“For sure, they start from the very bottom, but with their experience, they will understand very quickly. Don’t forget that they jumped on SailGP, on the F50, and they did, very quickly, very well. 49er, they are the best in the world. I think they have the ability to adapt very quickly,” Dubois said.
“The idea is to see how we can work on that. They’ve never done AC40, they’ve never done AC75. You know, they started two days ago. They’re straight on the simulator, and we know those guys are super pro, super good. So, I’m expecting that they will be on a good level.”
The Spanish duo agreed to join the French Cup challenge during the SailGP season-opener in Perth in January.
At that point, Dubois had expected they would need to make some decisions, because Botin, Trittel and McMillan would count as non-nationals but they were only allowed two.
“[Botin] stopped me and, in perfect French, he told me, ‘Bruno, I’m French.’ And then [there was] silence between [coach] Philippe Presti and myself and we say, ‘What do you mean?’
“He said, ‘well, my mother is French and I have a French passport.’ I said, ‘Okay, that’s perfect … we never thought about that, but it’s perfect.’”
While Botin and Trittel are new to the environment, helmsman Delapierre and trimmer Jason Saunders were key members of the French challenge in Barcelona. At that point, the team were a late entry and had very limited time on the water before the main event.
They showed big improvements, but were ultimately the first team eliminated.
McMillan, who sails with Delapierre and Saunders in the French SailGP team, joins the America’s Cup set-up after racing with the British in Barcelona, competing in the Cup match before being dispatched by Emirates Team New Zealand.
The team were set to return to AC40 sailing in the coming weeks in preparation for the preliminary regatta in Cagliari in May, with plans to relaunch their AC75 after that event.
With more time available this time around, Dubois said they come into this campaign with a much better understanding of exactly what they have at their disposal.
“Last time, it was a lack of time, but a lack of experience mainly and lack of time to understand and create that experience with these boats,” Dubois said.
“Those boats are quite complex and, as you know, we bought the design package from Team New Zealand. A lot of people say, ‘you don’t have the same boat as Team New Zealand’. I say, ‘yeah, we have the same boat as Team New Zealand and the same system.’ They have been very nice. Well, I would not use the word nice, but very straightforward with us. We bought a design package, we got what we asked for, and they delivered very nicely what we had.
“We just didn’t have the experience and the brains to understand all of what they gave us. But now we have the time and we’ve worked on it … we probably understood 20% of what they gave us last time.”
La Roche-Posay Racing Team’s sailing crew
Quentin Delapierre (FRA) – Skipper and helmsman
Diego Botín (ESP/FRA) – Helmsman
Enzo Balanger (FRA) – Helmsman
Jason Saunders (NZL/FRA) – Trimmer
Florian Trittel (ESP) – Trimmer
Leigh McMillan (GBR) – Trimmer
Bruno Mourniac (FRA) – Trimmer
Tim Lapauw (FRA) – Trimmer
Amélie Grassi (FRA) – Trimmer
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.