La Roche-Posay Racing Team showed the speed to win in Naples. Two capsizes cost them almost everything else.
On Saturday, La Roche-Posay Racing Team showed the speed to win the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Naples. Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín won the start of Race 4 and led at every mark. In Race 6 they came off a strong final windward leg with a lead of more than 250 metres and won again.
Between those two wins came the race that summed up their week. In Race 5 the French AC40 was 300 metres ahead after two laps. On the final gybe the boat rose high on its foils, ventilated, turned into the wind and capsized slowly in front of the fleet. Emirates Team New Zealand’s Women & Youth crew sailed past to win.
It was the team’s second capsize in two days. On Friday, in light and shifty wind with waves coming from different directions, the French crossed the start line of Race 2 early. As they turned back, the boat nosedived almost vertically into the water and went over. The crew was unhurt and the boat was quickly righted, but the race was lost.
Delapierre and Botín share the helm, with Jason Saunders and Florian Trittel trimming. Even after the Race 5 capsize, Saunders called Saturday “probably one of the most fun days I’ve had in racing.”
The scoreboard told a different story from the water. After six races, La Roche-Posay Racing Team were seventh on 31 points. Luna Rossa led on 51, ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand on 43, Alinghi on 38 and Luna Rossa’s Women & Youth team on 35. Had the boat stayed upright in Race 5, the French would have won three of Saturday’s four races.
The regatta concludes on Sunday with the final fleet races and the match race final.
