The spectacular images of these 72-foot (22 m) catamarans taking off at dizzying speeds in San Francisco Bay (United States), with the Golden Gate as a backdrop, were seen around the world in 2013. During this 34th edition of the America’s Cup — which had seen, after a thrilling suspense of 19 regattas, the victory of Oracle Team USA over Team New Zealand — the general public discovered the foils, these appendages allowing boats to remain suspended above the water. A decade later, the view of the bay is still just as stunning, the catamarans reach mad speeds of 99 km/h (24 more than in 2013) and the French (who hold the speed record) are turning things upside down.
Last year, at the same time, Quentin Delapierre, a defector from the French Olympic sailing team, was only a spectator participant in the finale Sail GP which was already arguing in San Francisco. Here he is now applying for the podium and a place for the ultimate regatta during which three crews will compete for the jackpot of one million dollars. The amount seems crazy, almost as much as this Sail GP circuit, created 3 years ago by Russel Coutts, New Zealand sailing legend, and American billionaire Larry Ellison, founder of the firm Oracle.
All in the same boat and shared data
Sailing losing its appeal to the general public, the two men imagined a calibrated format for television (three races a day lasting 15-20 minutes), with regattas taking place near the coast, in order to attract spectators, all over the world. The nine teams have the same boat (F 50s), prepared by the organisation, and share all their data. “The qualities of the crew (there are usually six on board) are highlighted in this way, it is they that make the difference and not the technology”, summarizes Quentin Delapierre.
A little as if in Formula 1, all the drivers had the same single-seater and, after each race, put all their data in a common pot. To ward off the danger, the competitors, who, tied up, cannot fall into the water, are all equipped with oxygen cylinders and knives, in case the catamaran capsizes and someone gets stuck under the hull. Safety imposed since the accident of Andrew Simpson, who died following his capsize in San Francisco, during training for the 2013 America’s Cup.
This Friday morning in San Francisco, during the introductory press conference, Quentin Delapierre took his place on the stage, alongside New Zealanders Tom Slingsby and Peter Burling and Briton Ben Ainslie, who between them have won 5 titles. Olympics, 14 world champion titles and 3 America’s Cup victories. This is to say the performance that Team France is currently achieving. Third 5 races from the final (Australia is already qualified), the French will have to finish ahead of the British to obtain the right to compete in the million race.
Beat Ben Ainslie Myth
“We come here to win the San Francisco Grand Prix, it’s the best way to go to the final, we have the chance to do it against the greatest athlete in history, Sir Ben Ainslie, it’s just an incredible opportunity, especially since last year we were not in this position at all”, underlines Quentin Delapierre, who also tells how for several days, the team went green, in a house north of San Francisco. “The opportunity to talk about something other than the race, to take advantage of this moment that we are living. »
“We are where we wanted to be at the start of the season, we have this possibility of going to the final, it is up to us to seize it”, estimates Bruno Dubois, boss of Team France. It was he who in September 2021, at the end of the French stage (in Saint-Tropez) of season 2, decided to replace Billy Besson with Quentin Delapierre. “We were last, we couldn’t continue like this, on pain of being returned to our goals by Russel Coutts,” recalls Bruno Dubois.
Because if Russel Coutts and Larry Ellison finance a large part of the circuit (more than half of the 8 million euros of the French budget), they are free to choose the participants and to replace the poorly performing teams on the water and/ or commercially (the Japanese, although 3rd last year, paid the price).
In the fall of 2021, Quentin Delapierre, who has just finished 8th at the Tokyo Olympics (in Nacra 17), is thinking of preparing the Paris Games but takes his chance. “Because playing the Champions League cannot be refused,” smiles Quentin. “The ambition was very clear from the start. Everyone was free to join or not,” he says. The French have, via the data made available, copied what their opponents were doing, in particular to catch up on the other teams.
A paid complicity
“We felt that we were progressing, the victory during a round in Chicago unlocked everything, it consolidated confidence around the project and the method, recalls Quentin. We began to believe it, we won the Cadiz Grand Prix and three rounds in Sydney. » The choice to entrust Kevin Peponnet, another defector from the France team Olympic sailing, the position of wing trimmer was also decisive. “There is an unshakeable trust between us, we are interchangeable,” says Quentin.
The two boys shared the same room during the Tokyo Olympics. “We were watching Sail GP replays, it made us dream, we said to ourselves that to access something like that, where there are only sailing stars, we had to at least win a medal. Olympic Games,” recalls Kevin Peponnet. There won’t be a medal, but the two friends are now making common cause.
France is now observed. “In 2021, we were never looked at, never analyzed, we had little political weight. Today, we have acquired sporting legitimacy, we have changed status, ”says Delapierre. A status that could still go up a notch in the event of a performance, on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
2023-05-06 13:41:00
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