Building BoatOne’s brain
In high-performance America’s Cup yachts that race at speeds of 50 or so knots, it would be impossible for the racing team to manoeuvre the boat by hand. Instead the sailors depend on cutting-edge electronic systems – which function as ‘the brain of the boat’ – to control the onboard components. It takes a special kind of person to develop this ‘brain’ and in the case of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, one of them is Andrea Pisano, Control Systems Engineer.
So what does a Control Systems Engineer actually do? Who better to explain than the man himself!
“The things you can control on the boat are the foils and the sails and their different functions. My job is to make sure these functions work in the best way possible, in terms of performance and stability, making sure the sailors have full control in the way they want.”
Growing up in Sardinia in a family of engineers, Andrea was always sure he would follow in his family’s footsteps. As a boy, he was inspired watching Luna Rossa compete in the cutting-edge world of America’s Cup racing, but he never anticipated being part of a Cup team. “I always hoped to be an engineer in a high-tech sport,” Andrea says. “Of course you imagine yourself there, but then depending on the opportunities, you never know where you’ll end up.”
His big break came while studying mechanical engineering, when Luna Rossa – based in Cagliari – put out a call to his university looking for developers. To Andrea’s surprise, he was one of the lucky two applicants selected, and got his first experience of high-level competition in the 36th edition of the Cup developing the Italian team’s state-of-the-art simulators.
After racing had finished, Andrea once again found himself shifting gears, this time to the world of performance cars, packing his bags for Milton Keynes to work with Red Bull Advanced Technologies at their UK headquarters. For his first position, the engineer cut his teeth on the top-secret RB17 project, Red Bull’s first-ever hypercar which was only unveiled a few weeks ago, providing him with valuable expertise in high-performance control systems.
However, once the partnership was forged between Red Bull and Alinghi in late 2021, it wasn’t long before he was working on high-tech boats again. “Once you enter this world, it's difficult to leave!” the Italian laughs. Jumping from virtual simulators in his last campaign to systems on real-world boats, the stakes for Andrea have become decidedly higher. “Here, I have to deal with the real operation of BoatOne and program its actual brain.”
Early on, BoatZero had to be refitted with all-new control systems and the software was written from the ground up. Initially working remotely from the Red Bull Advanced Technologies headquarters, Andrea joined Alinghi Red Bull Racing in Barcelona in the summer of 2022 to start a more hands-on role. As development has shifted from BoatZero to BoatOne over the past two years, Andrea has been closely involved in day-to-day operations, joining the sailing team most days on the water.
“Every sailing day, we develop new logic to bring more performance and control to the boat,” he explains. “We go out, test new setups, modes, and maps that the sailors and designers want to try. We test in the simulator first, then on the water, to make sure everything works as expected.” In fact, Andrea’s role is so crucial that some teammates say if he’s sick, they can’t go sailing!
Having grown as a team over the years, he says one thing has remained constant throughout: every day is treated like a Race Day. “Ever since BoatZero, things have evolved in terms of different functionality and development, but the general philosophy of the team on the sailing side has been to keep the level high since the beginning – to adopt the racing mentality from day one.”
Naturally, the development on BoatOne’s systems will continue right up until the end of the competition, but when he has a spare moment Andrea takes part in the fiercely contested Alinghi Red Bull Racing padel tournaments and has also been inspired to take up watersports. Since learning to wingfoil in the flat waters of Tarifa on the opposite side of Spain, he has a newfound appreciation for the tricky venue the sailors must face. “When I came back to Barcelona, I tried to wingfoil with the guys on the team. I found the conditions were too difficult, as it's so wavy most of the time!”
The most rewarding part of the job for Andrea? Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s approach to rapid innovation. “Every time you have a new idea, you can test and implement it on the boat. Sometimes it’s a good idea, sometimes not. You have to test it and see.” With the software on these technologically advanced boats such a key part of the campaign, he appreciates seeing the personal impact he’s had on the team’s performance. “You have the freedom to develop all this new stuff that can bring more stability to the boat, to make the guys more comfortable with a new piece of software, and that can give them better tools for sailing effectively.”