AMERICA’S CUP A-TEAMS
Olympians Return For The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Toulon
I think for all of these programs, having a home regatta is really important for two reasons: one, is to gain notoriety in your home country for the team, the sport of sailing and the America’s Cup in general; and secondly, for many teams it is about fundraising – bringing new corporations and publicity to your team and the event. Knowing that Groupama Team France was late to the party with regard to organizing their program, I have a sneaking suspicion that this event is as important to them as any of the other events have been for the home teams.
On the competitive side of things, Groupama Team France is also showing signs of life, especially in lighter air. On the first day of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth I believe they were ahead at the end of every single leeward mark before getting a first and second place finish, which is a massive improvement for them. Now with that said, they have been struggling in foiling conditions. When it’s lighter air, displacement mode, Franck Cammas and his team seem very comfortable. Once they get back into foiling mode, it was back to the drawing board, especially on Day 2 of the Portsmouth event. I know they have been doing a lot of sailing on GC32s, which are foiling catamarans, and hopefully a bit of practice on their AC45 prior to going to Toulon.
The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Toulon will also be known as the event where all the A-Team sailors show back up again. Fresh from a Gold medal in Rio in the 49er Class come Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to jump back into the Skipper and Trimmer roles on Emirates Team New Zealand. Also back fresh from the Olympics with a Silver medal, losing to the Kiwis, are Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. On the one hand I’m sure they were bummed not to win a Gold medal but, on the other hand, they made a last minute push to go from Bronze to Silver on the final day so they have got to be really pleased with that. Then, of course, there is a Gold medal for Giles Scott in the Finn Class, with a totally dominant performance. He will be back after a fairly lengthy lay-off with Land Rover BAR as their tactician. And then finally, Jason Waterhouse returns with a Silver Medal from the Nacra 17 Class in Rio to race with SoftBank Team Japan.
I say “A-Team” with some trepidation because when your B-Team includes Glen Ashby, who might just be the most heralded multihull sailor on the planet, it’s not exactly a low-end B-Team! But there’s no doubt that getting everyone back in position, which includes Ashby as Wing Trimmer on Emirates Team New Zealand, has to be not only more effective for these Louis Vuitton World Series events, but also better training for their long term solution once they move up to the AC50s. So I’m sure everyone will be very excited to see all the top teams back together in one piece.
And finally, we’ve had a bit of a shake up at the top of the leaderboard. Emirates Team New Zealand, for the first time since the beginning of this Series, is not leading overall going into Toulon. So let’s see where the learning curve is with some of the teams that have struggled at times and let’s see how quickly the big boys respond to get their A-Teams back together and up to the top of the leaderboard.
