UniCredit Youth America's Cup gets underway: Orient Express Racing Team focused on present & future
by Orient Express Racing Team 16 Sep 06:05 PDT
17-26 September 2024
Orient Express Racing Team © Alexander Champy-McLean / Orient Express Racing Team
The young and talented French sailors making their final preparations for this week's start of the UniCredit Youth America's Cup all know they can play a pivotal part in the overall 37th Louis Vuitton America's Cup event, and that their presence may also extend forward to the 38th encounter.
With the Challenger fleet's AC75s peppered with sailors from the first and second Youth America's Cup regattas, the third iteration in Barcelona can clearly offer a similar pathway.
Nowhere is this more the case than with Orient Express Racing Team whose Youth and Women's squads have been fully a part of the journey since the team's inception.
The six-strong Youth squad — all aged between 18 and 25 — emerged from a near year-long programme of assessment which involved a collaboration between Orient Express Racing Team and the French Sailing Federation, the Ecole Nationale de Voile et des Sports Nautiques in Quiberon, and Team France.
Originally 39 sailors had been shortlisted for the Youth and also the Women's team, who begin their own journey in the first ever Women's America's Cup on 10 October.
Leading the Youth team is their highly regarded skipper and helm Enzo Balanger. Enzo launched his racing career in his native Guadeloupe where he was a four-time national Optimist Champion, before moving to France and winning the Optimist European Championship. He has since excelled in the 420 and Moth international classes.
"We have worked pretty hard over the summer here in Barcelona, and now we are ready to go racing for sure — we are looking forward to tomorrow!" said Enzo.
Alongside him in the squad is a wealth of talent, with three joining him on the foiling AC40 yacht on any race day. Ange Delerce made his mark winning the 2019 Under-17 420 European Championship and the 2021 Junior 420 European Championship, then more recently taking the 2023 Youth Match Racing World Championship title in December.
The 2022 Nacra 15 World Championship winner, Lou Mourniac is one of France's rising stars with added 'flying' experience as a flight controller in an all-female ETF26 team among other qualifications.
Matisse Pacaud is a three-time 470 Junior World and a double 470 European Junior Champion, and was named 'best hope of the year' in France in 2022.
Meanwhile Théo Revil won the 2017 29er World Youth Championship, followed by the 29er European Championship title the following year, before switching to the 49er and taking fourth in the Youth World Championship.
Last on the list, and by no means least, is trimmer Gaultier Tallieu, a Match Racing European Champion who has also raced successfully with Enzo Balanger in a 420.
Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team go into action in the UniCredit Youth America's Cup on Tuesday 17 September with the first of eight Qualification Series fleet races.
The 12-strong fleet is divided into two pools. Pool A includes Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team and the five other America's Cup teams — New Zealand, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the USA. Pool B comprises invited teams from Spain, Holland, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Australia.
At the end of the Qualification Series the top three teams in each pool go into the Semi-Final Series, with four fleet races deciding which two teams progress to the one-off, winner takes all final Match Race for the impressive UniCredit Youth America's Cup Trophy, which is scheduled for 26 September.
It's a date firmly in the sights of Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team.
The Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team crew line-up:
Port:
- Matisse Pacaud - pilot
- Gaultier Tallieu - trimmer
Starboard:
- Enzo Balanger - pilot and skipper
- Théo Revil - trimmer