Orient Express L'Oréal Racing Team's women's crew goes racing

The Orient Express L'Oréal Racing Team's women's crew today stepped up their preparations for the Women's America's Cup in October by going racing against top-level international foiling sailors.

Five of the women's squad — skipper Manon Audinet, helm Audrey Ogereau and crew Pauline Courtois, Aloise Retornaz and Jessie Kampman — will be competing in the opening event of the 2024 ETF26 SERIES at Mar Menor in Murcia, Spain, where they will go head-to-head against seven teams representing five nationalities.

The four days of high-intensity racing aboard the high-speed foiling ETF26 catamarans will allow the Orient Express L'Oréal Racing Team to put their intense training over recent months into practice.

"It's exactly what we're looking for, a competitive environment similar to that of the AC40, packed with cutting-edge technology," says Charles Dorange, coordinator of the French youth and women's teams competing in the Youth and Women's America's Cups.

"That's why we'll be taking part in the first two events in Murcia and Hyères, with the Orient Express L'Oréal Racing Team women's team."

For Manon and her crew it is an opportunity to hone their skills and raise their game: "We're finally going to get on a boat together in competition and apply everything we've worked on ashore or in training with each other. Admittedly, we don't know the boat as well as our rivals, but racing will allow us to work on our communication patterns and our cohesion.

"ETF26 stands for Easy To Fly and 26 feet. It's a small 8.10 metre catamaran with foils. It can fly in 8 knots of wind and reach 2.5 times the wind speed. Not very big, but not so easy to handle."

And she added: "It's worth noting that we'll be up against Liv MacKay, the New Zealand skipper we'll be up against in the Women's America's Cup. It will be an interesting and rewarding experience."

The programme in Murcia includes four days of competition with races between three buoys and a raid on Friday, the final day. The fleet includes teams from Denmark, New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy.

Teams entered:

DEN02 – Rockwool Racing Team 2
DEN03 – Rockwool Racing Team 1
FRA11 – Entreprises du Morbihan
FRA00 – Blueshift Sailing Team
FRA01 – Orient Express L’Oréal Racing Team
NZL64 – Live Ocean Racing
GBR09 – Toroa Racing Team
ITA12 – Geronimo Sailing Team