Schreiber is on his seventh Cup campaign as principal sail designer and is candid in his appreciation of the job: "What I like about the America's Cup is it is different from other sailmaking or design jobs. You're creating something from the ground up as a whole team." He got into the game in San Diego in 1983, later going on to work with Dennis Connor for the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle and the following three campaigns. In 1995, he moved on to One Australia and in 2000, to America True.

Schreiber joined Alinghi for the 2003 campaign and is a fundamental part of the design team: "My job is to use my own knowledge and the sailors' feedback and put it into numbers. Then come up with something that keeps us moving forward". He works closely with Mazuay, who joined North Sails in France in 1989 and his first French Cup team in '95. He went on to work with the Swiss team Fast2000, later joining Alinghi in 2003: "Mike and I do computer design and make simulations, sometimes in the wind tunnel but most of the time with Computational Fluid Dynamics". This gives them both quite a lot of time on the water for analytical purposes, as Mazuay adds: "It is a never ending dialogue with the sailors and a never ending quest to get better." In the sail-loft, Pattison and his multi-national crew of sailmakers are in charge of the Alinghi wardrobe, which includes receiving and finishing new sails from the 3DL plant in Nevada, USA, maintenance and preparing and weighing the racing inventory. And that is during non-regatta period.

When the regatta kicks off, the six-strong team works around the clock to guarantee the right sails at the right time for the racing yacht. They are aided in this by some of the race crew, as Pattison explains: "We have about six guys from the sailing team that are fully involved with the sail program. These are generally the sail trimmers." As in all areas of the Alinghi design team, the overlap with the sailing team is essential for feedback and idea development. Are they on track? "We are sailing into 2006 in a very strong position, with a very strong team and hopefully we will do well again this year," comments Pattison. Schreiber adds a word on the challenges ahead: "We know the competition is going to be tough. We won't have the Louis Vuitton so we have to make our own racing just as good to keep up with them."

Some sailmaking facts:
Alinghi takes an average of 40-50 sails out on the water on the tender during a race day
At the end of the victorious 2003 campaign Alinghi had a whopping 250 sails
The average Mainsail area is approximately 200 m2
The average Genoa area is between 130 and 150 m2
The average Spinnaker area is between 350 and 450 m2
The weight of the sails has approximately halved from 20 years ago

Alinghi Sailmakers:
       Ian Pattison              (GBR)
       Simon Palmer              (GBR)
       Brendan 'BJ' Simons       (NZL)
       Matt Tasker               (GBR)
       Andrew 'Cob' Wotherspoon  (NZL)
       Cody Smith                (USA)

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