Daniel Bernasconi, (born 1973) is a British

America’s Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

yacht designer, specializing in hydrodynamic design and performance optimization. He is currently the Technical Director of

Team New Zealand Team New Zealand or TNZ is a sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Team New Zealand became a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the America's Cup i ...

and a Founding Director of SumToZero, a specialist yacht design consultancy. Bernasconi has worked in both

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and the

as a

race engineer A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off the ...

. As Technical Director Bernasconi led the winning

yacht design teams in both the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

America’s Cup.

Career

AC72_New_Zealand_Aotearoa_San_Francisco_01

After graduating with a

Master of Engineering A Master of Engineering (abbreviated MEng, M.E. or M.Eng.) is either an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering. International variations Australia In Australia, the Master of Engineering degree is a research de ...

degree from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Bernasconi worked first as a structural engineer at

Ove Arup & Partners Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

. He then spent six years at

McLaren Racing McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

as a vehicle dynamics engineer and team leader of vehicle modeling. Whilst at McLaren, the team won two Drivers’ World Championships with Mika Hakkinen and one Constructor’s World Championship. Bernasconi made the switch to yacht design after completion of a PhD in Mathematical Modeling and Aerodynamics at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

subsequently running the

Velocity Prediction Program A velocity prediction program (VPP) is a computer program which solves for the performance of a sailing yacht in various wind conditions by balancing hull and sail forces. VPPs are used by yacht designers, boat builders, model testers, sailors ...

and designing

hydrofoils A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

for Alinghi in their

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 even ...

campaign against

Oracle Team USA Oracle Team USA is an American yacht racing syndicate initially formed to compete for the 2003 America's Cup. They competed again in the 2007 event before winning the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 – representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club ...

. When Alinghi’s America’s Cup campaign ended, Bernasconi developed Gomboc, a proprietary software program which became Emirates Team New Zealand’s velocity prediction tool through the development of the

AC72 The AC72 (America's Cup 72 class) is a class of wingsail catamarans built to a box rule, which governs the construction and operation of yachts competing in the 2013 Louis Vuitton and the America's Cup races. The class was subsequently replac ...

class of

wingsail A wingsail, twin-skin sail or double skin sail is a variable-camber aerodynamic structure that is fitted to a marine vessel in place of conventional sails. Wingsails are analogous to airplane wings, except that they are designed to provide lif ...

foiling catamaran in 2013. Bernasconi has led Team New Zealand’s winning design teams for the development of both the

AC50 The AC50 (defined in the America's Cup rules as AC Class yacht, or ACC) was a wingsail catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "ca ...

and AC75 America's Cup yacht classes.

Honours and awards

* In 2017 Bernasconi was awarded the

John Britten John Kenton Britten (1 August 1950 – 5 September 1995) was a New Zealand mechanical engineer who designed a world-record-setting motorcycle with innovative features and materials. Biography John Britten was born to Bruce and Ruvae Britten in C ...

Black Pin by the Designers Institute of New Zealand for his role as Technical Director and design team lead for the winning

yacht used by

in their

2017 America's Cup The 2017 America's Cup was the 35th staging of the America's Cup yacht race. The challenger, Emirates Team New Zealand, won by a score of 7 to 1 over the defender, Oracle Team USA. It was held on the Great Sound in Bermuda from June 17 to June 2 ...

victory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernasconi, Daniel Living people America's Cup yacht designers Formula One designers Aerodynamicists Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Southampton 1973 births