Alan Roura lance la Swiss Offshore Team, Nati des mers

The Genevan Alan Roura has set up a real national team. One of the selected members, the Argovien Felix Oberle, tells us about this unprecedented adventure.

“It’s fantastic what I’m going through, I still don’t realize!”, Fulix obesides goes on the phone. And yet, in the background, the cries of the seagulls of Kiel prove that the Argovian is indeed in this German port city of the Baltic Sea, from where he will take off this Sunday.

It is one of the four Swiss navigators of the Amaala team. On their Imoca, a monohull sailboat with foils, they will head for Portsmouth in England, for four days at sea. This is the first stage of the Ocean Race Europe, a stages race in which seven crews participate. They will land in particular in Cartagena in Spain, Nice and Genoa, then will finish their journey on September 21 in the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro.

This race is also the first of what is undoubtedly the most ambitious project in the history of Swiss sailing: the creation of a real national team of the seas – “A nati of sailing”, to use the words of the press release in the blink of an eye to our footballers – which will line up on several events and will bring this sport “in a completely different dimension” into Switzerland.

«Age d’or» and prestigious calendar

The idea emanates from the most famous of Swiss navigators, Alan Roura (32 years old). After having joined two other figures in the discipline in Switzerland, Elodie Mettraux and Simon Koster, the Genevan presented his project “long matured and thoughtful” to the public in early June. His friends and found two main sponsors: the Saudi tourist resort Alamaa, which gave his name to the boat, as well as the Swiss Hublot watchmaker.

And to train this selection, the Swiss offshore team of its name, the three navigators launched a call for candidates. Result? 40 files received and seven selected sailors (four men and three women) for this Ocean Race Europe, after physical and psychological tests, in particular.

Felix Oberle is therefore one of the lucky ones. “When I heard about this project, I immediately applied. It is a sacred adventure, which allows you to garner a lot of experience and represent the Swiss sailing, which is experiencing a very good period, “enthuses the 34 -year -old young man, who has lived in Lorient in France for four years, where he devoted himself entirely to sailing and where he met Alan Roura.

In the press release, the Genevan also underlines the development of discipline in our country and his desire to contribute to it with the creation of this nati of the seas:

And the Swiss offshore team sees far. After this Tour of Europe, it intends to align its members on several prestigious races, at least until 2028.

Crew tests, such as The Ocean Race Atlantic 2026 (a transatlantic that links New York to Barcelona) or The Ocean Race 2027 (a world tour). But also solo, for example the Route du Rhum next year and, of course, the legendary Vendée Globe in 2028, the great objective of Alan Roura (which has already participated in three editions, including the last curly on March 7, 2025 in 18th place).

From Lake to “Mecca sailing “

The Vendée Globe is also Felix Oberle’s dream. On his website, the Argovian also mentions this world tour in the South Seas as one of his next major deadlines. But for the 2032-33 edition. “For the moment, it is an inaccessible dream,” he sighs, before finding his good humor and laughing.

He says, “sailing is his passion”, and it feels as much by his playful voice as his very developed answers. This is what motivated him a few years ago, to come and study in Lausanne, the EPFL (mechanical engineering). “I was attracted by the idea of discovering another culture and progressing in French, but also by that of joining the Luke club to make my first regattas,” explains the Germanic, who now masters the language of Molière very well.

Since then, the sailboat racing virus has never left it. In 2021, he decided to go into exile in Brittany, in Lorient precisely, “the Mecca of sailing” as he said, to prepare for two years for his first mini deckchair (solo race which links the Sables-d’Olonne, in Vendée, to Guadeloupe). A test he completed in 2023 to an excellent – and surprising – fourth place. He will put the sails back with the Caribbean archipelago during the 2025 edition, from September 21.

Offer dream public

Until then, Felix Oberle – who will take part in his first race with such a fast boat and as much crew on board – hopes to take a lot of pleasure and experience with the “Nati” on the Ocean Race Europe, even if it will only participate in the first stage. “It will allow me to progress in my communication with the media,” anticipates the browser. He considers this aspect to be essential:

And precisely, The Argovian has an altruistic aim through this project. “It is certainly a question of representing Switzerland, but also of trying to make our fellow citizens discover a deep nature, of making them realize that it exists. So that they too can connect with, and not only on the sea ”.

The photographer/videographer Coline Beal, who will also be on board, will notably have this mission to make the public vibrate with her publications.

This Sunday, Felix Oberle and its three team members of the Amaala team – the skippers Alan Roura and Simon Koster, as well as Lucie de Gennes – will try to join Portsmouth as quickly as possible. England will most certainly leave superb memories to this nati of the seas, the best we hope that at its football cousin, cruelly beaten by the English in the quarter -finals of the last euro.