Orient Express Racing Team focused on steady progress after mixed opening day in Jeddah
by Orient Express Racing Team 1 Dec 2023 07:14 NZDT
Orient Express Racing Team at 37th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta Jeddah © Martin Keruzore / Orient Express Racing Team
Orient Express Racing Team continued to hone their collective skills during an intensive first day of racing at the 37th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta Jeddah, presented by NEOM.
The French challengers for the 2024 America's Cup demonstrated some good speed and competitive tactics at times in all three of the opening day races, signing off with a hard-earned second place in race three.
After two earlier fifth place finishes off the Red Sea city port, the race squad of Quentin Delapierre, Kevin Peponnet, Matthieu Vandame and Jason Saunders finished the day in fifth place with 11 points, though close behind near rivals INEOS Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing amid sometimes tricky racing conditions.
With two more days of racing to follow in the foiling AC40 race boats, Orient Express Racing Team — the challenger with the least time on the water in the high-speed yachts — assessed their progress and focused on eliminating the unforced errors which had cost them points early on.
"It was pretty light so it was challenging at times for all the crews," said skipper and co-pilot Quentin Delapierre. "The racing has become even tighter, on board when we are flying we are aiming to keep it going as smoothly as possible, while trying to bring the race together, and when you come off the foils it is very frustrating."
Trimmer Jason Saunders shared the view that there is progress but still work to be done: "We had some really good starts and Quentin put us in some good conditions on the first half of the beat, so we can be pleased with that."
"What we saw today is that everyone is really close — even the Kiwis got a five after winning the first two races — so if we can go out there and complete a solid day and be consistent, and avoid mistakes in the race, we will be improving."
And Jason added: "Days like today and the practice racing yesterday are gold for us, we need these hours under our belt to see the different situations and be able to discuss them. These boats are hard to see out from, so the information circulating between the two different sides is super-important. We are only improving, and we have a lot more work to do yet."
Following a strong showing at the first America's Cup Preliminary Regatta in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain, in September, which saw Orient Express Racing Team claim a third-place podium finish on their debut outing, the team is focused on maintaining their steady progress.
The Jeddah event marks the last competitive fleet outing for the AC40s before the final preliminary regatta raced aboard AC75s at the end of August 2024 in Barcelona, as a prelude to the 37th America's Cup itself.
Three more fleet races are scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, starting at 13:30 local time (11:30 CET).