Safe and sensible picks for the new US America’s Cup campaign
It comes as no surprise that there are plenty of familiar faces amongst the first tranche of sailors announced today by the ‘new’ US America’s Cup syndicate – American Racing Challenger Team USA.
Americans Lucas Calabrese, Harry Melges IV, Michael Menninger, Riley Gibbs, and Louisa Nordstrom were all members of the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic campaign, with the only newcomer being US Olympian and United States SailGP Team flight controller, Hans Henken.
Other squad members will be announced in due course, no doubt, but this core group looks to be a sensibly safe choice by sailing director Giles Scott and team CEO Ken Read – especially given the ultra-short runway the US team has in this latest Cup cycle.
In the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, Spain in 2024, Calabrese was famously thrust into the media spotlight when he was called up from his role as reserve/training helmsman to stand in for the injured Paul Goodison, who broke five ribs in a fall aboard the American AC75 on the way in from racing during the round-robin series.
Calabrese was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina – but is now a naturalised American citizen. Racing with crew Juan de la Fuente, he won a bronze medal in the 470 class at the London 2012 Olympic Games. As well as previously winning Optimist, J/70 and Melges 20, world titles, in 2025 Calabrese served as strategist in the TP52 World Championship-winning crew aboard Quantum Racing, where he worked closely with helmsman Harry Melges IV.
Calabrese was no stranger to sailing the AC75 when he got called off the subs bench in Barcelona to drive opposite Tom Slingsby. I had previously watched from the recon rib as he racked up plenty of hours on the wheel of Patriot while Slingsby was regularly away on SailGP duty, but he still lacked that critical heat-of-the-battle race experience – and that proved costly on several occasions in the semi-final series against the slick Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli crew.
Nevertheless, Calabrese’s performance under such extreme pressure earned him huge respect from the other AC helmsmen after AC37. His experience and knowledge of the American AC75 make him an obvious choice for this new US campaign.
Likewise, Melges’ place on the ARC Team USA roster will have shocked nobody. The Melges family lineage is inextricably linked to American competitive sailing. His late grandfather, Buddy Melges, won Olympic gold (Soling) and bronze (Flying Dutchman) medals and was a key protagonist in Bill Koch’s successful 1992 defence of the America’s Cup aboard America³.
Quattro – as I’m told Harry IV once nicknamed himself – was named 2021 Rolex US Sailor of the Year and led the American Magic Youth Team to the final of the Youth America’s Cup in Barcelona during AC37. His season with Calabrese aboard the Quantum Racing TP52 must surely bode well for the communication loop aboard the ARC Team USA AC75, where the pair look like the logical choice in the helming roles. Melges is also a member of the United States SailGP Team, but has yet to make a competitive appearance.
Also likely to slot seamlessly into this new setup is the highly rated Michael Menninger, who raced in the trimmer/flight controller role aboard the American Magic AC75 in AC37. I first became aware of him at the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco, where I interviewed him as a Red Bull Youth America’s Cup helmsman. Menninger has match racing and team racing world championships to his name, along with a victory as tactician at the 2017 Etchells worlds. After the last America’s Cup, he was recruited by the United States SailGP Team as wing trimmer, and is widely recognised as playing a key role in their significant improvement in performance since that time.
Less high-profile perhaps, but still, in my opinion, a wise selection, is another ex-American Magic sailor, Riley Gibbs. To me, Gibbs was an under-appreciated talent in the previous US America’s Cup campaign. Despite racking up a huge number of training hours aboard the American Magic AC40s and AC75, he missed out on selection for the senior crew at AC37. Racing with crew Anna Weiss, Gibbs finished ninth in the Nacra 17 class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and last year finished sixth at the 2025 International Moth World Championships. He has always struck me as an impressive talent, and I am happy to see him get another crack at the America’s Cup.
I have to confess to not having known much about Louisa Nordstrom, prior to this announcement. As a college sailor, she was a four-time All-American and went on – with crew Trevor Bornarth – to campaign in the 470 class for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She was a trimmer aboard the American Magic Women’s Team at the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona during AC37. This June she joined the US SailGP Team after three competitive appearances with the team during the 2025 season as part of its development programme.
Despite being a newcomer to the America’s Cup, Hans Henken should have no problem slotting into the ARC Team USA setup. Crewing for Ian Barrows, he won bronze in the 49er at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and races as flight controller alongside Menninger with the United States SailGP Team. Complementing his high-performance sailing skills and making him virtually the perfect America’s Cup candidate are his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Stanford University.
Interestingly, no crew roles were allocated in today’s announcement by the American challenger. However, logical choices for helming must surely be Calabrese and Melges, with Menninger and Henken the likely frontrunners for the sail and foil trimming jobs, and Nordstrom in the strategist/systems monitoring slot. All that said, Gibbs would also be a very strong contender as driver or trimmer.
Perhaps we will learn more when we see who is chosen for the four-person AC40 crew at the upcoming second preliminary regatta, which is scheduled to take place in Naples from September 25–27.