During this third day of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers, Groupama Team France helmed by Franck Cammas once again kicked off proceedings, this time against the British team on Land Rover BAR helmed by the four-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie, before battling the Japanese in the third and final race of the day. In a 15-17-knot breeze, the French team sailed a phenomenal race against the Brits, dominating play brilliantly before bowing to SoftBank Team Japan. After three days of racing, the French have already encountered their five rivals, and are set to tackle the second Round Robin on Tuesday 30 May tied on points with Sweden and Japan. It’s still all to play for.
Crédit : E Stichelbaut / GTF
Free of hang-ups after their great performance on Sunday against the Swedish team on Artemis Challenge, the only challenger to have beaten the defender Oracle to date, all eyes are on Groupama Team France’s performance against the English, who it is important to note, have a two-point bonus after their victory in the AC45 World Series (preliminary events of 2015 and 2016).
Roughly handled at the start by a very aggressive Ben Ainslie, who blocked the French boat before powering into the lead at 40 knots, Franck Cammas and his crew had some catching up to do. However, thanks to excellent speed, they remained in the match and rounded the first mark 15 seconds behind them. Downwind, roupama Team France stayed in contact. However, it was on the beat that the French boat pulled off a real blinder. Manœuvring increasingly well, Franck Cammas and his men played the gusts to perfection, but the real game changer was coming into the mark on starboard tack and hence with priority, rolling over the stalled English, who had to put in two foiling tacks. The downwind leg was very full-on but the French held onto a 10-second lead. Obviously tense, Ben Ainslie fluffed two oiling tacks, while Franck Cammas played a supreme hand resulting in Groupama Team France taking off and rounding the penultimate mark with a 53-second lead. roupama Team France barrelled along towards the leeward mark at over 37 knots and with an excellent ratio of 95.5% of the race in flight mode. The final gybe was flawless, confirming the incredible progress posted over the last few days by the French team. The reach (wind on the beam) was a mere formality. Groupama Team France clinched the win with a 53-second lead. Massive!
Just thirty minutes after their fantastic victory against the English, Groupama Team rance appeared to be ideally placed in the pre-start. However, with the wind shifting further over to the right, the French boat was forced to luff up to close the gap in relation to the Japanese, who set off powered up with a more favourable angle, even hough the two foilers crossed the line at the same time. Quick, the French remained in contact at the first mark, however they faltered with the gybe and saw Dean Barker and his men take off in a solid gust. Groupama Team France had no other option than to set off in pursuit of the Japanese by making for the laylines and hence losing time, the cruel law of match racing often favouring the leader in this type of steady breeze. During the beat, Groupama Team France seemed to have an issue with accumulating energy, which is essential for getting the foils to work at full bore.
Though the crew was not at fault and didn’t give up, it seemed that the hydraulic systems were no longer responding quickly enough, which is crippling on these achines. Their deficit continued to grow in these conditions and the Japanese boat, hich was beaten twice yesterday, secured the win with a 2 minute 34 second avantage.
Results, program, ITW, here [Fr]
From Groupama Team France
