Podcast Ep. 17 - New signings, seventh challenger leaked & the design stables reshaping AC38

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New alliances, new signings, and a secret that slipped out… In episode 17, Andy Rice, Freddie Carr and Neil Cole dig into the detail of how AC38 is playing out. 

Paul Goodison is the new skipper of Tudor Team Alinghi, while Giles Scott was just announced as the sailing director of American Racing Challenger Team USA. Both are on the podcast this week, and they walk Freddie through the early weeks at their new homes – what they've found, what they've inherited, and what's keeping them up at night with Naples 2027 already feeling closer than it should.

What's emerging behind the scenes, though, may matter more than any individual hire. Alinghi have confirmed a design partnership with GB1, the Challenger of Record, and team director David Endean spells it out simply: with budget caps tightening and late entries scrambling to catch up, only the most prepared teams can afford to go it alone. Goodison himself admits it feels surreal – two campaigns ago, he and Freddie were sharing hotel rooms, taking design calls from opposite ends of the balcony so neither could hear. Now he's walking into the same meeting room as his rivals.

And this week, America's Cup media accidentally confirmed what has been the worst-kept secret this cycle: the seventh challenger is Australia. The quote naming them has since disappeared from the official website, but not before Andy and Freddie saw it. With the cat now out of the bag, they talk through the implications for this cycle.

Beyond the Cup, Freddie reports back from three days on a J-Class in Palma Bay before the TP52 season gets serious, Andy digs into French Olympic Week with special guest Alexia Lahoud, and Matt Wearn calls out Olympic sailing's media coverage from the top step of the podium. Plus a viewer question on whether the Cup's permanent backdrop of legal disputes is a feature or a bug.

00:00:44 - Welcome and sailing a classic J-Class boat
00:09:58 - Chinese training regimes and Olympic skiff success
00:13:34 - Alexia Lahoud talks Tita and Banti's Nacra17 return
00:18:54 - Matt Wearn demands better Olympic sailing coverage
00:23:08 - Giles Scott becomes ARC Team USA sailing director
00:28:44 - Interview with Giles Scott
00:42:17 - Interview with Paul Goodison
00:55:28 - Design partnerships and America's Cup collaborations
00:58:11 - Seventh challenger leaked
01:07:01 - Dealing with America's Cup drama and lawsuits