Extreme Sailing Series - Groupama 40 in Cardiff

by Groupama Sailing Team on 22 Aug 2014 The fifth event of the year for the Extreme Sailing Series, the Cardiff stage is one of the most hotly awaited of the season for the racers. At the helm of Groupama 40, Franck Cammas will discover an urban race zone, which the Welsh public can crowd around to follow the races. Conditions are forecast to be a little windier than those in Singapore, Oman, Qingdao and Saint Petersburg.

Ninth out of twelve after the first four events, the Groupama skipper and his men are not intending to stay there for long. Not very at ease in terms of pure speed in the light airs and rather uninspired tactically during the Chinese and Russian races, the only French crew on the circuit may be able to take advantage of the westerly wind of five to 15 knots, which is a little steadier than usual. It's an opportunity to up their game, particularly in the numerous transition phases synonymous with races that only last around fifteen minutes over very short courses: 'Since the start of the season, we have been consistently more at ease in breezy conditions. That essentially comes down to our pure speed, as well as our positioning on the race zone,' comments Tanguy Cariou, the on-board tactician.

And yet, beyond pure performance, the Groupama crew has been working on their approach to the race itself in collaboration with their coach, Thierry Péponnet: 'There is nothing classic about these races compared with the kind of racing we do the rest of the time. We have to be less calculating and also more aggressive,' adds the Groupama tactician.

'Cardiff's race zone is very small and surrounded by buildings. As such the wind will be very disturbed with wind holes as well as gusts. In these conditions, you have to think of the race as a game and it's imperative you don't try to control all the elements. And when play commences, you have to accept that you're going to lose sometimes and that there are going to be failures. The reaching starts will be a decisive factor as the orientation of the wind won't enable you to do a lot of upwind and downwind sailing,'Tanguy concludes.

It's down to the team now to apply these good resolutions on the water. With an entourage comprising Thierry Fouchier, Devan Le Bihan and Romain Motteau, Franck Cammas and Tanguy Cariou are heading onto the battlefield 'with a relaxed frame of mind to have fun and win some races'. Along the way, they'll encounter a number of big names such as Dean Barker (Team New Zealand), Ben Ainslie (BAR) as well as Morgan Larson (Alinghi), the brilliant leader of the championship...