He is laughing. As if the question was null and void. “
What are you missing to make sure you win the SailGP circuit?
Billy Besson doesn't bother with frills for his answer. “
This year absolutely no one is sure of winning the circuit. The level is so high. There have never been so many fights on the water. It's much tighter during the regattas and in the general classification
”… Confirmation expected this Saturday and Sunday in the bay of Saint-Tropez (this Friday training matches) which hosts the fifth of the eight acts of season 2 of the circuit SailGP imagined by Russell Coutts, the five-time America's Cup winner New Zealand legend.
We will feel the audience behind us and like a football match, it will play for us
Billy Besson
After the defeat of his (American) challenge in Bermuda in 2017, Coutts recycled fifty-foot speedboats and flying catamarans and launched this circuit. Fifth out of six teams at the end of the first season, the France team occupies seventh place out of eight in the general classification before the Tropézienne event. And he is counting on the support of local spectators to find an extra soul. “
To have such an event at home is an extraordinary opportunity. We will feel the audience behind us and like a football match, it will play for us. It's crazy to see these boats in real life on the water. This could be possible from the land but also from the sea by registering for free on the circuit website.
"
Bolstered by this popular support, Billy Besson, quadruple Nacra 17 world champion, displays a clear ambition: “
Even if I don't really know the intricacies of this body of water that I discovered last year during Les Voiles. from Saint-Tropez, I want us to qualify for the final in France.
If in addition we can win it… During the first season, we had never made a podium, there we are already two out of four this year.
We are really progressing and more confident in the maneuvers.
We manage to do air races, that is to say regattas that are permanently out of the water
”.
We are not going to lie to each other, our results are a real roller-coaster ride, we are capable of both the best and the worst
Billy Besson
Progress certainly, as the places of 3rd in Bermuda and 2nd in England prove, but the consistency is still weak in view of the 7th place in Italy and 8th in Denmark. "
We are not going to lie to each other, our results are a real roller-coaster ride, we are capable of both the best and the worst. It depends on the wind conditions. We are better off when the conditions are straight. But we are short of sailing days. We must be 70 days in all and for everything on the boat, that's not a lot
”. And not enough to fully master such a flying bomb. "
The English have reached 98 km / h and we have reached 94 km / h
".
Hyper spectacular on the water, these 50-foot catamarans are the real stars of this circuit which is full of sailing stars (Ainslie, Spithill, Burling, etc.) from the Olympics or the America's Cup. to make its place for two years in a well crowded nautical concert. “This product is shaking up the codes and trying to open up a new path. It is not easy, says Billy Besson, looking for partners for his team France which will be next year against another team, the ninth, from Switzerland. "
The will is to continue to develop
". And for the French to win to play the stars in Saint-Trop.
General SailGP ranking after 4 events
1. Australia (Tom Slingsby) 32 points
2. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie) 30 points
3. Japan (Nathan Outteridge) 27 points
4- United States (Jimmy Spithill) 26 points
5- News -Zeeland (Peter Burling) 23 points
6- Spain (Phil Robertson) 23 points
7- France (Billy Besson) 23 points
8- Denmark (Nicolai Sehested) 22 points