Extreme Sailing Series -The ambitions of Franck Cammas and his crew

by Groupama Sailing Team on 23 Mar 2014 In Act 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series, out of the four days of racing contested in Muscat, solely the first proved equal to the ambitions of Franck Cammas and his crew. Sailing too inconsistently for the remainder of the competition and not very lucky at times, the crew of Groupama 40 let some good opportunities to get back into the thick of the action pass them by, and in so doing lost their grip on a possible podium position. A team debriefing is now called for to analyse the causes of this result in order to tackle the next event in Qingdao, China, in the best possible conditions from 1-4 May 2014.

The Extreme 40 circuit is certainly living up to its reputation. Indeed, at the start of the final race today, some four boats were still in contention for outright victory. Better still, another five competitors were battling it out for fifth place. Suffice to say that in these conditions, the slightest mistake cost dearly: 'In the final race, we got off to a very good start. Unfortunately, a series of three waves halted our progress and caused us to lose our position. Instead of rounding the first mark in the top three, we were second to last and that was how the final result played out. It's a bit frustrating but that's the name of the game,' summed up the Groupama skipper, who is obviously disappointed by this result.

'And yet we've clearly made a great deal of progress since Singapore, particularly in the start phases, where we pretty much managed to get off to a clean start wherever we chose to,' Franck explains. 'In the breeze, we were very at ease and really quick. However, in the light airs with the chop, we have to progress with the trimming so that we're able to hold onto the tactical positions, which prove decisive'.

Questioned about his rivals, the French skipper highlights the fine progress made by the SAP crew: 'Second to last in Singapore, they could have won here. It's very encouraging and it just goes to show that the result was a really close-run thing. It's down to us now to perform as well as they have.'

In the meantime, as they await to lock swords in Qingdao with The Wave Muscat, Emirates Team New Zealand and Alinghi in particular, Franck and Sophie de Turckheim will be setting a course for Palma to prepare for and then compete in the Princess Sophia Trophy on the Nacra 17, which will serve as a selection round for the World Championship and the Rio test event.

The crew of Groupama 40 in Muscat:
Franck Cammas, skipper and helmsman
Sophie de Turckheim, race zone observer and manoeuvres
Tanguy Cariou, mainsail trimmer and tactics
Thierry Fouchier, headsail trimmer
Devan Le Bihan, bowman

Ranking for the Extreme Sailing Series in Muscat after 29 races
1. The Wave Muscat with 188 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand with 186 points
3. Alinghi with 179 points
4. SAP with 176 points
5. Team Russia with 158 points
6. Realteam with 153 points
7. Red Bull with 145 points
8. Groupama with 144 points
9. JP Morgan with 139 points
10. Oman Air with 123 points
11. GAC Pindar with 94 points

Overall ranking after the first two events (Singapore and Muscat)
1. The Wave Muscat with 19 points
2. Alinghi with 18 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand with 16 points
4. Realteam with 13 points
5. Groupama with 9 points
6. Red Bull with 9 points
7. Team Russia with 9 points
8. SAP with 8 points
9. JP Morgan with 6 points
10. Oman Air with 3 points
11. GAC Pindar with 2 Groupama website