00:00The team's been working really hard after some disappointing results
00:04last two events and it's really nice to have a good Saturday
00:07in front of a home crowd here in Portsmouth.
00:09I mean, it was a tricky race course but it seemed like
00:12if you knew what way to go and you were out in front it was easy.
00:15Yeah, I think it's like anything, once you got the hang of it
00:18and we seem to be sailing fast, good boat handling
00:21so yeah, really good job by the team today
00:24and nice to finally have a good day after what's been some difficult events.
00:28And five people on board to where we run off.
00:30What was your sort of thinking around that? How did you grind the field?
00:33Yeah, we may be different to some of the other teams.
00:35Hannah stayed at the back and we just dropped Neil off the front
00:38so Nico was grinding away on his own. He did a great job
00:41and it's really important for me, I think, to have Hannah being able to focus on that strategy side
00:45and steering out with the manoeuvres.
00:48I mean, that grandstand is pretty incredible. Did you get distracted at all?
00:51Not too much but it was just, you know, feeling immensely proud and privileged
00:55to be racing in front of that home crowd and seeing 10,000 people there is unbelievable.
01:00Yeah, we were really happy with our day. I think after New York it was really like for us
01:05the start was kind of the biggest working point and we really focused on that the last month
01:10and yeah, today we had pretty good starts. The first three races were really good
01:15and the last one a bit less but yeah, it was really what changed the racing for us
01:19where we could like round like M1 and the first gate in a better position
01:24and then kind of keep chipping away.
01:26It looked like you guys were sailing quite aggressively like putting it where it needed to be
01:29and like fighting to every spot.
01:31Yeah, I think we really, yeah, just were really keen and obviously super hungry to do good races as well
01:38and yeah, we really like went all out around the course especially I think in the pre-start
01:43and it really paid off.
01:45And as a strategist slash grinder, how hard is it when you're turning handles from a penguin ship?
01:50Today I was lucky because I actually didn't have to turn the handles.
01:53I stayed in the backwards sub which actually was great because I could really focus on the strategy
01:58and I think yeah, we really just, yeah, we're really aware like going the right way around the course as well
02:06so obviously it always helps.
02:08The last race it felt like we saved face a little.
02:11The first three races it felt like you needed a sword and shield in there.
02:15It was just battling away with the other teams.
02:17It just, it was all on.
02:19We were battling away in the middle of the pack
02:21but fortunately the last race we got away clean
02:24and were able to do a little bit of a number on the Spanish at the bottom mark.
02:28I felt a bit bad for that but I wasn't going to get forced back into the pack again.
02:32I wanted to stay ahead and clear.
02:34It looked like it was pretty hard to overtake in the pack
02:37but you guys managed to salvage a point which is really important when you were back.
02:40Does that give you a little bit of confidence?
02:42It was really hard to overtake.
02:44The course was a bit of a one-way track and the marks were favoured that if you split
02:49trying to overtake boats it made it, you're pretty much lost every time.
02:53So yeah, I hope that the race committee opened up the course a little bit more.
02:58I understand they want to get close to spectators and all that
03:01but it would be really nice if they opened it up a little and just gave us some overtaking lanes.
03:06The race course is super intense obviously with short mark one, short jump down to the gate.
03:12How intense is that racing getting around that way?
03:15Yeah, it's really hard.
03:17I mean, having to jibe on mark one instantly and whoever can do a good jibe and get their board on the lock.
03:24Yeah, I don't know. I think they could have opened up the course a bit more.
03:28It just made it very touch and go at times.
03:32All the boats were very condensed and it was a bit of a bottleneck there at that first mark.
03:37But fortunately there were no big crashes that I've heard of so that's good for everyone.
03:42Yeah, yeah for sure. I think tomorrow's going to be a pretty different day to today.
03:47We're definitely looking quite windy early on in the morning.
03:50But yeah, you get three good races on the board.
03:53You know, be good at mark one in all four.
03:55Obviously frustrated with that last one but it gives us plenty to work on for tomorrow
03:59and super excited by the way we're going.
04:01And I guess in the start, everyone's saying how hard it was. Why was it so challenging?
04:06I think the breeze was just slowly going right and it was kind of just making the lured in more and more biased.
04:11It kind of ended up being quite a soldier's course.
04:14So if you got in the lead out of mark one, you were just gone.
04:18So yeah, probably not the most fun day until it was actually sailing around the course.
04:22But yeah, fun in front of such a big stadium and yeah, obviously scary with what happened to France.
04:28I think we really need to stop these kind of things happening.
04:32So hopefully there's a reason for that and in a way of actually moving forward.
04:38You guys had a pretty good New York on the L boards back on the T foils here.
04:42Feels like Leo's up and running in tune in.
04:45Yeah, we're super happy with the T foils, super happy with the I suppose progress we're making there.
04:50I don't think anyone thought we're going to sail five up all day.
04:53So that was definitely a little spanner in the works and a little bit of adjustment.
04:57But yeah, really happy all of them all.
05:00Thanks.
05:01I think we try to keep it simple.
05:04After New York, we analyzed quite a bit what we have done.
05:08For sure, for us, it's great to go back to the T foils.
05:12It's something that, of course, we have less experience on the L foils and the T are a little bit leveling up the level.
05:21So yeah, for sure we are happy so far.
05:24We did some good starts, some good races as well.
05:30So yeah, can't complain for today.
05:33Yeah, so we had an up and down day, as you say. We got some good starts. I think three good starts, which is good.
05:42Through the course, we felt like if we were keeping it simple, we were going quick and coming back.
05:47But in a couple of situations, we pushed it too much and lost a lot of points today. So yeah.
05:52It looked like the only way that you were going to get overtaken on that racetrack is if you made a mistake and everyone was making some out there.
05:59Yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely. You could push some situations, but also the fact that we were five up out there changed things a little bit.
06:06These boats, in these conditions, five up, like we cannot do the same things so precisely as we do with six.
06:12And yeah, we didn't manage that super well today.
06:15Some people were doing different configurations with the five up. Where did you put your strategies?
06:20So Nicole was grinding today. She did an amazing job.
06:24Some teams kept it in the same place, having less power on the handles.
06:30But yeah, that's how we thought it was going to work the best. We'll debrief it. We'll see.
06:34And I guess are you looking forward to tomorrow, maybe before three and having another go at cracking the top three?
06:40Yeah, definitely. Tomorrow is a big day. I hope there are three more fleet races before the final
06:46and we have a chance to give our best and keep wearing the hand. We'll see.
06:51I think, yeah, we warmed up pretty well and then when racing came, we just didn't quite pull the races together.
06:56Unfortunately, we got overtaken a lot and we also struggled to getting off the start line in two races
07:01and then we didn't have the speed to overtake anyone. We just struggled today and we need to go have a look at the data before we can tell why.
07:08And in general, the start looks quite different to some of the races you've seen in the past. Why was it so challenging?
07:14It's just challenging because the first leg was so short and you had to jibe right away and, you know, only the ones that pulled off a good jibe got away.
07:22The rest we got stuck and couldn't quite get going and so on. And we only managed to pull off one good jibe out of those four and it hurt us today.
07:28For sure, the start was really difficult, I think, for Eric to get a good overview. But yeah, we managed quite well in the last one.
07:38It was good to end on the high. Yeah, and we'll look into it and see what we can do better in the starts tomorrow.
07:44It looked like a race course, you know, there was just no overtaking lanes if you were out the back. How frustrating was that?
07:50Yeah, really frustrating, especially with a bad start. You know, we saw most of the teams that came around Mark 1 in the first place.
07:57They also won the race and there's really not a lot of windows to catch up. Yeah, so that was quite tough with always a bad start. But we'll get there.
08:07It was quite terrible, honestly. We didn't get the transitions between the lighter winds and more breeze very well. And yeah, just, you know, big picture. We just totally lost it.
08:24And then just like recovering from every decision was always another mistake. So it was a pretty tough day for us today.
08:33Yeah, I mean, pretty, pretty nice day for racing, I'd say, you know, I think on average, pretty good breeze, some light spots and around the racetrack here and there. But overall, pretty, pretty nice day for it.
08:46Yeah, our performance, you know, I we keep saying that there's always there's always some room for improvement and we're not, you know, we're not satisfied.
08:56We we're going to keep working at it and continue to grow as a group. And we got some, you know, great new people involved and some new ideas. And, you know, everything's, you know, in the works.
09:09But yeah, you know, we we want to be at the top, but you know, we're not there yet. And yeah, we're working to get better and keep growing. And overall, you know, we had we had some great moments today.
09:20And again, just you probably keep hearing this, but you know, there's few little mistakes around the racetrack are what's learning us the most. So getting rid of those and you know, we're in top five in a couple of races.
09:31And yeah, it's a different story. So yeah, just have to go back and keep pushing to just kind of get better those little bits at a time and eliminate those, you know, one, two mistakes per race.
09:42And, you know, we start climbing the leaderboard pretty quick.
09:46Yeah, we it's fair to say we're pretty, pretty, pretty disappointed with the day for sure.
09:52Just in the melee really in traffic, picking up penalties, dodging boats, had a few wobbles, few crash downs, didn't get off the line that the whole works, plenty to look at.
10:04I think we let our frustration manifest a little bit. And then I think the key the key overnight is really to not not not throw too many toys out with any dishwater dishwater.
10:20We know what we you know, we know we're capable. We just got to change a few things, make a few little tweaks with the boat handling with the starting.
10:28And you know, it'll it'll come good. We just have one of those days today.
10:32Fantastic. And then the conditions overall and looking forward to tomorrow?
10:35Yeah, conditions, conditions were were pretty good for racing today.
10:39It was it was at times pretty, pretty light and super small course, given the number of boats we had and the obstacles that we were dodging.
10:48It was it wasn't a normal race course, put it that way. It felt it felt like different racing today.
10:55Maybe that's part of our issue. I don't know. We'll have to have to have a look at it.
11:00But yeah, tomorrow, tomorrow, the breeze anyway, looks looks good. So yeah, hope it'll be a good day.
11:06Contant, obviously a disappointing incident out on the water. Can you just talk us through what happened?
11:10Yeah, we were during the training session before the races. We were on a straight line up wind, stand by for for attack.
11:20And I think Kevin and Manon were leeward preparing for the new attack. And I just dropped the ball in a few seconds after the wing collapse.
11:29What was the feeling like on board for you obviously like when that happened? What was kind of like sounds and what went through your mind?
11:37The first feeling was I was really surprised honestly, because it was not that windy, probably 11 knots.
11:45And I was not thinking about a possible collapsing wing in this condition. So when I saw the wing just going down, I was like, this is not possible.
11:58And yeah, just after that, just looking for my teammates, making sure that nobody was injured. And yeah, it's unfortunate.
