Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 - Rare placing for Groupama

by Groupama Sailing Team on 30 Jun 2014 Extreme Sailing Series Act 4, 2014 - After 22 races contested over four days on Saint Petersburg's race zone, which was as sumptuous as it was complicated, Groupama 40 secured a rare eleventh place out of twelve competitors.

It goes without saying that such a result isn't equal to the qualities and ambition of Franck Cammas and his crew, in contrast with the Swiss on Alinghi, who once again took the win ahead of The Wave Muscat and a fast improving Emirates Team Zealand.

The Neva hasn't been gentle with the skipper of Groupama, who only finished on the podium five times in twenty-two races. In on the action in the first two days, Franck Cammas slipped up in the third, which is the day when the greatest number of races were run: 'We didn't find the correct modus operandi on a strategic or tactical level aboard Groupama and we were off the pace at the starts and in the tack choices on a fair few races. It was a day where things were lacking'.

Eleventh after the first three days, Groupama 40 gained a place in the overall ranking prior to the last race. Out of luck, GAC Pindar made the most of the only manoeuvring error of the week in the final double-point scoring race to get ahead of them: 'On the final day, things were a little better, but it didn't enable us to recover enough points to rank well. This is a very poor ranking'.

Clear-minded and self-critical, Franck Cammas can fully identify where things turned pear-shaped: 'The starts weren't good, but there were also a lot of coups to be had afterwards and we stuffed them up. We were overly passive and didn't have enough attack'.

Present alongside Franck and his crew, coach Thierry Péponnet only managed to get Groupama back on the right track fairly late in the day: 'The races go so fast that it's not easy to adapt. It's essential to get off to a good start, which is what Franck managed to get a handle on in the last start phases. In that instance, the next stage of the race becomes a lot easier'.

As far as the rest is concerned, it is worth saluting the excellent work performed by the crew, which comprised Tanguy Cariou calling tactics, Thierry Fouchier trimming the headsails, Romain Motteau on the mainsail traveller and Devan Le Bihan on the bow.

With regards to the competition, of note is the remarkable consistency of Morgan Larson at the helm of Alinghi, as well as that of Leigh McMillan on The Wave Muscat, the ability to adapt quickly demonstrated by Peter Burling, silver medallist on the 49er at the Olympic Games in London, who was at the helm of Emirates Team New Zealand and finally the constant progress by the tremendous British champion, Sir Ben Ainslie on JP Morgan.

In contrast, there was a slight dip in performance for the second Swiss boat of the line-up, Realstone, which finished fifth and has dropped a place in the overall ranking after the first four events of the 2014 season.

This overall ranking is now logically dominated by the top trio in Saint Petersburg, with Groupama 40 down in ninth place, tied on points with Red Bull.

There are now four events to go (Cardiff, Istanbul, Mediterranean France and Sydney) for Franck Cammas' crew to get more on the offensive and secure points against some of the best racers in the world.

Overall ranking in the Saint Petersburg Grand Prix:
1- Alinghi with 160 points
2- The Wave Muscat with 148 points
3- Emirates Team NewZealand with 146 points
4- JP Morgan BAR with 120 points
5- Realstone with 117 points
6- SAP with 113 points
7- Gazprom with 97 points
8- Oman Air with 96 points
9- Red Bull with 95 points
10- GAC Pindar with 88 points
11- Groupama 40 with 88 points
12- RussianFirst with 40 points

Overall ranking after the first four events of the championship (Singapore, Oman, Qingdao and Saint Petersburg
1- Alinghi with 38 points
2- The Wave Muscat with 35 points
3- Emirates Team New Zealand with 32 points
4- Realstone with 28 points
5- Gazprom with 19 points
6- JP Morgan BAR with 17 points
7- SAP with 14 points
8- Red Bull with 13 points
9- Groupama 40 with 13 points
10- Oman Air with 11 points
11- GAC Pindar with 4 Event website