Bertrand Pacé, France’s leading match race sailor, has joined the BMW ORACLE Racing team as training helmsman and part of the afterguard for the team’s 2007 America’s Cup campaign.

The signing of the 42-year-old will reinforce the afterguard centered around CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson. “We are fortunate to have a match racing helmsman as experienced as Bertrand joining our team. Bertrand will push us in our training and will make significant contributions as part of the afterguard. The knowledge and talent he developed through five America’s Cup campaigns will strengthen our program. We are pleased to welcome Bertrand on board.”

Pacé has his sights set on being part of a winning America’s Cup team in Valencia in 2007. He is steering towards his sixth America’s Cup participation – after 1987 (with French Kiss Syndicate), 1992, 1995 and 2000 (each time with Le Défi) and 2003 (with Team New Zealand). In 1994 he was Match Race World Champion, six years later he triumphed in the Swedish Match Tour. Born in Dunkirk, France, Pacé took up sailing as a sport at a young age before studying engineering and discovering his passion for professional sailing.

The expert French match racer is looking forward to this new challenge. “It is a great honour for me to be part of the BMW ORACLE Racing team,” Pace said. “The team looks solid with great people in place in all aspects of the program from sailing to design. I have great respect for those already on board and I see this as an incredible opportunity. I want to win the America’s Cup and to me this team seems to have the talent and the technology to be capable of winning in 2007. I am looking forward to joining the team later this month in Newport and then onto Valencia.”