French America's Cup challenger forges alliance with the Lorient maritime region
Orient Express Racing Team, the French challenger for the 2024 America's Cup, has announced a long-term alliance with one of France's most dynamic and technological sailing regions.
Lorient Agglomération — a collaborative organisation consisting of 25 municipalities located around the city of Lorient on France's west coast — is now an Official Supplier of all three Orient Express Racing Teams competing in the 37th America's Cup.
In addition Lorient Agglomération has become a partner of K-Challenge, the leading sports-tech company behind the French challenge, and its subsidiary K-Challenge Lab, which is dedicated to developing technologies for decarbonising mobility.
In the immediate future, this partnership will deliver unrivalled support for the Orient Express Racing Team's challenger, youth and women's squads throughout the America's Cup, which starts in Barcelona from 21 August.
Then from early 2025 the teams will be based and hosted in the heart of the new 'Péristyle' eco-neighbourhood in Lorient which is dedicated to the further development of the Lorient region and high-tech energy, digital and ecological projects.
"Lorient is a key player in the world of sailing in France," said Stephan Kandler, Founder of K-Challenge and Co-Managing Director with Bruno Dubois of the Orient Express Racing Team.
"With its deep roots in ocean racing through the teams based there and the events it supports, Lorient Agglomération is showing its desire to support elite crewed sailing by committing itself alongside us for this edition of the America's Cup
"By welcoming us to the heart of the Péristyle district, Lorient Agglomération is enabling us to look ahead to the post-2024 period with a sense of perspective; this is very important for us, as we want to keep part of our team and be able to get back to work and training on our boats very quickly, within a complete and autonomous ad hoc base, identical to the one we currently have in Barcelona.
"It's in K-Challenge's DNA to put our trust in the younger generation and in women. If we want the pool of high-performance French sailors, technicians and engineers to remain significant, if we want to achieve a natural gender mix in the world of sailing and sport in general, we need training and support. This support from Lorient Agglomération, at this stage, creates solid foundations."
By becoming an Official Supplier to the Orient Express Racing Team, Lorient Agglomération joins the ranks of renowned French companies — the Accor Group, L'Oréal Groupe, Alpine, Photomaton MeGroup, the SAUR Group, K-Way — which are already supporting the French team.
"This is a historic opportunity for us," said Fabrice Loher, President of Lorient Agglomération and Mayor of Lorient. "It was here at the Péristyle that it all began. Our city was born here and has always known how to reinvent itself, particularly through materials.
"Welcoming the Orient Express Racing Team to our city goes well beyond the pride we take in supporting top-level athletes, including for the first time a women's team. The K-Challenge teams are mainly made up of engineers, whose work is a major source of progress on the ecological, digital and energy transitions. It's this expertise and future developments, in conjunction with our region's wealth of human resources in training and research, that will contribute to the decarbonisation of mobility".
The new Péristyle maritime hub aims to attract high-tech companies, and the first of these will be K-Challenge Lab, which is working on a project for a high-speed foiling hydrogen boat for commercial vessels.
Stephan Kandler points out: "Competition pushes us to surpass ourselves, to be creative. Since its inception, the America's Cup has been a major technological incubator and the competition that rhymes most with innovation.
"Our team has developed a simulator that is both a means of training the sailors and also a means of virtually testing innovations so that they can be implemented, without risk, on our boats. Digital technology at the service of excellence.
"In addition, the 2024 edition of the Cup requires teams to have a high-speed hydrogen foil boat (HSV) as their only assistance authorised in the race zone.
"This is a real technological challenge in which K-Challenge Lab is taking part, alongside a European consortium. With our French experts in maritime mobility and racing, K-Challenge Lab is ready to go even further in terms of the ecological transition of mobility to develop a version 2 that will be dedicated to the commercial markets of coastal motorboats under 30 metres. It will be presented in 2025 at the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC)."
Fabrice Loher added: "The digital technology prowess of these flying boats is inspiring, and Lorient is where all this will continue to develop.
"So we're delighted today to see K-Challenge's interest in ensuring their development in our region. I'm a great believer in the development of digital technologies, which will enable us to make colossal time savings in this race to decarbonise the planet. The boats entered in the America's Cup fly, and to be able to show them to local residents, starting with schoolchildren, is unique.
"We can be proud of the deployment of these sectors of excellence in the service of transition. As President of Lorient Agglomération, it is my responsibility to be very active in these areas, which are both structuring and exciting."