SailGP 2023 / Choices and Consequences PART 1 Racing on the Edge Season 4, Episode 3
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Back in Season 3 the France SailGP Team was dubbed as the next big thing - but a bad start in Season 4 will force Quentin Delapierre to make a number of hard choices.
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SailGP is high speed, high tech and high impact. This global sports championship combines cutting-edge tech, iconic global venues, elite athletes and record-breaking speeds to create the most exciting racing on water. Rival teams from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Spain battle it out at iconic venues around the world in short, intense races for a total prize pot of $5 million. Teams compete in identical hydrofoiling F50 catamarans that fly above the water at electrifying speeds approaching 100 km/h. Fan-centric and close-to-shore, each SailGP Championship culminates in a $1 million, three-boat, winner-takes-all Grand Final.
Back in Season 3 the France SailGP Team was dubbed as the next big thing - but a bad start in Season 4 will force Quentin Delapierre to make a number of hard choices.
Subscribe today https://bit.ly/2IZR3n4
Sign up to the SailGP fan loyalty program, The Dock at sailgp.com/dock
Follow SailGP On TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @sailgp
Stay up to date with the SailGP newsletter: http://sail.gp/signup
SailGP is high speed, high tech and high impact. This global sports championship combines cutting-edge tech, iconic global venues, elite athletes and record-breaking speeds to create the most exciting racing on water. Rival teams from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Spain battle it out at iconic venues around the world in short, intense races for a total prize pot of $5 million. Teams compete in identical hydrofoiling F50 catamarans that fly above the water at electrifying speeds approaching 100 km/h. Fan-centric and close-to-shore, each SailGP Championship culminates in a $1 million, three-boat, winner-takes-all Grand Final.
Transcript
00:00 ♪ ♪ ♪
00:03 - Avec la ligne de fin, qui aura la victoire ?
00:05 Et c'est France qui aura leur première victoire
00:08 à Seil G.E. Saint-Valéfique !
00:10 - Oh, allez, les Bleus !
00:12 - Je pense que quand on regarde l'équipe française
00:14 en saison 3, elles ont probablement
00:16 fait leur performance plus tôt que ce qu'on leur attendait.
00:20 Quand elles sont allées au Grand Final,
00:22 tout le monde pensait qu'elles pouvaient certainement
00:25 se défier de la championnat.
00:26 ♪ ♪ ♪
00:29 - Tu chutes, chute, le relais ! Chute !
00:31 - Sir Ben Ainslie's not stopping for a freshman.
00:33 He's blocking now, man marking France
00:36 even before the start.
00:38 And Contan is now on the defensive.
00:40 - They didn't take that opportunity as they could.
00:43 They got a little bit schooled by the British.
00:46 - I can't help but think that Ben Ainslie
00:48 has got right under the bonnet of Contan de la Pierre
00:51 and thrown him off his game.
00:54 - I think Ben is a killer.
00:56 Ben is showing us that he thought about it.
00:59 (rires)
01:01 - I don't think he can get away on starboard.
01:03 - Can I kick the ass of this young, arrogant bloke
01:06 who come in and think that he's gonna beat me?
01:08 And he did a fantastic job.
01:10 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:12 - It's true to say that we lost a bit of dynamic
01:15 at the end of season 3,
01:17 and we had the same feeling at the beginning of season 4.
01:21 - Race 1 of season 4,
01:23 and the French are miles away from the fleet,
01:25 a terrible start by Contan de la Pierre.
01:27 Oh, no, what's happening?
01:29 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:34 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:39 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:44 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:46 - San Francisco was painful,
01:47 but I think we did many mistakes in Chicago
01:51 and after even more in Los Angeles,
01:53 especially on the starts.
01:54 ♪ ♪ ♪
01:56 In Los Angeles, we had to start in light wind,
01:59 and I know that I'm not good enough
02:01 in this kind of game, and I have to improve.
02:04 - This is the battle for fifth place,
02:05 and just at the line,
02:07 Denmark holds off the French,
02:08 and Contan de la Pierre will have to settle for sixth.
02:12 (radio chatter)
02:14 ♪ ♪ ♪
02:15 - Chicago and L.A. is the low point of our season
02:19 because we were expecting more.
02:21 And that's great, that's what I want from the team.
02:24 They want to go more.
02:26 Our objective is more at the end of the season now,
02:28 where that's what we're aiming to.
02:30 It didn't start very well.
02:33 - Oh, Team France is finishing the American leg
02:35 with a lot of homework to do.
02:37 Now it's time to go back to the drawing board,
02:39 analyze the data before they start the European leg.
02:44 - You can analyze your performance
02:45 against other teams to a level of detail
02:48 that you probably don't get in other sports.
02:49 You can compare flight controller to flight controller,
02:52 wing trimmer to wing trimmer,
02:53 what they're doing and what they're achieving.
02:56 From the outside, it looks like
02:57 Contan needs good people around him.
02:59 He needs to feel happy, he needs to feel connected,
03:02 he needs to feel in sync with everybody.
03:04 And if he's not, they get replaced.
03:07 But would Jimmy, Tom, or Diego do the same?
03:11 ♪ ♪ ♪
03:13 - Honestly, I don't bloody care
03:14 about what Diego and Jimmy and Tom are doing.
03:16 I don't care.
03:17 I'm taking care of my team and my people.
03:20 ♪ ♪ ♪
03:22 - I was on holidays,
03:24 and I got a phone call from Bruno Dubois,
03:26 Team France CEO, to understand exactly the situation.
03:30 - I called the team manager of the Swiss team.
03:32 I said, "Look, we have an issue.
03:35 Before even I do anything, I want to talk to you
03:37 because it's my friends also."
03:41 - The French team,
03:42 they're looking to strengthen their squad,
03:44 and that involves actually poaching a Swiss team member.
03:49 - We were upset, you know.
03:51 I don't think we will do something like this, you know.
03:53 It's not--there is no rule, you know, no official rules.
03:56 - I fully understand that, you know, he's upset.
03:59 It's not fun to lose a crew,
04:01 but the crew could have said, "No, I don't want to."
04:05 No polemic, no controversy between us.
04:07 It's fine.
04:09 It will be fine tomorrow morning.
04:12 - The worst thing was the timing of it.
04:14 You know, those kind of things happening between seasons
04:17 kind of make sense, but at the middle of a season,
04:20 it's--for sure, it's surprising.
04:23 - So now the Swiss are struggling
04:24 because they don't have a flight controller.
04:26 So what do they do?
04:28 Do they look internally in the Swiss team,
04:30 or do they go to market like the French team did?
04:33 - Absolutely there was a temptation to go to market,
04:35 but who's on the market?
04:37 Do you know anyone who knows how to fly an F-50
04:39 who is not sailing an F-50?
04:42 There's nobody.
04:43 There's absolutely nobody out there
04:45 who has any experience that isn't him.
04:48 ♪ ♪
04:51 - The Swiss team end up picking up François Morvan,
04:54 who's the French flight controller
04:56 that basically just lost his job.
04:58 It seems like they've got no other choice
05:00 but to pick him up.
05:02 - We don't have a lot of flight controllers available,
05:04 you know, and we didn't want to do the same
05:08 that the French did, you know,
05:10 in terms of trying to pick up someone else
05:13 from another team.
05:14 - They have a really good guy.
05:15 François is an amazing sailor.
05:17 So I'm sure they will do very well.
05:19 ♪ ♪
05:23 - Welcome to day one of the French Sail Grand Prix.
05:25 The home team will be sailing with a new configuration.
05:28 François Morvan is gone.
05:30 Replacing him is Jason Saunders.
05:32 - Yeah.
05:35 - Merci.
05:36 - Bienvenue, et puis fais-nous ça bien.
05:39 - The pressure's on now to perform
05:41 and to help elevate a team
05:43 that's ultimately struggled all year long.
05:45 - If you fly higher on an F50, you are faster.
05:48 It's as simple as that for me.
05:51 I was looking for someone
05:53 who is a really good feeling, natural one,
05:56 and Jason has that.
05:58 - He's a genius.
05:59 Like, he's pretty heavy.
06:01 Like, he's tall and heavy,
06:03 but he's working like a cat on a boat.
06:05 He's a Cinderella, you know?
06:08 - I had a phone call from Quentin.
06:09 So we had a good chat about it.
06:11 We talked through the different aspects of it,
06:12 and it was a really exciting opportunity
06:14 that I couldn't say no to.
06:16 ♪ ♪ ♪
06:21 - You were sleeping?
06:22 - Uh, not really.
06:24 - Yeah, so busy, so much people.
06:26 - Doesn't matter.
06:27 - Okay, I think I will just stay with you.
06:29 - Marie and Christina.
06:31 - Girls' band.
06:33 - Yeah, we will talk not about the race,
06:34 but about the babies.
06:35 (laughter)
06:37 - The French Sailing team's kind of a big family, for sure.
06:40 I think it's quite important for Quentin
06:42 to have everyone really close together.
06:44 - He's out of his shell.
06:46 - He was really, really happy when I said that I was pregnant.
06:49 I could feel that he was truly happy for me.
06:52 - For a female athlete, it's pretty difficult
06:55 to find the timing to be a mother.
06:57 And it's a true purpose that we have to work on it.
07:01 - We changed outfits.
07:02 - Yes, cool, huh?
07:04 - Maybe a bit too hot, but we'll see.
07:07 - Not only does Quentin really enjoy sailing,
07:10 sailing with Jason, but there's another layer to that,
07:13 and that is that Jason Saunders
07:16 and one of their female athletes,
07:18 Manon Ordonez, have been together for eight years.
07:20 They have a newborn baby.
07:23 - See you later, Louis.
07:24 - Allez, amusez-vous bien.
07:25 - All right.
07:26 - And that's going to bring
07:27 a different atmosphere to the team.
07:28 - I'm super happy for them.
07:30 And what an unbelievable adventure to sail SailGP
07:34 together as a couple with a new kid.
07:37 (kissing)
07:39 - Dream life.
07:40 - Le petit prince.
07:41 - M'embrasse, mon neuf.
07:42 - C'est un bonheur.
07:43 (rires)
07:44 ♪ ♪ ♪
07:48 - Welcome to Saint-Tropez for the France Sail Grand Prix.
07:51 Last year, Team France captured the imagination
07:54 of the French fans,
07:55 breaking the speed record here on the waters of Saint-Tropez.
08:00 - Sailing in France is massive.
08:02 The pride in sport in France is also massive.
08:06 So for someone like Jason Saunders,
08:08 who's a New Zealand-born,
08:10 who has relocated to France,
08:13 it is actually really special to meet the ex-president
08:15 and shake his hand alongside your new driver.
08:18 - J'aimerais bien-- non, non, mais j'aimerais bien
08:20 qu'il commence à se préparer.
08:21 - Oui, oui, oui.
08:22 - On l'a envoyé se mettre dans la coque.
08:23 - On parle tout à fait de coque.
08:24 - On va se voir tout à l'heure.
08:27 - On se voit tout à l'heure.
08:28 - On va vous reconnaître.
08:29 ♪ ♪ ♪
08:36 - Jacques, j'aime bien.
08:38 - Jacques, doucement, sans tout se laquer.
08:39 - Spécialement, hein, avec le pain.
08:41 - Si tu espères le meilleur pour les autres,
08:43 Dieu te le rendra.
08:44 - Ah!
08:45 - Allez, un peu plus à l'aiguille, tous les deux.
08:47 - Tranquille, là.
08:48 - Oui.
08:49 - 22, 22 taux de kill.
08:51 - One minute to go for the first race of the day.
08:56 Today's not gonna be about boat speed.
08:57 Today is gonna be about mastering the starts.
09:00 And for that, this team is gonna need to gel straight away.
09:04 To do that with a new crew member on board
09:06 is gonna be extremely difficult.
09:09 - I would be happy with the right side,
09:11 but I don't know. We'll see.
09:13 - The whole fleet is going off in one direction,
09:15 but Contana's decided to stay behind.
09:19 - The French are setting up for a slingshot start,
09:21 which means that they're coming in with lots of speed
09:24 and hitting the line at go faster than the other boats.
09:28 It often pays off, but it can also be super risky
09:31 because sometimes you get locked out
09:33 and there's absolutely nowhere to go.
09:36 - 07, c'est la hauteur, Jet.
09:38 - 04.
09:39 - Plus de space.
09:40 - 01.
09:41 - Yeah, the adrenaline is so intense,
09:43 and you know that you can lose a lot by hitting someone else,
09:48 but you also can win a lot.
09:50 ♪ ♪
09:52 - Contan pushes through.
09:55 - 24.
09:57 - Contan throws himself to the inside.
09:59 He's found the space.
10:02 The French need to overtake the Swiss.
10:05 The Swiss and the French side by side.
10:08 François Morbon with the Swiss,
10:10 Jason Saunders with the French.
10:12 Let's see how it goes.
10:13 - [speaking in French]
10:15 ♪ ♪
10:17 - Voilà.
10:18 That's good.
10:19 - Parfait, Jason.
10:22 - It's key to trust Jason and the guys and also Kevin
10:26 because otherwise you are not able to push the limit.
10:30 - And France overtakes Switzerland.
10:32 They're just racing faster.
10:34 ♪ ♪ ♪
10:36 - It's a long, hard battle to build experience
10:38 and to get some consistency,
10:40 and I think this weekend, with all the crew changes,
10:44 we still need to get our foundations
10:46 on how we do the communication on the boat.
10:49 ♪ ♪ ♪
10:51 - What Contan has done with Jason is really similar
10:54 to what he did with Kevin Peppinet
10:56 at the beginning of season three.
10:58 He brought in a really good sailor,
11:00 but someone that was a really good friend,
11:03 and that really works for him.
11:05 ♪ ♪ ♪
11:06 - They're over France as well.
11:08 It's getting kind of hot.
11:09 - I said to the guys this morning,
11:10 "Okay, there's my family watching.
11:12 Don't do stupid things."
11:14 ♪ ♪ ♪
11:15 - They're taking the inside of the Germans.
11:17 I don't know if they'll be able to get out of there
11:19 in speed.
11:20 ♪ ♪ ♪
11:21 - France and Switzerland again side by side after mark one.
11:24 - But hold on, the Kiwis are leading the race.
11:26 They break away flat out towards the first bottom gate.
11:29 ♪ ♪ ♪
11:30 - You have to explain that to the porters,
11:32 when the wind is coming down,
11:34 and when it's coming up against the wind,
11:36 it's edges that are always divergent.
11:39 You can't go on a straight line, okay?
11:41 So you're going to see them move away and come back,
11:43 move away and come back.
11:44 - Okay, go straight here at my rate.
11:46 ♪ ♪ ♪
11:48 - The French have landed in an area of no wind.
11:51 Emirates, GBR, and the Kiwis fly away.
11:53 Really bad news for the French.
11:55 - Ah!
11:56 We're behind. Oh, my God.
11:57 We've lost two or three places.
11:59 And the wind just fell on the windscreen.
12:02 ♪ ♪ ♪
12:04 - Canada, well, they had the right of way there,
12:06 but he's maneuvering.
12:07 Oh, my Lord, look at the turn there.
12:09 - Back, back, back, back, back.
12:11 - Spain look like they turned right in front of the Canadians.
12:15 - We're pointing straight at Spain and on a collision course.
12:18 And I knew I had an opportunity just to basically slow them down
12:21 for a couple of seconds.
12:24 - Canada changed the course aggressively into us.
12:27 And Nicole was on the wheel, and I asked Nicole,
12:29 and she said that, yeah, she didn't have enough flow
12:31 because we just were changing the course of the boat.
12:35 - Yeah, I think I'm disappointed in that, you know.
12:37 I think I lost a lot of respect for him for saying that.
12:40 - He did nothing there to even consider
12:43 moving out of the way.
12:45 - I spoke with Diego about this and say,
12:47 "Look, respectfully, I disagree.
12:49 I think you're in the wrong there,
12:50 and I think that you should have got a penalty."
12:52 And he's good about it.
12:53 He says, "Look, thank you for your opinion.
12:56 This is what I think."
12:57 And I think that every driver on the league
13:00 would have defended it the same way.
13:02 - If that was us and we were in Spain's situation,
13:05 I guarantee you the umpires would have put penalties on us,
13:08 100%.
13:09 - And that's it from Saint-Tropez and the France Grand Prix.
13:16 Not a great event for the home team.
13:18 - We found our starter back.
13:21 Quentin sent three perfect starts.
13:25 Then the races are much more easier
13:27 when you start in front of the fleet.
13:30 - The French team, led by Quentin de la Pire,
13:32 well, they've improved their race starts.
13:34 We've seen Jason Saunders
13:35 gelling with the team straight away,
13:37 but we haven't seen the form that the team displayed
13:39 before Chicago and L.A.
13:42 [Bip]
13:43 [Bip]
13:44 [Bip]
13:53 *Bruit de porte qui s'ouvre*
13:55 Merci à tous !