Whitbread Round the World Race in the eighties and early nineties, with a win in elapsed time for UBS Switzerland, Swiss sailors are also present in Ocean races like the Vendée Globe, Around Alone, with Bernard Stamm winning in 2002, as well as the Route du Rhum and Transat Jaques Vabre.
The perception of Switzerland as a sailing nation radically changed after Alinghi’s win in the America’s Cup, who went on to successfully defend the Cup in Valencia. Switzerland became the first European country to win the America’s Cup, increasing the popularity of sailing and giving the sailing community a strong boost.
Switzerland is also famous for its technological leadership, with many innovations in sailing having their origin around Lake Geneva, namely sail production technologies like 3DL and 3Di.
Statistics
THE COUNTRY
ACHIEVEMENTS
SSL RANKING
MAIN EVENTS
Not a big number, but not many nations have the honor of winning two America’s Cups in a row.
Eric Monnin
Self made talent and allrounder, the captain of SSL Team Switzerland has climbed up the Match Racing world rankings to become number one, and being twice European champion. After getting into sailing competition on the Surprise yacht of the family, Eric Monnin sailed on many monohull classes, having won the Platu 25 World championship, as well as on the D35 catamaran fleet on Lake Geneva, twice winning the Bol d’Or.
Sebastien Schneiter
One of the best Swiss helmsman of his generation with multiple National, European and World titles in different classes from Laser to the multihull foiling GC32. As an Olympic sailor he participated at the 2016 Olympics and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 49er class. He is the skipper the Swiss SailGP team.
Kilian Wagen
Kilian started sailing at the age of 6, in Opti and then Laser 4.7, 420, and finally 470 where he campaigned for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics unfortunately without qualifying. He is currently learning to be a sail make and he is the current J70 World champion.
Simon Brügger
He grew up in the 420 and 470 and sailed at the olympics in Sydney and Athens. As a member of the Swiss Match Race Team he won 3 European titles. Simon is known as an experienced and successful Tactician and trimmer on different classes.

Switzerland has a very strong young generation of sailors, claiming Optimist World Champion titles in 2014 and 2016. The 2018 Finn Junior European, the 2019 World Champion and 2020 European Champion in the Women’s Laser 4.7 and Finn European classes confirmed these results for Maude Jayet and Nils Theuninck. Many youth sailors got the opportunity to prove their talent in the Youth America’s Cup, including a podium finish with Team Tilt. This has been crowned with a 4th place at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 470 for Linda Fahrni and Maja Siegenthaler.

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1
Bow
Marc Monnin
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2
Midbow
Lukas Gerig
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3
Pit
Guillaume Girod
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4
Grinder
Nelson Mettraux
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5
Trimmer
Simon Brügger
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6
Trimmer
Nick Zeltner
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7
Main Trimmer
Kilian Wagen
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8
Helm
Eric Monnin
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9
Tactician
Jean-Marc Monnard
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10
Captain
Eric Monnin
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11
Floater
Alexis Rochat
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1
Bow
Marc Monnin
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2
Midbow
Lukas Gerig
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3
Pit
Guillaume Girod
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4
Grinder
Nelson Mettraux
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5
Trimmer
Simon Brügger
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6
Trimmer
Nick Zeltner
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7
Main Trimmer
Kilian Wagen
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8
Helm
Eric Monnin
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9
Tactician
Jean-Marc Monnard
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10
Captain
Eric Monnin
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11
Floater
Alexis Rochat
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| Eric Monnin | Sebastien Schneiter |
| Simon Brügger | Alexis Rochat |
| Nelson Mettraux | Nick Zeltner |
| Guillaume Girod | Kilian Wagen |
| Marc Monnin | Lukas Gerig |
| Jean Marc Monnard | Bryan Mettraux |
| Nils Theuninck | Jann Schüpbach |
| Arnaud Psarofaghis | Mathieu Ravussin |
| Morgan Lauber | Axel Grandjean |
| Eliot Merceron | Maja Siegenthaler |
| Linda Fahrni | Gregoire Siegwart |