Stephan Kandler

Founder of the sport-tech company K-Challenge, Stephan Kandler is a leading figure in international sailing who has forged a solid background in the sport over the past three decades. After a break he is back for a second America’s Cup campaign with the same desire, but broader ambitions beyond the competition.

Born to a German father, a pioneer of the Airbus programme in the 1960s, and a French mother, Stephan left Germany for France at a very young age. After attending business school in Toulouse, he embarked on an entrepreneurial adventure creating K-Yachting International, a racing yacht import and brokerage company. Despite the scepticism of some, the visionary imported the Mumm 30 and positioned it as the future boat for the Tour de France à la Voile. His gamble paid off and the boat replaced the JOD 35 in 1999 – a success which confirmed his belief that you must always believe in your convictions.

Stephan then turned his hand to organising sailing events including the K-Yachting Pro-Am Cup, the double-handed Tour of Corsica, the Mumm 30 World and European Championships, while continuing to pursue his brokerage and sailing activities, including winning the One Ton Cup in 1999. This experience was formative as it led him to seek sponsors, and work with local authorities and sailors. During his career, he has raised over 50 million euros in sponsorship and has managed teams and companies from 10 to 80 people.

In regular touch with the sailing elite, the man whose company contributed to Juan Kouyoumdjian’s career as a naval architect, kept up his own sailing activities and his rich and varied experience led him to found K-Challenge on 4 December 2001 with a view to the 32nd America’s Cup held in Valencia, Spain, in 2007.

Bringing a pioneering spirit to everything that he touches, a quality inherited from his father Ortwin, Stephan built a young and talented team. A forerunner of diversity, he gave pride of place to women both ashore and on the water appointing Dawn Riley to the post of Team Manager. “We had the second smallest budget in the Cup, but we tried to open the game, to innovate. We finished 8th but were the 3rd best French Challenger in terms of number of wins compared to the number of races sailed," he said.

The campaign was a first for future talents such as Guillaume Verdier, Sébastien Col, Nicolas Charbonnier and Benjamin Muyl. In 2009, Stephan joined forces with three-time German Olympic champion and two-time America’s Cup winner Jochen Schümann to create ALL4ONE, which he managed. With Audi as a sponsor, the team scored three podiums and a victory in the Audi Med Cup in 2010 and 2011, won the Copa de Rey in 2012, and representing Geodis twice reached the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in 2012, an international circuit with the first stage in Nice, also organised by Stephan.

After an aborted America’s Cup campaign with Olivier de Kersauson, the withdrawal of Audi from the project, and the death of his father, Stephan put sailing on hold from 2014 until 2021. He concentrated on the family business, including Château Tourril in the Languedoc, and acquired a second vineyard, Domaine des Pentelines, in the Rhône Valley.

His passion for sailing continued unabated however, and he followed the America’s Cup in 2021 closely. Convinced of the interest of returning to the prestigious competition and of France’s performance, he approached Bruno Dubois. The two joined forces for the 37th America’s Cup, and in 2022, against all the odds, the project became reality with a real desire to support a competitive French team. Accor Group and its Orient Express brand allowed them to launch the campaign.

“The Cup is a breeding ground for innovation in the maritime sector. Several engineers created their own companies following the 2007 campaign, with major innovations. One of our goals this time is to apply what we develop for the America’s Cup to industry,” said Stephan.

The aim is to contribute to the decarbonisation of transport, and to retain the engineers once the competition is over. “Our aim is for K-Challenge, the world’s leading sport-tech, to continue after the Cup. We are currently working on several technologies, including digital simulation, which we could apply to other fields, and the hydrogen foiling boat. Our ambition is to contribute to making French industry more competitive and Accor has also invested in the subsidiary K-Challenge Labs with this in mind.”

Sailing achievements

2012: Winner of the Copa del Rey (TP52)
2010, 2011: 3x Audi Med Cup podiums (TP52)
1999 and 2001: Winner of the One Ton Cup (IC45)
1999: Trofeo Majorica 1999 (IC45)

What does the America's Cup mean to you?

“The America's Cup is a childhood dream that attracted me in the 1980s, especially with the Australian victory, which was one of the greatest sporting achievements in history. There is no more complex and uneven event, which makes it the most motivating human, sporting, and technological challenge ever.”

What do you remember most about the America's Cup?

“Australia's victory in 1983 and K-Challenge's victory over Alinghi in 2005 in Trapani.”

Your motto?

“Nothing is impossible.”

Born on 11 July 1970 in Munich, Germany
Dual nationality: French and German