Second youngest skipper

We speak to Areva Challenge's helmsman and former Melges 24 World Champion, Sebastien Col

Youngest skipper in this America's Cup is of course the incredible James Spithill, skipper of Luna Rossa Challenge, who is 27 and yet now is helming for third America's Cup campaign after Young Australia and OneWorld. However close behind is his French nemesis. Sebastien Col, helmsman of the Areva Challenge (formerly K-Challenge) yacht FRA 93 is 29. This is also his third Cup campaign, although this is his first as the main man behind the wheel, having taken over from Thierry Peponnet last autumn, Peponnet moving into the tactician's role and most recently off the boat completely.

Spithill and Col in fact have been racing each other since their teens when they came head to head in the handful of international youth match racing events around the world in Australia and New Zealand and in Antibes. While Spithill is Australian, Col was born in Lyon but heralds from Sete in the south of France. And why is Sete famous (or at least slightly known) in America's Cup circles? It was from here, during the 1990s, that Marc Pajot ran his Cup campaigns. It is also where some of France's top match racers live, such as Thierry Peponnet and Bertrand Pace.



"I got the virus of match racing quite early because my mother was working for the French America's Cup syndicate in the 1992 and 1995 campaigns," says Col. With his mother handling the logistics of the campaign, living and breathing the Cup for eight years, it is easy to imagine how this may have rubbed off on a teenage Col. "Until 2000 it was the only base camp of the America’s Cup in France."

Sete was also at this time (1995-6) a venue on the international match racing tour then sponsored by Brut de Faberge.

From his youth, Col was a product of the excellent French nationally-run sailing school program, going through the Optimist and the 420. From there, into the French Sailing Federation 'system' from 1997, he had the choice of going into a 470 campaign or carrying out a combined Laser sailing and match racing program. He of course chose the latter and even turned down a possible Olympic campaign for Sydney in the 49er to go match racing.

In France match racing sailors get as much support as Olympic sailors. The French Federation at present support three teams and, impressively, all are at present in the top 10 in the world: Col is the present no.1 (although will be overtaken by Ian Williams next month), Mattieu Richard is fourth, while Damien Iehl is 10th and is also in Valencia sailing with China Team. Rather than having one specialist match racing centre as they do in Denmark, in France there are three - in La Rochelle, Nantes and nearby Marseilles. "It is good because in each place we have different boats," says Col. "I’ve spent time at all of them - we tour around them."

The major stepping stone event in France is their National Championship, this year won just three weeks ago by Victor Lanier. Col says that winning this is a good way to get up to the international circuit. He won it in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

While Col is perhaps best known in pro sailing circles as a match racer he has also had considerable success as a fleet racing sailing. "When I sailed match racing, I didn’t stop sailing fleet racing - I always mixed both," he says. "Match racing is not the kind of racing where you get to develop a boat or develop sails, so I really wanted to mix both."

He obviously sailed the Laser, but also the Mumm 30, highly popular in France as it is used for the Tour de France a la Voile. "Every young French guy starts with the Tour de France. It was a very nice school," says Col. However the most success he has since was in the Melges 24 in which he was European champion in 1999 and finally World Champion in 2004.



Col's first opportunity to sail really big monohulls was when he joined the French America's Cup team, Le Defi, prior to their 2000 campaign. As the team only had one Cup boat, the team trained on Maxi One Design 80 footers out of Port Camargue, where Col, aged just 21, was a training helmsman, alongside Philippe Presti. When another top French match racer Luc Pillot joined the team for the next Cup Col jumped into the race boat and for the 2003 campaign was on the traveller and wind watcher. "It was a very interesting campaign because I had different jobs in the afterguard and I had the chance to helm the boat too."

Being talented and French also means you get invited to race on the 60ft trimaran circuit (RIP) and Col was fortunate enough to spend two years racing with Alain Gautier on Foncia and another season with Jean-Luc Nelias on Belgacom either in a strategist or tactician role. "It is very different. On the trimarans it is always looking at the pressure of the wind on the water, not looking too much at the shift and doing simple manoeouvres all the time. In three minutes you are round!"

With Areva Challenge at present they are still a team hoping to rapidly develop their boat since they first sailed it in January. "Our target is to have 93 fast - it is already faster than 60 for sure, but we realy want to make 93 a good boat."

Areva are obviously gunning for a live or die semi-final spot, but Col acknowledges the chances of them making this are small. "First we have to sail well and after that we need opportunities with the weather, etc then we can reach the semi-finals, but it is a very ambitious goal. You never know. For sure on paper we are not favourites to get in.

"We are not the best boat in light air, but we are working hard to have an all-round boat. We have only one boat and we don’t have a lot of resource in terms of sails, masts and keel configurations. We first wanted a boat that was reliable and also having an all-round boat with the best point around 12 knots of wind."

So what is different about steering a Cup boat? "For sure the momentum on an AC boat is very important. Also on the performance side there is momentum, you have a very small surface area in the water so you have to work to maintain your speed and don’t go too fast making shape turns. On the crew management side, there is a really a step at around 15 knots where you have to take care of people, because it can be dangerous. You have to anticipate all the manoeuvres and as a helmsman you can help the crew, but if you mistake you can also hurt the crew. It is not like small boats where you can drop the kite even if you don’t have good timing. Crew co-ordination in breeze is very important."

Post-Cup Col says he would like to return to the match racing circuit. "I have a good team with me, who's been following me for a long time." 90% of them are sailing at Areva. "We are close to finding all the sponsors we need and we really want to make a good come back on the amtch racing circuit."

Col says that he also wants to try his hand offshore and we can expect to see him racing this year's two handed Transat Jacques Vabre on board one of the new generation Open 60s. He has previously sailed in the Figaro class with former Solitaire winner Eric Drouglazet.

However Col says his ambitions do not extend to the Vendee Globe. "No. I really like to sail with a team. I like crew management. For me, when you win something as part of a team, it is more exciting. There is more value for me. I really like that - winning as a team: there is something a bit magical about it. You win when all the guys are working together and everything is working well. You don’t know why sometimes. One day it happens, but you can’t explain why. I really like that."

In many way this also expresses the magic of Cup sailing itself.