Extreme Sailing Series - Groupama on Soviet soil

by Vincent Borde on 25 Jun 2014 Stage four in the international Extreme Sailing Series circuit, Saint Petersburg is playing host to twelve very high-level crews this Thursday, including Groupama sailing team skippered by Franck Cammas. Sixth in the overall ranking after events in Singapore, Oman and Qingdao, the French skipper is banking on the Russian stage to progress further in their bid against the Swiss and New Zealand leaders.

'Before you can win, you have to learn how to lose'. Surprising as this maxim may sound, it is very true. The Extreme Sailing Series circuit is celebrating its tenth year of existence. Having been competing in all the events for a number of years, some of the teams are dominating, whilst the newcomers struggle at times. Franck Cammas is one of the latter group, as is a certain Sir Ben Ainslie, four-time Olympic champion. There are various reasons for this situation. Firstly, the standard of the participants, with champions like Dean Barker, Morgan Larson as well as Leigh McMillan, who have already been wearing out their foulies on the Extreme 40 for several years.

The type of races is also a major factor: very short at around twelve minutes in length and above all the atypical race zones, which are closed off and surrounded by skyscrapers, as was the case in Singapore and Qingdao.

In these conditions, classic racing culture of the Olympic kind doesn't really come into play. Beyond strategy and tactics, you have to be able to use and even abuse your opportunism card...

It's on the Neva River that the 12-metre long one-design catamarans will race and explore Saint Petersburg's intricacies at the foot of the Hermitage, in a city positively steeped in history. Weather forecasts are indicating a light breeze on Thursday, which is set to build a little on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Of particular importance is the fact that the locals are predicting gusty conditions, which is likely to herald a disturbed race zone, which may enable the two Russian crews to gain the upper hand. The current may also complicate matters...

Aboard Groupama 40, for the first time this season Franck Cammas is making a change of crew with the arrival of Romain Motteau to replace Sophie de Turckheim, who is taking a few days rest prior to the European Nacra 17 championships, which will be contested in La Grande Motte in early July.

In addition to this crew change, it is worth noting Tanguy Cariou's new role. Indeed the latter will be dedicating all his time to calling tactics, whilst Romain Motteau will be in charge of trimming the mainsail. Such an organisation is designed to snap up any opportunities that come its way.

The rest of the crew remains stable with Devan Le Bihan trimming the gennaker and Thierry Fouchier on the jib. The key focus right now is for the crew of Groupama 40 to benefit from two days' training to get their bearings before they kick off their bid to challenge their eleven rivals, who aren't coming to Saint Petersburg for its famous all-nighters but rather the glory of winning.

The crew of Groupama 40:
Franck Cammas : helmsman and skipper
Romain Motteau : mainsail trimmer
Thierry Fouchier : headsail trimmer
Devan Le Bihan : headsail trimmer
Tanguy Cariou : tactician

The championship ranking after the first three events:
1/ Alinghi (Morgan Larson) with 28 points
2/ The Wave Muscat (Leigh McMillan) with 26 points
3/ Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) with 24 points
4/ Realstone (Jérome Clerc) with 22 points
5/ Gazprom Team Russia (Igor Lisovenko) with 15 points
6/ Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas) with 13 points
7/ Red Bull sailing team (Roman Hagara) with 11 points
8/ JP Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) with nine points
9/ SAP Extreme sailing team (Jes Gram-Hansen) with nine points
10/ Oman Air (Rob Greenhalgh) with eight points
11/ GAC Pindar (David Gimour) with three points