ISAF Sailing World Cup Final 2014 - A golden finale

by Groupama Sailing Team on 27 Nov 2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final 2014 - From 27 to 30 November, in the gentle heat of the United Arab Emirates, the cream of international Olympic sailing will be contesting the finals of the Sailing World Cup 2014 in Abu Dhabi. Among the ten Olympic series represented, Franck Cammas will be participating in the event for the first time aboard a Nacra 17, this time teaming up with the young, light Alizée Desbordes.

Having remained in France to satisfy her professional obligations, Sophie de Turckheim will be following the performance of her favourite helm closely. Reserved for the top twenty in each Olympic series, this competition marks the start of the 2015 season rather than the end of the current one, the culmination of which was the World Championship contested in September in Santander.

Not terribly successful in the Iberian breeze, the Groupama skipper, like his fellow competitors, is expecting to race in light airs: 'In fact we're going to have breeze so it will be punchier than forecast, more so than usual for this part of the world. Over the next four days, we're set to have between 15 and 20 knots'.

Though it's always instructive to train in breezy conditions, this particular weather system doesn't help matters for one of the four French crews competing in the series: 'The breezy conditions are not our strong point, added to which Alizée, who's replacing Sophie, is even lighter by some five kilos'.

In conditions such as these, it's going to be difficult to vie with the reigning World Champions, Besson - Riou, who really perform well in the breeze. The same is true against the other two French crews Ogereau - Vandame and Vaireaux - Audinet.

However things pan out, they're going to have a battle on their hands: 'Given the limited number of competitors, this Sailing World Cup is reminiscent of the Olympic Games. As such, it's going to be all the more difficult to qualify for the Medal Race, which is reserved for the top ten, but no matter, that's the name of the game in sport. It's down to us to battle hard with what weapons we have,' concludes Franck, whose only previous race in Abu Dhabi resulted in a fine second place: it was aboard Groupama 4 during the In Port race in the Volvo Ocean Race three years ago...

Represented in seven of the ten Olympic series by a total of sixteen crews, to which you have to add the French champion Maxime Nocher in the Formula Kite category, the French hotshots will be keen to confirm the world number one spot they gleaned in Santander three months Event website