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Team French Spirit
Two days after the New York Supreme Court issued a final ruling for the 33rd edition of the America's Cup, Marc Pajot invited the press to the Yacht Club de France as he presented his new challenge for AC34. Team French Spirit was launched in August last year, when Pajot, a yacht broker as well as a veteran of a long sailing career that includes four attempts at the Louis Vuitton Cup, started discussions with a group of passionate industry leaders who encouraged him to lead this new French effort to conquer the Auld Mug. As an entrepreneur with America's Cup experience, Pajot insisted on the importance of building credibility in the early stage of such a big project, and he was able to gather the talents of Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa Challenge 2007, Le Defi Areva 2003,) and Bertrand Pacé (BMW Oracle Racing 2007, Team New Zealand 2003) to work with him and progressively recruit the backbone of the new French challenge. The 42-year-old Presti, a member of the French Match-racing team and an experienced AC sailor himself, will be the skipper and manage the sailing team, while Pacé, 46, will be the helmsman and in charge of liaising with the design team.
"We have the human resources and the capital," Pajot said. The Team has already received 4 million euros (US$6 million) to get the Challenge started, out of a projected 50-60 million euros (US$75-90 million) total budget. "This is not a time to hunt down potential sponsors," he said, adding that the team had not yet contacted Areva, a two-time sponsor of French America’s Cup challenges. "This is the time to federate, to gather America's Cup talent, and to open our team to other areas of the strong French sailing community who haven't been exposed to the America's Cup yet," he said, speaking of match racers and the offshore sailors. Team French Spirit aims to be composed of 75%-80% French sailors. "We will speak French onboard," added Pacé. "We will look at the French talent first, and if we feel we need more experience in, say, a sail trimmer position, then we will hire foreign experienced sailors. But they will need to learn French, which means they'll have to join early on." It is a time for gathering, organizing, and sharing ideas. This agenda applies to other aspects of the challenge, too, as the design team for the Team French Spirit campaign hasn't been recruited yet. The team will stage a design competition to help advance the effort to design a racing yacht for the brand new AC90 class. "We are taking a different approach, and will organize a Design Tender with six French and two international design teams," said Pacé, a member of the Design Jury. "This six-month process will lead to the selection of the final project, and the winning team will be part of the French Spirit Design Team." Questioned about confidentiality and other potential issues relating to sharing of design information, Pacé said, "There will be a strict legal and technical protocol to control the sharing of ideas." Team French Spirit will have access to the 600m-long Val de Reuil tank testing facility -- the largest tank in Europe -- and will receive the support of the Ecole Centrale de Nantes, similar to the support provided by EPFL to Alinghi over their last two campaigns. The challenge led by Pajot also sought and received full support from the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development. "We know our boats are made of carbon and titanium, but we would like to show we can run this project with an eco-conscious mind, and we'll keep pushing in that direction," he said. Team French Spirit is in talks with the city of Saint-Tropez -- which also supports the challenge -- regarding permanent offices for the team, but the base location is still to be determined. "Bertrand suggests we set up in Spain," Pajot said, "but it's too early to think about moving our families." Besides, "Most of the sailors we would like to hire already have their sailing program full for the year." When asked about racing in the potential exhibition regattas this year, Presti said, "It's not a sure fact that these races will take place, and the intention is NOT to purchase an ACC yacht. Besides, we do not think this would be an appropriate support for the crew." The French team intends to sail on TP52’s and in the GP42 development class, but doesn't exclude sailing Maxis as well. At 55 years of age, Pajot still shows great energy. "The Cup community has always been very welcoming to its veterans," he says with a smile. "We received great support, which convinced us to start this new adventure." Bringing to the team their own strengths and abilities, the three most experienced French America's Cup sailors, Marc, Philippe and Bertrand, joined in this new effort to share their passion. In typical French Spirit. ©2008 CupInfo Links of Interest: The
first five minutes of the press conference are broadcast on the
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