Nils Frei (born 19 January 1973) is a Swiss

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

who has sailed for

Alinghi Alinghi, or Alinghi Red Bull Racing because of the sports marketing branding by Red Bull, is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup, as well ...

in the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

and

Extreme Sailing Series The Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) (formerly the iShares Cup) was an annual global racing series, organised by OC Sport, which ran from 2007 to 2018. The series started in 2007 with its main attraction being the stadium racing which puts the race ...

. A six-time Swiss champion in the dinghy class, Frei finished third in the 1995

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in the

H-boat The H-Boat is a strict one-design keelboat designed by Finn Hans Groop in 1967, with some minor modifications by Paul Elvstrøm in 1971. The boat gained international status in 1977. Since 1967 over 5000 hulls have been made, making it one of ...

class. He was sailing with Kurt Frei and Peter Rüfli. He attempted to qualify for the Olympics in a 49er before attending the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

, where he studied geography. He then worked for the Berne Economic Development Agency. Frei first sailed for

in 2001. He was involved in their

2003 Louis Vuitton Cup The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup. Teams The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record. Alinghi Founded by Swiss business ...

and

2003 America's Cup The 31st America's Cup was contested between the holder, Team New Zealand, and the winner of the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, Alinghi. Build Up The 2002–2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, held in the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand saw nine teams from ...

victories. Alinghi then successfully defended the

2007 America's Cup The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and '' Match Race'' in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift ...

. Frei was the downward trimmer on ''

Alinghi 5 ''Alinghi 5'' is a (waterline length, LWL), beam sloop-rigged catamaran built by Alinghi for the America's Cup (33rd edition), 33rd America's Cup. The boat was launched on 8 July 2009 when the hull was lifted from the construction shed in Vi ...

'' when it lost the

2010 America's Cup The 33rd America's Cup between Société Nautique de Genève defending with team Alinghi against Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their racing team BMW Oracle Racing was the subject of extensive court action and litigation, surpassing in acrimony ev ...

. Since then, Frei has sailed with Alinghi in the

. They won the series in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

Living people 1973 births Swiss male sailors (sport) Alinghi sailors 2003 America's Cup sailors 2007 America's Cup sailors 2010 America's Cup sailors Extreme Sailing Series sailors University of Geneva alumni {{Switzerland-yachtracing-bio-stub