LV America’s Cup World Series - Up and down for Groupama Team France

by Caroline Muller on 25 Jul 2016 2016 America’s Cup World Series - This weekend the overall ranking for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series has been turned on its head and with the Portsmouth act complete, the new leader is none other than the local team lead by Sir Ben Ainslie, who was rallied along throughout the six races by strong support from a home crowd. Congratulations to the local crew of Land Rover BAR, who dominated over its rivals, as it did back in 2015!

In the overall ranking for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, the English are one point ahead of the Americans from Oracle Team USA and boast a 10-point lead over the New Zealanders, who have now dropped off the leader spot.

Fifth in the British leg, the French challenge brings up the rear in the overall ranking for the preliminary circuit after a weekend of mixed results.

Up…

On Saturday, the six competitors made headway in very light airs that greatly favour Groupama Team France, which is fairly at ease in such sailing conditions, close-hauled under gennaker. First, fourth and second in the day’s three races, the French team posted a series of excellent starts and finished second overall in the Grand Prix, tied on points with the crew of Land Rover BAR.

And down…

However, during today’s so-called Super Sunday that scores double points, the French challenge was not well positioned during the start phases, which translates as rather lacklustre results, with two sixth places and one fifth place in the final race of the day. That said, the French skipper has been able to take some positives from the team’s encouraging progress, “even though it may not be obvious from viewing the ranking.”

“Visibly, our approach strategy for the start phases clearly wasn’t right”, Franck Cammas notes on his return to the dock. “We lacked insight compared to what we managed to pull off yesterday. The spaces we might have been able to position ourselves slammed shut. As a result, we couldn’t get powered up, so inevitably we didn’t get going until after the others. For now, we don’t yet have the ability to pick off the fleet after a poor start. That said, there are a number of positives to take away from this experience.

In the first race of the day in particular, we were on the pace and very close to the leaders. Downwind, we were making pretty good headway on Groupama Team France. The bear away and the gybes went smoothly, which are phases that used to be a little complicated for us. We’re gradually making progress, but we’re still lacking experience on this type of craft. We’re now going to take our Test AC Class in hand so we can sail on a similar boat to the AC45 Series, which will enable us to raise our game quicker.”

Analyse without regrets and move forward…

It’s time to get the French catamaran packed up now and then the team will head to Brittany to begin training on the test prototype, which was launched on 11 July in Lorient.

Groupama Team France will then go on to compete in the next act of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series on home waters. See you in the Mediterranean, in Toulon, on 9, 10 and 11 September.

The crew aboard the AC45 Groupama Team France in Portsmouth:

• Helmsman / skipper: Franck Cammas
• Wing trimmer: Adam Minoprio
• Tactics: Thomas Le Breton
• Headsail trimmer: Hervé Cunningham
• Bowman: Devan Le Bihan
• Replacement: Thierry Fouchier

LVACWS ranking Portsmouth:

1. Land Rover BAR - Ben Ainslie - 82 points
2. Oracle Team USA – James Spithill – 81 points
3. SoftBank Team Japan - Dean Barker - 69 points
4. Emirates Team New-Zealand - Glenn Ashby - 62 points
5. Groupama Team France – Franck Cammas – 58 points
6. Artemis Racing – Francesco Bruni – 53 points

Overall ranking in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series

1. Land Rover BAR - 367 points
2. Oracle Team USA - 366 points
3. Emirates Team New-Zealand - 357 points
4. SoftBank Team Japan - 328 points
5. Artemis Racing - 315 points
6. Groupama Team France - 292 points