Cammas: Portsmouth crowd are the best in the world

FRANCK CAMMAS can't wait to again experience the full force of the best crowd in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series.
Groupama Team France skipper Franck Cammas, left   Picture: Sarah StandingGroupama Team France skipper Franck Cammas, left   Picture: Sarah Standing
Groupama Team France skipper Franck Cammas, left Picture: Sarah Standing

The Groupama Team France skipper thoroughly enjoyed the first event in Portsmouth last year.

He relished the reception the crews received as they battled it out in the Solent.

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Cammas is now looking forward to an even noisier atmosphere this time around.

Bad weather did dampen the occasion last time.

But it looks set to be better for the fans who will pack out the seafront in Southsea over the weekend.

Cammas said: ‘It’s always very good for us to hear all the people on the shore who are looking at the race and the applause.

‘This is the only place in the whole series where there are many, many people like that.

‘The forecast is a lot better with 10 to 15 knots of wind.

‘I’m not sure it will be sunny every day.

‘But for us the most important thing is the wind.

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‘Last year the public were not lucky with the weather, I think this time they’ll enjoy it a lot better.’

Cammas has seen his crew improve a lot since the first race in Portsmouth.

He believes they have made good progress.

They are currently bottom of the standings with only 234 points.

It will be good for the team if they can pick up a good result in Portsmouth and start to improve their position.

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For Cammas the main thing, though, is to get the chance to race the boat.

It is vital time on the water to make sure everything is in place for the America’s Cup in Bermuda.

He added: ‘One year ago Portsmouth was the first race for us.

‘So we did a lot of work from then.

‘We have to improve and we have to work to have better results in the world series.

‘The America’s Cup is not the world series.

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‘But it is the opportunity to improve our handling of this kind of boat.

‘We use these races for that and to work with the crew because we actually don’t have the same boats to train at home.

‘For us we have to wait till these races.

‘So it is important for us to be here and to compete.

‘We need to find our formula and communication in the crew to improve.’

Practice racing starts at 1.30pm today.

Then the racing for points in the standings is on Saturday and Sunday.