XXXIIe America's Cup

 

 
FRA 79
(© Le Défi)
FRA 46 & NZL 32
(© Gilles Martin-Raget)
 
Lorient

 

 Le Défi's training in the Hauraki Gulf is over (11/27/02)
 (source : Le Défi)
The activity in New Zealand waters for le Défi Areva is over and by the beginning of December the boats and equipment will be ready to be shipped back to France via cargo.

Whilst their colleagues are competiting for the repechage, this it was the last training day with the two yellow boats in the Hauraki Gulf before the departure

Philippe Presti and Luc Gelluseau skippered FRA 69, Sébastien Destrémau and Philippe Presti are on FRA 79 for four hours of intense concentration making tiny adjustments.

From today everybody is busy packing up all the equipment which has to be shipped to France - boats, sails, tenders, rigs, etc... Five weeks are necessary for the cargo ship to reach Lorient.

While Le Défi hasn’t committed to come back to the next Louis Vuitton Cup, its sponsors this time are said to be very interested in the next campaign. Interested enough to approve the last tests with FRA 69 and 79 despite being eliminated from contention last week.
 
 Le Défi Areva were really no hard feelings (11/24/02)
 (source : Foxsports)
Yesterday, French America's Cup challengers le Defi Areva mounted an equipment rescue mission on behalf of Sweden's Victory Challenge, the team that knocked them out of the Cup challenger series (Victory had eliminated the French from the challenger series a week ago when it won a best-of-seven quarterfinal 4-1).

Victory broke the boom on its race yacht Orm as it waited in high winds and choppy seas for the start of racing on the rescheduled first day of its quarterfinal repechage against Prada of Italy.

The Swedish team's spare boom was at its Auckland compound, a round trip of more than an hour from the racecourse. But it had no way of getting it because all of its support craft were on the water.

Le Defi dashed to the Swedish base, its neighbor on Syndicate Row, and grabbed the boom, loaded it hastily aboard its tender and sped through steep and breaking waves toward the racecourse.

"The French, who we defeated a few days ago, made a great effort to help us and we wish to thank them very much," said Victory spokesman Bert Willborg. "Their gesture showed there were really no hard feelings."

The effort by the French team, saluted by Victory, was in vain when racing was abandoned Sunday because of high winds and choppy seas.
 
 Le Défi training for an extra session in NZ (11/20/02)
 (source : Le Défi)
Le Défi Areva plan on staying around the Viaduct Basin till the beginning of December, despite being ousted from the Louis Vuitton Cup on Monday.

Today, the three directors of the french Challenge, Xavier de Lesquen, Luc Gellusseau and Pierre Mas announced to the team there is still plenty of work to be done, with an eye on their next campaign.

"We are working for the next Cup, probably in 2006", explains Le Défi sport director Pierre Mas. "This Cup is not an end in itself, but just a step. The work is continuing and There are a lot of things to learn".

The team will sail three days with FRA 69 and 79, then the technicians will modify both Class America before new navigations.

This program should be completed about December 4. Then, le Défi Areva will pack up and heading back to France.
 
 Afterguard changes on Le Defi Areva (11/08/02)
 (source : Le Défi)
The French afterguard will be composed of Philippe Presti (skipper-helmsman), Luc Gellusseau (tactician) and Philippe Mourniac (navigator).

Philippe Presti has the advantage of having raced Jesper Bank on the international yachting circuit for many years and it was also Presti who helmed during training matches against the Swedes in September.

He showed strong qualities in both start manoeuvres and in contact racing and will bring precious experience to the regattas of the Quarter Finals.

"I know Jesper Bank well", says Philippe Presti. "I have had the opportunity of racing against him on the international circuit and the training matches we had against them in September were very useful. These will be tough rivals who have had a very good start to the Louis Vuitton Cup".

"I have been analysing their regattas and if we can improve our performance in the contact phases – as well as maintaining the good boatspeed we now have – we should be able to mark a point against them".

The change of afterguard has not been easy. "I made a difficult decision", says Sailing Manager, Pierre Mas. "It had to be done. We are at a critical moment in the competition and we have to take into account all of our strengths and our weaknesses".

" Today, we find ourselves in the position of having one single opponent – the Swedes. We have to catch them and be better than them in all the close match-racing phases of the regatta. To do this, I decided to reconfigure the team around Philippe Presti. At the helm of FRA 69, he is a plus for us against Victory Challenge".

From today, both French boats will be training in the Hauraki Gulf – FRA 79 as the sparring partner to Le Défi Areva’s main race boat FRA 69. They will be training together from now until next Tuesday, when regattas against the Swedes for the Quarter Finals begin.
 
 Le Défi Areva celebrate survival (11/02/02)
 (source : NZ Herald)
The French team arrived back at base about 90 minutes after the win that ensured they stayed in the regatta. Le Defi Areva beat Mascalzone Latino, making the Italian team the first casualty of the America's Cup.

At the French camp there were balloons, clapping, a few pots were banged and a little champagne sprayed around. The music was far from patriotic, with Sweet Home Alabama playing while the crew concentrated on getting the sails out of the boat .

Inside the large marquee where the comparatively low budget French syndicate eat their meals, helmsman Luc Pillot acknowledged the win was a big relief. "It means that we are happy, of course," he said.

Yesterday's win against OneWorld, Le Defi's first of the tournament, had helped the team gain confidence for today's race. The last two days had showed Le Defi were able "to play the game" against the other syndicates, Pillot said.

Despite today's win, he did not consider the race to be Le Defi's best of the regatta so far. "Maybe there was some races where we didn't win but we sailed better than today," he said.

The team had done a few things wrong today, including a slow hoist of the genoa rounding a mark, which had led to some anxiety. The problem for his team was that they had so far been unable to go as fast as possible in every part of their races, Pillot said.

Asked who he would like to race in the first phase of the quarterfinals, where teams pair up and take each other on in a best-of-seven series, he suggested the British GBR team. Britain and France had a long history, he said.

Le Defi tactician Sebastien Destremau said the team had done what needed to be done, helped along by a good wind shift early on.

He suggested the they had performed better today because of their loss, possibly because of a basic error, to GBR yesterday. Making the mistake they did yesterday had helped the team avoid the same problem today, he said.