This Friday marks the start of the Prada Cup (January 15-February 12), a preparatory event for the 36th edition of the America’s Cup. If, internationally, this cup arouses all envy, the enthusiasm of the French for this competition, older in the world at the height of its 170 years, remains limited. This year, no team will embark a French sailor, a first since 1970. A cultural difference explains in particular this disenchantment.
It is well known that France is a country of sailing. Proof of this is the high concentration of French skippers entered in each edition of the famous Vendée Globe race, currently underway. But if the Hexagon is crazy about offshore racing, the America’s Cup is, for its part, much less talk. To the point that no official French team is participating in 2021, as in the 34th edition. However, abroad, this mythical competition, which brings together Yachts clubs from six nations around various challenges, has the public and skippers salivating. So why this French disinterest?
The first reason is cultural. Founded in 1851 by the English, the America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in the world for all sports, is characterized by its link with the very Anglo-Saxon yachting world. “Culturally, there is a very big gap between France, which puts solo racing offshore at the top of the pyramid, and the Anglo-Saxon environment, which puts regattas like the America’s Cup at the top ”, Explain Alain Gautier, winner of the Vendée Globe 1992-1993 and who took part in the 33rd America’s Cup with the Swiss team Alinghi in 2010.
“Outside our borders, we talk a lot more about the America’s Cup”
Franck Cammas, French skipper
“In France, the culture of sailing is essentially turned towards solo sailing, thanks or because of Éric Tabarly, continues Alain Gautier. Before him, we cannot say that France was a pioneer in terms of sailing. ” France only really took an interest in it around the 1960s when Tabarly started winning races, especially against the English. This exceptional sailor, considered by many to be the benchmark, notably triumphed in English races such as the solo Transat in 1964 and participated in the 1970 edition of the America’s Cup.
Yet according to Franck Cammas, who participated in the last edition of the America’s Cup in 2017, many French sailors would be attracted to this competition, but would not participate, due to lack of visibility. “In France, single-handed races such as the Vendée Globe or the Route du Rhum attract a lot of media attention and represent, for the French public, the world of sailing. But it’s not just that. Outside of our borders, we talk a lot more about the America’s Cup ”, nuance the winner of the Route du Rhum and triple winner of the Transat Jacques-Vabre.
Marc Pajot is one of the few French skippers to have performed so well in the America’s Cup, with two semi-finals in 1987 and 1992. “In France, we have always been very well served with ocean races. The solo race has always been valued and highlighted by all the players, whether it is the press or the skippers, he explains. Everyone has always preferred to run in this category. We have excellent sailors offshore, excellent boats, but today we only have to face ourselves. We can see it clearly, during the Vendée Globe, there are almost only French people ”, underlines the one who was Eric Tabarly’s teammate.
For the native of La Baule, it would also be necessary to drop the clichés that separate these two worlds, those of ocean racing and those of regattas. “You have to combine these two worlds. I, who came from the world of Olympism, when I started to race offshore, we said that guys like me knew how to sail well but that we were not strong to go offshore. This duality has always existed, even if it has evolved. The reality is that people who come from Olympism, who work on sporty boats with tactics, have the best training to go offshore and participate in the America’s Cup ”, notes Marc Pajot.
Despite this cultural difference, French sailors have been present at each edition since 1970, sometimes under other banners, like Marc Pajot or Bruno Troublé (from 1977 to 1983). “And, only one Frenchman won the America’s Cup as a sailor, it was Thierry Fouchier, winner with the Americans aboard the Oracle trimaran in 2010, against the Swiss” of the Alinghi team, remembers Alain Gautier.
Another sticking point between the competition and the French mentality, the relationship to money. The America’s Cup is often referred to as the Billionaires Cup. “This competition has always been a story of billionaires who satisfied a passion and who threw challenges against each other”, Alain Gautier slice. The teams involved in fact spend hundreds of millions of euros on the adventure. Budgets comparable to those of Formula 1 which is not, again, in French culture.
“For France to have all its chances, a billionaire would have to embark on the adventure, but the French state of mind means that it would be frowned upon for a billionaire to spend his money so futilely. As sailing is not a popular sport, and the America’s Cup even less with us, it is obvious that very few sponsors have embarked on this project, because they felt that it would cost way too much by compared to the return on investment they could expect “, considers Alain Gautier.
“Technically and sportingly, the America’s Cup is the best in the world”
Franck Cammas, French skipper
Even if ocean racing is more successful in France, the skippers nevertheless agree that the America’s Cup is a unique race in many respects. “Technically and sportingly, it’s the best in the world. This is why there is a real international enthusiasm for this race ”, says Franck Cammas. For the skipper, it was even a dream to participate. “This cut represents excellence in sailing, with the strongest competition, so we want to rub shoulders with it. There are a lot of difficulties, of course, but that is what is attractive. You have to be good at all areas of sailing. What also attracted me was to represent France in this emblematic competition, which is the first competition in the world, which existed even before the Olympic Games. Imagine its story! ”, ecstatic Franck Cammas.
The particular formula of defender (title holder) and challengers also seduced the sailor. This regulation allows the winner to hold the organization rights for the next edition and to wait for another competitor to challenge him. “Like a sword fight in the XVIIe century, s’amuse Franck Cammas. What is quite magical about this competition is that it was able to keep up with the times in the sense that the rules and the type of race were always questioned by whoever was going to challenge the defender. This is why the Cup boats have evolved a lot. Can be seen in Auckland Bay now [là où se déroule la 36e édition] the most beautiful boats and the most advanced technologies in our sport, that’s what is fabulous. ”
Constant innovation, which has become the symbol of this 170-year-old competition. The most recent and most visible example is undoubtedly the contribution of the famous foil, this kind of wing positioned under the hull, which can raise the ship above the water. “The first people who managed to make boats fly and make them go so fast in a race was during the America’s Cup, and this technology was then adopted for ocean racing”, recalls Franck Cammas.
Although no French team has aligned during the 34th and, now, the 36th edition, the tricolors retain a certain rating in this competition. “The French have technological know-how thanks to ocean racing, in terms of architecture, design … They have become benchmarks at the technological level. For example, the revolutionary wing of Oracle, the American catamaran of 2010, was imagined by a French engineer ”, underlines Alain Gautier. The last winners, Team New Zealand, also recruited their share of French as the renowned naval architect, Guillaume Verdier, which also shines in the Vendée Globe. For this 36th edition, they are still several to have worked in the shadows, in particular in the American team (Jacques Le Berre, Arthur Rozand).
From a sporting and technological point of view, France has all the cards in hand to perform on this emblematic race. Still, it lacks the impetus of a French personality endowed with the financial means and the will to invest in such an adventure. “If France has never won, it is mainly because it has never had the budget for. This is what happened during the last edition in Bermuda with Franck Cammas. There was a French team, but with a sponsor with too little budget. With more resources, French engineers could have joined the team, explains Alain Gautier. As long as the fallout is not greater, no French sponsor will launch. ”
What is blocking Team France is a structural problem, which, from the start, shatters its chances of victory. “If we can be at the level of other nations in the budget, and therefore in the recruitment, there is no reason not to win. Because we have a real culture of navigation, with shipyards capable of making the best boats in the world ”, Franck Cammas still believes. “It’s a vicious circle because if we don’t talk about it much, there are fewer ways to get involved in this event. So fewer French teams competing, and fewer athletes who can express themselves on this ground ”, concludes Franck Cammas. And, by snowball effect, less interest on the part of the public. The silver ewer, the trophy of this cup, is not yet close to joining France. Franck Cammas and his team, who had to renew their participation, finally gave up starting … for lack of resources.
–
