Formidable union

As Loick Peyron and Bertrand Pace formally announce their French challenge for the next America's Cup

Following his announcement to The Daily Sail that he wished to create a campaign for the America's Cup, trimaran skipper Loick Peyron has now joined forces with France's top match racer Bertrand Pace. Pace was notable for being B-boat helmsman for Team New Zealand during the last America's Cup and during the event itself ended up in the black boat's afterguard.

Peyron and Pace have known each other or 10 years meeting at events such as the multihull grand prix around France, where Peyron has been king for more than a decade, and the annual Trophée Clairefontaine. While match racing and the America's Cup have been part of Pace's every day existence for more than a decade, Peyron has been interested in the famous silver trophy for a similar period.

While Pace is France's top match racer, Peyron is one of the most famous and talented all round sailors and holds a much higher profile. Between the two of them they have the ideal components to raise the necessary funds for a Cup team, bringing the tally of potential French challengers for the next event in 2007 to three, alongside Le Defi and K-Challenge.

"For me, Bertrand is one of the figures of the America's Cup," comments Peyron. "He knows the competition and its hidden side and has international experience which is so rare for us French. He really knows what it means to manage a sporting project of this scale. What's more, he has taken part in various sort of organisations and knows their strengths and weaknesses. He's been through a lot and now has his fair share of grey hair to prove it! I'm not doing this without Bertrand... "

Pace's achievements including winning the Admiral's Cup 1991, World Match-Racing Champion 1994 and Vice Champion in 1998-99, first in the Swedish Match Tour 2000, six times winner of the Tour de France à la Voile, five America's Cup participations, first French tactician to have taken part in an America's Cup.

Pacé has equal respect for his new partner: "I've always had an enormous amount of esteem and respect for Loïck. What I like about him is that he is passionate about yacht racing. He doesn't think twice before bringing himself into question and sails on all sorts of boats. His boats have always been technically innovative and high performance machines. Loïck has enormous talent in terms of technology and when it comes to navigation. He has both the savoir-faire and the energy to manage an America's Cup team. We are both passionate about sailing and love being out on the water. That should not be forgotten !"

Peyron is better known as an offshore sailor with 36 Atlantic crossings in races under his belt, 15 of which single-handed, two circumnavigations in the first Vendée Globe and The Race and on four occasions he has held the ORMA world championship titles for the 60ft trimarans. He has twice won OSTAR singlehanded transatlantic race, four times the Round Europe Race and has the unprecidented record of 14 first and four second places in 21 ORMA Multihull Grands Prix he has taken part in between 1993 and 2002…

The team

Team France might seem like a contradiction in terms, but the duo intend to forge a team where group cohesion is paramount but where individual skills are used for the common good. Bertrand Pacé comments: "I love my country and I know that France does possess the human and technological resources required to build a winning structure". Team France will therefore be a French team calling upon international skills where they are complementary.

Key players

So that we can have all the necessary assets on our side, Pacé explains that "we have to start acquiring key people right now". So strong overtures are being made both in France and abroad including Rod Davis and Clay Olivier. Davis was recently with Prada and who has nine Cup participations under his belt, is a double Olympic medallist and hasheld 14 international match-racing titles… Clay Oliver is a naval architect who has been central to the Team New Zealand, Stars and Stripes, America3 campaigns.

With a view to mixing skill and experience, Christian Contzen former Managing Director of Renault F1 (6 times World Champion) and highly enthusiastic about the project will be in charge of Team France's technological partnerships. Among these will be research facilities of top French educational institutions. First to give their undertaking is ParisTech.

ParisTech includes ten of the most prestigious French engineering colleges (Ponts et Chaussées, ENSTA, Mines, Polytechnique, Télécom Paris, …) and covers all scientific and technical fields and is a centre for excellence equalling the world's best universities.

Meanwhile the team are also on a big recruiting drive, particularly to entice top French match racers and those who have been involved with previous French campaigns to join them. They are also in the market for boats. "It is also absolutely essential that we acquire top quality equipment rapidly to get started and to gain time in our sporting and technical development. Offers have already been put to us" concluded Loïck Peyron.

As a new team it looks likely that under Alinghi's new protocol for the America's Cup, the team would be able to buy in existing technology and knowledge rather than having to start from scratch as has been the case with campaigns to date.

Both Peyron and Pace are keen to develop a squad of 34 and over the four years of the campaign would like these sailors to take part in other sailing events, not solely in ACC boats.

"They need to take part in competition and keep an open mind in order to avoid becoming saturated, a common phenomenon in IACC campaigns" explains Pacé. The team will be dispatched into different classes and events from the international match racing circuit, Volvo Ocean Race, record attempts, multihulls, international one design series in much the same way as Team New Zealand attempted prior to this Cup - but only on a grander scale.

"You have to know how to manage the strong and weaker moments, making the most of the latter to sail on other boats. That's where the richness of the experience comes into it. The last 18 months will be given over to exclusively to the ACC" says Pacé.

Round one

The World Series for the America's Cup class, to be staged in San Francisco in October 2003 is in Team France's calendar. As the first event after the 2003 America's Cup, the initial steps have been made to allow Team France to take part. It will also be the project's first occasion to announce a partnership.

Ambitiously the campaign will have a total budget of 75 million euros (£50 million) 50% of which must be guaranteed before the end of July 2003 to be sure of putting together a winning project. This will enable the team to sign up key personnel and to guarantee obtaining the best equipment, to launch the crew development side of the program and offer their partners maximum value.

A final tribute was made to the team by Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli: "Loïck has always impressed me by his determination and racing intuition. He is an extraordinary and intelligent sailor, who knows how to lead his team to victory. In teaming up with Bertrand Pacé, a match-racing specialist, Loïck is demonstrating his team spirit once again and will certainly be a formidable candidate for the next edition of the America's Cup. I wish them every success in putting together a team which matches their ambition."