Marc Bouët, trainer of the French Match Racing Team. Supplied image.
Marc Bouët, trainer of the very successful French Match Racing Team, answers some questions, put to him by Anne Hinton, about the set up and operation of L'Equipe de France de Match Racing (in translation).
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Marc Bouët skippered the French America's Cup boat, French Kiss, in Fremantle in 1987, and Ville de Paris in San Diego in 1992. He represented France in each of the Olympic Games from 1980 to 1996. Marc Bouët also won European and/or World Championships in three Olympic sailing classes, as well as the Half Ton Cup worlds. In match racing he won the Lymington Cup (in the UK) in 1990 and 1991, and the Kouros Cup in St Tropez in 1989.
AH: New Zealand has its 'Youth Training Scheme' at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Is there something like this in France (for youth sailors), or only l'Equipe de France de Match Racing for more advanced sailors?
MB: We have:
- about 10 training centres spread around our different coasts that each have fleets of boats (First Class 8, First Class 7.5, J80) and high level trainers.
- A French Championships for the under 25 year olds, with regional selections
- The best are then aided financially and are invited to the training sessions with the best French sailors.
AH: Why does l'Equipe de France de Match Racing exist?
MB: It is a political decision not to keep the term "Team of France" to the Olympic team. The last two America's Cup teams were able to use the label "Team of France, America's Cup", for example.
The Match Racing system and the America's Cup are perceived as one of the sports of the highest level by the Federation de France de Voile (French Sailing Federation).
AH: How do you decide who will be in the Team, and of how many people it will be comprised?
MB: It was decided to integrate our best skippers at the end of the last America's Cup, and that consists of those who were in the teams from France (being Bertrand Pacé and Philippe Presti).
The results of Mathieu Richard, Sébastien Col and Damien Iehl also justified their integration.
We feel we have rather too many skippers of a high level, but it is easier to manage a number that is too large, rather than the opposite.
AH: Where does the money for l'Equipe come from, and what does it cover?
MB: There is a two-fold source of funding:
- funding from the Ministry [of Health, Youth and Sports] like all the high level acivities in France
- private partnership with AREVA.
AH: What training do you do, exactly?
MB: First of all, it is a matter of work in the long term, so we have worked with everyone for many years.
There is training with two or three crews before each big event, and two or three gatherings per year.
The work concentrates on the analysis of situations in tactical plans and the rules of racing.
When training, communication between all the crews is very important: we all discuss tactics, rules, manoeuvring, communication when sailing, etc.
For example we had very good training sessions with Bertrand Pacé and Claire Leroy. Claire got very good input from Bertrand Pacé to help improve her skills and team.
AH: Do you work with everyone at the same time, or with each team individually?
MB: With at least 2 crews at a time. There are also analyses and reports for each crew.
AH: How do you (or the crews) decide in which events they will participate?
MB: Each crew organises its own planning according to the invitations at its disposal. Each crew is the organiser of its own project, we are only a facilitating structure for all areas of performance.
AH: Do you make a programme for each team for the season (training and events) + goals?
MB: We define aims for each crew:
- position in the ranking list at the end of the year
- World Champion
- Nations Cup
- European Championship
AH: Is there also a goal for l'Equipe de France de Match Racing as a whole for the season? [They beat each other at St Moritz Match Race and the ACI Match Race Cup...]
MB: The aims of the team are simple:
- win the World Tour
- win the Nations Cup (men and women)
- obtain the best ISAF ranking list classification possible
AH: How do you think that the crews are doing this year, in comparison with their goals?
MB: The results of Col and Richard are satisfactory.
Damien Iehl and Philippe Presti have had few invitations to the World Tour and so have few opportunities to demonstrate that they could also be serious candidates to win the World Tour.
Bertrand Pacé hasn't sailed much this year due to a lack of invitations, in particular to the World Tour.
We understand that there is a real problem in the sporting management of the invitations on the World Tour.
AH: Is Claire Leroy in the team? What are you doing to encourage other women to take up match racing for the Olympic Games?
MB: Claire Leroy isn't officially in the team, which is currently reserved for men. This must change next year with the advent of women's match racing to the Olympic Games.
She has considerably less financial support than the men. On the other hand she has access to the same technical supervision and participates in the training with the better men. She has learnt a lot thanks to sailing with the men.
AH: How will you train a group of women who may be new (or nearly new) to match racing, and where in France will you do this?
MB: This group will be integrated, without doubt, in the Olympic group, so in a different structure.
We have begun to work with the other teams that are progressing rapidly in the [ISAF] ranking list:
Julie Bossard
Mathilde Géron
Anne Claire Le Berre
All these crews are located in the west of France.
AH: There is no World Tour match race event in France, in spite of four crews in the top ten ISAF rankings, only 2 ISAF Grade One Match Race events (Marseille + Pornichet). Why is this?
MB: We dedicate the bulk of our means to aiding the crews to progress.
The financial level needed to organise a World Tour event is too high for our club organisers. It is possible for us to organise excellent Grade 1 events with modest budgets, but not more at the moment.
AH: To whom is your book: Les clés de la tactique : Régate et stratégie en 90 dessins explicatifs, by Marc Bouët and François Chevalier (The main points of tactics: racing and strategy in 90 explanatory drawings) addressed? Also, is it more difficult than the situations described in Comprendre les Cles des Regles de Course 30 Situations by Marc Bouët (Understanding the key rules of racing in 30 situations)?
Les clés de la tactique is dedicated to the explanation of the principle tactics to apply to race well. It is a book which can be of use to racers of different levels (including the highest standard).
The book about the rules is at a more simple level, aimed at trying to improve the knowledge of the rules of French-speaking sailors.
AH: What do you and former French Match Racers, Thierry Peponnet and Luc Pillot, do in the way of sailing yourselves nowadays?
MB: Thierry Peponnet is sailing or coaching a TP52. To my knowledge, Luc Pillot sails very little - occasionally on a Dragon.
I hardly ever sail now: some regattas in a Dragon or on big boats (once or twice a year).
AH: Thank you very much indeed for your time.
Marc Bouët's books (in French).
To Come: PART TWO - Mathieu Richard
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