Italian sailor Andrea Tesei joins Britain’s America’s Cup challenge
Tesei has prior experience in Luna Rossa, SailGP, and the 49er Olympic class
Andrea Tesei has joined GB1, the British challenger for the 38th America’s Cup. Tesei is a former skier who also has experience from two America’s Cup campaigns with Luna Rossa, the 49er Olympic class, and SailGP. This week, he joined GB1 in Cagliari, Italy, for the first two-boat testing session with the AC40s.
At 34, Tesei is the fourth sailor signing for GB1, alongside helm Dylan Fletcher MBE and trimmers Bleddyn Mon and Ben Cornish.
The news of Tesei joining the team comes the same week that British businessman Jim Ratcliffe launched legal action against Athena Racing, which oversees the GB1 team, over the ownership of a £180m yacht used in the most recent America’s Cup campaign.
Ainslie parted ways with Ratcliffe in 2025, with Ainslie launching his own campaign after being dropped by Ineos.
Tesei said he was “honoured” to join GB1 for the 38th America’s Cup, which will take place in Italy in 2027.
“I am really honoured to be in this group,” he said.
“There are so many Olympic champions, Olympic medals on the sailing team, the management side and on the shoreside, everyone is incredibly talented. We will be racing in my home country, and Naples is going to be a fantastic host city. The course will be very close to the shore and it’s a natural amphitheatre, so there will many places to watch from the shore as well as on water.”
GB1 CEO Ian Walker said: “Andrea Tesei is an excellent addition to the GB1 squad and we are excited for what’s to come. Not only is Andrea an exceptional sailor, he also has great technical experience, having been involved in the boat, mainsail and foil design in previous America’s Cups. Tesei and the team have been in action in Cagliari this week and it’s been brilliant to have both AC40’s on the water for our first two-boat testing.”
Tesei grew up in Trieste on Italy’s east coast. His father was a sailor and his mother a ski racer. He was a top-ranked youth alpine skier until age 16 and competed in the junior Optimist sailing class. After completing a degree in Economics and Innovation Management, he focused on professional sailing, entering the Olympic 49er class. Several of Tesei’s foiling peers, including GB1 helm Dylan Fletcher, also progressed from the 49er class. Tesei was Italian National Champion in 2015, won bronze at the European Championship in 2017 and held a top 10 World Sailing ranking during this period. He later competed briefly in the TP52 Super Series, achieving two event wins.
Foiling led Tesei to join Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s America’s Cup team through the next generation programme in 2018. He was selected as flight controller and wing trimmer for the 36th and 37th America’s Cups, reaching the America’s Cup match in the former and the Louis Vuitton Cup Final in the latter. He later joined Jimmy Spithill’s Italian SailGP team for the 2025 debut season as flight controller. Tesei has worked on the AC75, including foil and sail design, simulation and optimisation, as well as cockpit and HMI development.
Tesei said the America’s Cup had “always been a dream since I was a kid”, adding: “The America’s Cup is incredible sports-wise and very hard to win, but it’s also the chance to learn about technology and how to improve sailing and knowledge of the hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, that’s what really gets my passion going.”
