Sebastien Col at the helm of Pataugas by K-Challenge. Image copyright Franck Socha.
by Stephanie Nadin
The French team just won its second consecutive point in the silver fleet for Round Robin 2 against South-African Team Shosholoza. This day had a taste of revenge from the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 between these two teams in Auckland, but the French won the point this time.
“Pataugas by K-Challenge” is now sure to go in the Challenger Sail Off of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, even if the team has one more match to race tomorrow against China Team to complete the Round Robin 2 in the silver fleet. As a reminder, Pataugas by K-Challenge defeated China Team in its first match of Round Robin 1.
Philippe Mourniac, Navigator: «this match was really interesting as we were very close from the harbor, with lots of “no go” zones, and short courses (1.5 miles). Sebastien really did a great job on the start: we were on Shosholoza's back, Sebastien put a lot of pressure on Paolo Cian during five minutes, he never let him alone, and then we started in front. So really a tremendous job from Sebastien on the start. Then it was also a great job from the rest of the team that made it possible to keep Shosholoza behind us all the time.
We are part of the teams who need to sail, so the more we can sail, the more races we do, the more we will improve. We really feel that the confidence in each one of us, in the group, is different every day.
The two firsts of this silver fleet will meet the two lasts of the gold fleet in the Challenger Sail Off, so we will find ourselves in a configuration where the two leaders of the silver fleet will start the battles with two or three wins behind them, which is going be the contrary for the ones from the gold fleet. So psychologically speaking, it is always better to be in a winning atmosphere. But we don't lie to ourselves, if the gold fleet teams are where they are, it is because they have a real potential. So this will be balanced.”
Rod Dawson, Tactician: “It was a really tough race today, Sebastien got a fantastic start, and basically we had Shosholoza locked out about the committee boat, so we were in control at the start, and we were able to choose the side of the race course that we wanted on the right. From there we just wanted to control them till the finish, and our goal was not to extend our lead, so we didn't take too many risks.”
Pataugas by K-Challenge will race against China Team tomorrow to complete the Round Robin 2 races in the silver fleet, and before starting the Challenger Sail Off leading to the quarterfinals.
Race details:
Mark 1 : 0:20 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Mark 2 : 0:22 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Mark 3 : 0:15 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Finish : 0:14 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Pataugas by K-Challenge
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