Credit: Schmid Chris / EYEMAGE MEDIA
Coraline Jonet : We were actually quite happy with the weather in the end – we were a bit sceptical when I spoke to you on Friday, but we had beautiful conditions and managed to get seven races in over the two days. It was as competitive as expected, but really good fun!
How was the team's performance?
CJ: Our performance was good overall. I would say that we managed to win the Grand Prix through good crew work, good starts and good tactics. We were lying second at the end of the day on Saturday; we had good starts overall and very good speed. Foncia had a very strong start to the event on Saturday winning three out of four races, which is excellent for them. Going in to Sunday, we were lying just behind them. We are really happy with our speed; the new drifter and the changes to the mainsail have made a big difference.
Sunday was even better as we won the Grand Prix! We started the day with a race win and then fought hard against Banque Populaire for the rest of the day. They had ended Saturday in third place and by the end of Sunday they had won two races out of three. They had excellent boat speed and very good starts.
What does this result mean for the team in terms of chances for the championship title?
CJ: We knew if Banque Pop finished within the three first boats this weekend then it would be really hard, almost impossible, for us to win the championship this year. Sadly this is the case... they finished third. We are a bit disappointed, but we knew we had a lot of points to catch up and even if we won the last three Grand Prix, if Banque Populaire sailed as consistently well as they have been, then we knew we wouldn't be able to win the season. It's a bit disappointing that having won the last regatta and this one, we won't have a crack at the top prize. The best position we can hope for is second place and for this we would need to be one boat ahead of Foncia when we next race.
Banque Populaire, Foncia, Ylliam and Zoulou have made huge steps up in performance. We had some difficulties getting up to speed at the beginning of the season, especially in the light air and for the long distance races. I am afraid that we are paying the price for that now. To win the title you need to be good at both the short and the long races and congratulations to Banque Pop because they have really achieved this.
It's not over yet though - what comes next for the team ahead of the final event on 17 September?
CJ: We have one race to go – in two weeks. We will have two training days beforehand, we must be on weight of course! We'll be doing our best to end the season on a high, all good things happen in threes! As we have won the last two Grand Prix, we definitely hope to win the last one. We are happy to be back at the top of the fleet.
From Alinghi
