Americas Cup World Series Portsmouth – A very promising fourth place

by Groupama Team France on 27 Jul 2015 Americas Cup World Series Portsmouth – Ultimately the first event of the ACWS for the 35th America’s Cup was contested over one day instead of the two originally planned in Portsmouth. The reason for this was the rather unfavourable weather, with over 30 knots of southerly wind dished up today, instead of the maximum limit of 25. With victory going to the local of the leg, Sir Ben Ainslie, ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand and the Americans on Oracle, the Portsmouth leg enabled Groupama Team France to confirm its considerable potential against the world’s elite.

The decision to cancel the two races scheduled for Sunday by Race Director, Ian Murray, came as no surprise to the crew of Groupama Team France, who had been observing the evolution of the wind from early on this morning: “It’s a shame not to be able to race, but it’s the weather that dictates. Frankly, it would have been pretty unreasonable to leave the mooring, especially to go and sail in the Solent with big seas. There really was a lot of wind and our boats are not designed to confront such conditions,” stated Franck Cammas.

This upper limit of 25 knots is not specific to the AC45s and the America’s Cup. Also in force in the Olympic series, it aims to protect the sailors, who are sailing increasingly quick, high-performance boats. For those in any doubt, you just have to refer back to the tragic death of Bart Simpson, crewman on Artemis, during the 34th Cup in San Francisco.

Beyond the justified disappointment of the six competing crews and the huge British and French crowds, who had made the journey to attend the event (60,000 spectators on Saturday), the analysis of Groupama Team France’s performance at the end of the two races contested in the Solent is incredibly positive: “We finished fourth in the overall ranking. With regards to the competing teams, who have been part of the Cup circuit for many years, it’s very encouraging. It’s not yet good enough of course, but we’re on the right track,” explains the skipper of Groupama Team France.

In Portsmouth with Michel Desjoyeaux to support Cammas and his crew, Olivier de Kersauson was pleased: “We’re aboard the train. Of course, we’re in one of the coaches at the back for now, but I have no doubt as to the team’s ability and determination to catch up with the locomotive between now and 2017. What I’ve seen here has greatly appealed to me and the atmosphere is excellent”.

Alongside him, the team’s coach, Bertrand Pacé has a few words to add: “We still have a lot of work to do to reach the top of our game, but we’ve got a solid base. The level of the different teams is fairly uniform, though it’s still a little too early to draw any conclusions, as we’ve only competed in two races. In any case, the crew is very professional. I like working in this context”.

For Thierry Fouchier, one of the very few Frenchmen to have won the America’s Cup as a member of the sailing team (33rd edition), the English stage of the LVACWS has been an important one: “We didn’t really know how to position ourselves in relation to our rivals, who are familiar faces on the circuit and in the Cup. The two races contested are a good reflection of where we’re at. In the first race, we made lots of minor errors, which translated as a last place, but we corrected that in the second by being able to jockey for position at the front of the fleet with Emirates Team New Zealand. We really have a good team with considerable potential. It’s great!”

Fourth in the overall ranking behind the three big teams, Land Rover BAR, Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA, Groupama Team France can be suitably proud of this introduction, which saw them finish ahead of specialists like Dean Barker on Soft Bank Team Japan and Nathan Outteridge on Artemis Racing, who was accompanied by another Frenchman, Loïck Peyron, also present in Portsmouth.

Next up, Groupama Team France will have to follow through on this positive introduction at the second event of the year, from 27 to 30 August in Gothenburg, on Artemis Racing’s home waters: “Unfortunately we won’t be able to get anymore sailing in before the next event as the rules prohibit this so as to limit costs. As such, we’ll have to make the most of the five days’ training, which precede the event to up our game,” continues the skipper of Groupama Team France.

We very much hope that the weather conditions will be more favourable in Sweden than they have been in Britain: “We need to compete in more races, especially when we know that the weather conditions are set to deteriorate. It’s a point we’re going to broach with the other skippers as it’s a real shame to see this incredible public and televisual device only being used for two 30-minute races,” concludes Franck Cammas.

Another point to be dealt with is the televisual accessibility to the races in France, where Canal+ managed to acquire the broadcasting rights. Broadcast later on via Canal+ Sport, the two races contested on Saturday could not be viewed on the Cup’s payable digital application, which caused considerable frustration among passionate fans of Groupama Team France.

Warmly applauded during the prizegiving ceremony on Sunday afternoon, the crew of Groupama Team France will now take a few days’ well-earned rest. That includes Franck Cammas, which is saying something.

The crew of Groupama Team France:
• Franck Cammas, skipper and helmsman
• Arnaud Psarofaghis, tactician
• Thierry Fouchier, wing trimmer
• Arnaud Jarelgan, headsail trimmer
• Devan Le Bihan, bowman

Overall ranking in the Louis Vuitton ACWS in Portsmouth
1/ Land Rover BAR – Ben Ainslie - with 19 points
2/ Emirates Team New Zealand – Peter Burling - with 18 points
3/ Oracle Team USA – Jimmy Spithill - with 16 points
4/ Groupama Team France – Franck Cammas - with 13 points
5/ Softbank Team Japan – Dean Barker - with 13 points
6/ Artemis Racing – Nathan Outteridge - with 11 points