After a fine Olympic career crowned by a bronze medal in the 470 at the Tokyo Olympic Games and a spell with SailGP, Aloïse Retornaz is a trimmer on the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team AC40 and an engineer in charge of process analysis.
Originally from Brest, Aloïse discovered sailing at the age of six in the harbour, following in the footsteps of her two older sisters. "My beginnings were difficult, in the cold, wind and damp. I was a bit of a scaredy-cat. I didn't really like it at first, but my father pushed me a lot and I kept going". It all clicked for her a year later during an Optimist competition. "I really got hooked on the competition aspect. I loved battling it out on the water with my mates, the game aspect, the stress too. I used to get a knot in my stomach before setting off on a regatta. It gave me a bit of a boost because I was away from my family at the weekend. We went away to play on the water and race together. The atmosphere was great." Aloïse continued to sail Optimists until she was 11, before moving on to a bigger boat.
"I was super tall, so after two years in the Minimes, Maëlenne Lemaître, who is a little older than me, offered me the chance to sail double-handed with her in a 29er, before switching to the 420 just under two years later.” Sailing might have been front and centre, but Aloïse didn't neglect her studies – she enrolled at the school of Sports Studies in 5ème in Brest. A good pupil, her parents supported her with her training and racing on the side which led her to join the Pôle Espoir. In 2004, Faustine Merret came to her school with her Olympic medal. Aloïse began to dream big…
At the end of secondary school, she was faced with a choice: pursue high-level sport or study. She was lucky enough to be able to combine the two by entering ISEN, an engineering school. The results continued to follow on the sporting front alongside Maëlenne, with several international podium finishes. The two young women were then spotted by the French Sailing Federation and switched to the 470. After a successful experience in the Youth category, Aloïse changed crews in 2015, and again in 2017, teaming up with Camille Lecointre who wanted to return to competition after her first child.
European champions in 2019, silver medallists at the World Military Games and winners of the Sailing World Cup final, they won Sailor of the Year in 2019. Their Olympic preparation, extended by a year because of the pandemic, enabled them to work together, discover their weak points and prepare well for the Games. Their hard work paid off, as they left Japan with a bronze medal. "It was amazing and I was really proud. You don't really realise it at the time, but this medal represents 15 years of preparation, a spiral that never stops, a whirlwind of emotions with lots of highs and lows that drive you on a daily basis. These are some of the most powerful moments in my life that I'll remember for the rest of my life. It was great to be able to share it with all those who followed me". Aloïse has plenty of memories of her successful Olympics, including the Olympic rings that she had tattooed on her wrist two weeks after her return from Enoshima, so that "this slice of life will remain engraved". But she also has a wealth of sporting and technical experience. "Above all, it taught me to persevere and never give up. I've experienced some pretty intense emotional swings, with big endorphin peaks, hard times and moments of doubt. You also have to make a lot of sacrifices. When you're preparing for the Olympics, you really have to hang in there, never give up and manage to find a balance. It's important to have moments when you can enjoy yourself. I like socialising and seeing people. I'm happy to have shared so many adventures and holidays with friends from different backgrounds at the other end of the world, to have been able to discover other cultures and other ways of training", she explains, adding that the most important thing is to "above all know how to be professional and respect each other when sailing double-handed, without needing to be best friends".
In parallel, she took part in the first selections for the SailGP Women's Pathway Programme. She was selected, but did not enter the programme straight away to concentrate on the Olympic Games – she did however sail aboard the France SailGP Team F50 in Chicago in June 2022. A Sail Grand Prix she'll remember for the rest of her life. "It was really impressive in terms of speed. It was like sailing a Formula 1 car. SailGP taught me a lot about the race format. The organisation and logistics are out of all proportion to the Olympics, with huge technical teams. You have to learn to delegate while trying to control as many parameters as possible, and accept that you don't know everything about everything. The division of tasks is very strict. You have to try to do your best in the short time available. I've learnt a lot."
Unfortunately, the quota for women in each team was reduced from three to two and Aloïse did not continue with the adventure. This was a blow, even though she was preparing for Paris 2024 with Hippolyte Machetti.
Far from giving up, Aloïse began to dream of the America's Cup, her second childhood ambition after the Olympic Games. "The week I learned that the SailGP rules were changing, I watched a documentary on Netflix about the Cup won by the Australians in 1983. It put the stars back in my eyes."
After talking to Stephan Kandler, she set about finding a sponsor for the women's team alongside Paola Amar, with a view to the Women's America's Cup (WAC). They struck gold when L'Oréal Groupe came on board. Selected for the French Cup squad last December (and leaving her Olympic preparations behind after her partner stopped), the young athlete is now part of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team. "I'm going to work hard to get my place on board and do everything I can to win this first Women's America's Cup. Everyone will have a chance, as we'll be fighting on equal terms". Her dream is to one day see mixed crews aboard AC75s or future Cup boats, as the physical dimension is less predominant today. Meanwhile, Aloïse is continuing to gather experience on flying boats. The young woman, who has acquired a WASZP, also sails GC32s, ET26s and 69Fs. She also replaced a crew member injured from September to November last year in the Nacra 17 class.
Although she has a busy career in sport, Aloïse has chosen to work for Arkea on the side, thanks to a special contract for top-level athletes. "It's important for me, not just in the event of injury. It's a relief to have something on the side. I'm continuing with my sporting project because I want to and because it makes me dream, not because I have no choice. It gives me serenity and balance, and allows me to see something else. Sportsmen and women often focus on themselves, their bodies and their performance. It's interesting to have a foot in the real world, to live more simply and also to earn a living on the side". An IT engineer when she started out, she now spends around 50 days a year working in the bank's communications department, which is heavily involved in sports sponsorship, particularly sailing. "It's really interesting because I use my skills as an engineer in sailing and sponsorship, which I learnt through sailing, in my work".
When she's not working or sailing, Aloïse, who has moved to Barcelona, does "a lot of board sports, including wing and outdoor sports" and enjoys "spending time with friends and travelling".
Her view of the place of women in the world in general, and in sport in particular: "There are fewer and fewer gendered activities in France today. I've never felt less advantaged as a woman, even at engineering school where I was surrounded by men. In inshore sailing we're seeing a real opening up. The first Women's America's Cup marks a turning point and I'm really happy and proud to be part of this adventure. There's still a long way to go before the Cup becomes mixed. It's up to us to show that we want to be part of it, that our level can be equal to or better than that of the men, that we're capable of it and that we want it. We have to keep going in this direction to achieve equality. We've achieved it in the Olympics, where there are as many medals for women as for men. We have to fight to set an example for young girls, so that when they see us they realise that they can do whatever they want, be an engineer, a doctor, create video games, do stratification, or any sport. We need to remove the limits we set ourselves to move even further towards gender equality, in the professional world and in sport."
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Date of birth: 3 February 1994
Place of birth: Brest, France
Her motto: "Failure is the source of all success".
What the America's Cup means to her: "A childhood dream, from a little girl who never saw women on board".
A specific memory of the America's Cup: "The day they announced a Women's America's Cup".
Sailing since the age of six, Amélie Riou has come up through the Olympic ranks and is one of the most talented sailors of her time. A tactician for the France SailGP Team, the Finistère native is also on the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team.
Originally from Finistère Nord, Amélie grew up in Lanmeur, near Morlaix, in a farming family. After six months of gymnastics, she set sail for the first time in an Optimist in Locquirec at the age of six. "For us, sailing is a family affair. My older sister started before me because our cousins, who were also our neighbours, used to go sailing. I went with her to a competition when I was little, and that made me want to do what she did,” she recalls. Seduced by the sport, she graduated from the Optimist to the Laser in 4ème. "I wanted to do more sport, so I joined the Kerichen sports studies centre in Brest, sailing the Laser Radial (ILCA 6). I started training a lot more. I really progressed and had a blast in my discipline.” Amelie was selected to represent France at the ISAF World Championship in 2010 and joined the French Youth Team. "At the end of my final year of secondary school, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Things were going well at school, I was really hard-working, but I didn't know what direction to take. I started doing a Maths Sup-Maths Spé preparatory course, but even with a modified timetable, it was hard to do everything at once. Especially as I started doing a lot of training and travelling abroad.” After a first year in which she missed a lot of classes, Amélie decided to enrol in a mathematics faculty in Brest. At the end of her L2, the French Sailing Federation decided to group together all the girls doing Laser Radial at the La Rochelle centre. "I was the only one in Brest, so I made the choice to leave Brittany and go there to train and continue my studies. I don't regret it, the group raised us up and I was able to get my first international results, including a 4th place at the World Cup in Palma in 2013.” Finding mathematics a little too abstract, Amelie applied to switch to civil engineering. At the same time, she was preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio but lost out to Mathilde de Kerangat. “It was a blow because we had been training for this for four years, and we were quite close in terms of level.”
Disappointed, Amélie considered giving up sailing for a while at the end of the campaign. "But it didn't last long. I did a bit of soul-searching. I said to myself that I must be missing something to perform single-handed and that racing double-handed could help me to fulfil myself personally," she confides. Contacted by Billy Besson to replace Marie Riou, Amélie sailed the Nacra 17 with him for six months before fracturing her fibula. "I was out for almost five months because my rehabilitation went badly and I had to have another operation. After that, we decided not to continue together because we weren't compatible as people.” Amélie then sailed in mixed doubles with Tim Mourniac, ‘an experience that didn't bear fruit’, Tim having decided to stop because it was too complicated for him to juggle his studies. Then with Moana Vaireaux, replacing Manon Audinet. But she decided to stop after a few months, feeling that she wasn't going in the right direction. "I asked myself again if I wanted to continue sailing. I stopped Olympic sailing for almost two years with the pandemic and I opened up to other projects by taking part in the selections for the Challenge Océane de Région Bretagne CMB, where I met Lara Granier. I also sailed a bit with the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, managed by Bruno Dubois at the time, who wanted to set up a team for the Ocean Race". Amélie also did the 2019 Tour Voile on a Diam 24 with La Boulangère. "Lara jokingly asked me during the Océane selections whether I wanted to try the 49er FX, but I was really questioning what I wanted. Then there was the pandemic, a period frozen in time, which I took as a real chance to put our lives on hold and to establish what I really wanted. Lara went back to the drawing board after Covid, offering me a trial, and this time, I said yes to the trials, but I still had in mind the ocean racing project with the Mirpuri Foundation. In the end, I fell in love with her project, and I said to myself that this was an opportunity to rebuild a more serene Olympic preparation with someone with whom I had a real human feeling and that ocean racing would come later.” So Amélie turned down Yoann Richomme's offer and headed back to the Olympics. At the same time, she joined the France SailGP team, which ‘gave her a lot of distance, professionalism and a great release valve’. But it was also an opportunity to ‘discover another project and a way of communicating on the water that was hyper-precise and synthetic, and to see that others also had difficulties performing’, which enabled her to take a step back from herself. "This experience taught me a lot and showed me that you always have to believe in the process you put in place to avoid permanent doubts or doubts that set in too often, because there are a lot of people around us who give their opinion on what we do.
It was Quentin (Delapierre) who instilled this philosophy in me, which carries me forward and inspires me, even if it's not always easy to put it into practice.” During a period of freelancing for the American team, Amélie won a SailGP: “I'm not the type to be proud of myself but winning with the American team was a real personal satisfaction. Performance is something that is really close to my heart.”
Amélie only thought about the America's Cup five years ago: “I felt it was clearly something inaccessible, reserved for the best male sailors. When the competition opened up to women's projects, it became a goal rather than a dream. I was determined to be part of this project and I'm very happy to have succeeded in joining it". A trimmer like Manon Audinet and Aloïse Retornaz, Amélie doesn't yet know if she'll be a regular on board the AC40 as there’s only room for two trimmers. “Being a substitute in the Cup is different to being a substitute in other team sports. My aim is to sail the boat, but I'll be doubly committed if I don't. I have so much to learn and I'm always stimulated by the learning and understanding side of things.”
Amélie isn't thinking about what's next just yet: “I would have loved to be the first woman to do SailGP, the Cup and the Games in the same year, but unfortunately that's not the case because we weren't selected for Paris 2024. When you come from Olympic sailing, the Olympic Games are in your guts. I've never counted the time I've given or the sacrifices I've made. It's a bit hard to swallow because I went for it with everything I had. Our non-selection was a hard blow and made me question myself as an athlete. On the one hand, I'm a bit angry at this decision, but I'm also wondering whether I have enough strings to my bow to go out and achieve top-level performances." Her philosophy is to keep all the doors open and then decide. “My main driving forces are desire and passion. If the dials are a little low, there's no point in starting again. I need to be motivated by what I do to feel good.”
Outside of competition, Amélie likes to recharge her batteries at her parents' home in Brittany, in a completely different environment to sailing. "I also do a lot of sport, whether it's running, cycling, CrossFit or swimming. And I'm aiming to do some triathlons to challenge myself in a different way. Otherwise, I love cooking, especially for other people.”
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Date of birth: 2 October 1992
Place of birth: Morlaix, France
Motto: “Always believe that there are no limits, except for ourselves.”
What the America's Cup means to her: “Challenging ourselves. It really means a lot to me that our team has all the tools it needs to perform well and to raise everyone up in all areas. Otherwise, the America’s Cup makes me dream because it brings together the best sailors and the boat is another notch above the AC40. It's not traditional sailing, it's new sailing. You really need skills in areas other than those you're used to, like engineering. It's like Formula 1. For the moment, I'm concentrating on the Women's America's Cup, but in the back of my mind, I think we should fight to have a mixed America’s Cup.”
Audrey Ogereau, a member of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team for the Women's America's Cup
An Olympic graduate, Audrey Ogereau is one of seven women selected for the Women’s America's Cup as part of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team. A dream come true for the qualified engineer, who also started ocean racing last year.
Audrey spent her childhood in Sautron, near Nantes, from the age of 2 until she was 18. A keen sportswoman she tried her hand at gymnastics and tennis, which she played competitively, as well as dancing and handball. She discovered sailing at the age of 11, "neither too early nor too late", during a summer course on the Erdre. "My parents were both sailing but didn't want to force me. I got so hooked that I started racing around in an Optimist every weekend. I gave up the other sports as I went along," she recalls. When she left the Optimist, Audrey was looking for a boat that would allow her "to sail with a crew while helming and being on the trapeze, and that would go fast" — the catamaran met all her requirements and for two years she sailed with Manon Audinet in a Hobbie Cat 16. "We were the only two girls on the circuit to have sailed at a high level. That enabled us to get noticed. When it was announced that the Nacra 17 was coming to the Olympics, we were recruited by the boys, as it was a mixed boat," she explains.
Audrey then embarked on Olympic preparation for the Rio 2016 Games with Matthieu Vandame, but without success. "The level was super high in the French team. Marie Riou and Billy Besson were winning everything and there was only one place for the Games. Matthieu decided to switch to another project with the pro team. I took the opportunity to finish my engineering school in La Rochelle. I did it in seven years instead of five, without doing any sailing for the last two years," she said adding that she did her 3rd year placement with Groupama Team France as a mechanical systems engineer.
With her degree in hand, she began her career as an engineer in La Ciotat before taking part in the Tour Voile and Sailing Arabia-The Tour, as helmswoman on Oman Sail's Diam 24 with an all-female Franco-Omani crew. As part of this, Audrey travelled to the Sultanate of Oman "one or two weeks a month to prepare the girls for the Tour Voile. After one Tour Voile and two editions of Sailing Arabia-The Tour, the project was put on hold because of the health crisis. Audrey returned to La Ciotat to work. "I did management, sales and engineering for three years before being contacted by Erwan Le Roux last year. He asked me to join his Ocean Fifty project," she says.
Initially, the idea was to train on the boat and take part in a few PR operations and training sessions. "Little by little, I did one regatta and then the whole season. We eventually won the Pro Sailing Tour. Erwan offered me the chance to do the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie - Le Havre with him. It was a real challenge, but it's still sailing. I work on opportunities and, generally speaking, things go pretty well. Unfortunately, we put a bit too much strain on the machine and had to abandon due to damage." Unfinished business that makes her want to try again. "I like the Ocean Fifty and ocean racing, even if it's never been a dream of mine to do it. It's a fairly compact class. It's still high-speed racing because you stay in contact with each other. There's the competitive, tactical and strategic aspect that I like. It's not very comfortable, but I like putting myself in situations that aren't pleasant, because I always come out stronger."
At the same time, Audrey heard about the Orient Express project being set up. "I tried to call the right people. Opportunities are also created. You have to show that you're available and motivated.” Selected to take part in the selections at the ENVSN, she secured her place in the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team. "Taking part in the America's Cup one day didn't seem like an option a few years ago, but as soon as I knew it was possible, I wanted to do it. It's amazing to have been selected! I still have posters and models of Cup boats in my childhood bedroom."
When she's not on the water Audrey, who lives in La Ciotat, enjoys outdoor activities such as winging, cycling, climbing, running and skiing in winter. "I want to continue ocean racing on the side. I've always loved being overbooked. I've always enjoyed having two projects at the same time. We're going to do everything we can to make sure there's a French Challenge in the next America's Cup.''
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Date of birth: 20 July 1992
Place of birth: Nantes, France
Her motto: "Seize opportunities."
A specific memory of the America's Cup: "The fact that I was part of the French project in my own way on the F50s and that I managed to make a small contribution. I had the impression that these boats had made a small technological leap forward at the time."
What the America's Cup means to her: "It's the most prestigious and elitist regatta in the world, with a very strong sporting, technological and engineering side. This competition combines my two passions."
Jessie Kampman, member of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team in the Women’s America's Cup
A French, South African, Dutch and British national, Jessie Kampman has secured her place on the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team for the Women’s America's Cup.
Born in Crawley, England, Jessie arrived in France at the age of four, when her parents moved to Plan de la Tour, near Sainte-Maxime. A keen sportswoman she enjoys tennis, skiing and sailing. "My mother, who is English, and my father, who is South African, worked on sailing boats when they were younger. That's how they met. My brother and I started Optimist sailing at a very young age. On Saturdays, I used to compete in the mountains, and on Sundays in the Optimist,” she explains.
"I love sport, putting myself out there and giving it my all. It's the same in other aspects of my life. When I do something, I try to do it well.” Jessie decided to give up skiing when she switched to the 420 because combining two disciplines became "a bit too intense". She studied sports in Antibes from 14 to 18 before moving to Southampton, England, to study law. "I'm English and bilingual. I thought that studying there would be more rewarding if I wasn’t involved in an Olympic preparation, that it would open more doors for me,” she explains.
Deciding that she didn't want to move up to the 470 after finishing on the 420, and wishing to do something a little more exciting, the young sailor took on kite foiling, which in 2019 was on the verge of becoming an Olympic discipline, alongside her studies. "I'd already done a bit of kiteboarding before switching to kite foiling. I liked it straight away and wanted a new challenge. But I was seriously injured last August and I was in hospital for five months," says Jessie, who has become an ambassador for the ENGIE Kite Tour.
Remaining unselected for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Jessie, who is among the world's best in the discipline, has no intention of stopping. "A French girl, Lauriane Nolot, is ahead of me; I really love this sport and I want to keep going. Ideally, I'd like to start preparing for the Olympics again in the kite foiling class," sheconfides. Jessie raced in UK colours for a time before returning to France.
"I registered with the British Federation when I moved to England because I thought I'd make my life there. But because of the pandemic, I ended up finishing my studies remotely from France and returned to the FFVoile. I didn't think too much about what nationality I wanted to be, even though deep down I feel more French."
A kite foil enthusiast, Jessie is returning to her first love with the Women's America's Cup — ‘the most prestigious race in professional sailing’ — which combines two aspects that attract her to the sport: ‘the speed and adrenalin of foiling’, and ‘the crew’, which she loved when she was racing 420s. Invited to take part in the ENVSN selection trials in April 2023, Jessie, who ‘thought it was a fairly closed world’ but dreamed of entering it, won her place on the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team. "The selection was a key step in my sailing career. For me, it's a milestone that I've passed because it's been a goal of mine for a very long time to get my foot in the door. I'm really proud to be part of the team, because not many girls have access to it. It's also great to be able to benefit from the experience of all these athletes and the help that the whole team can give us. I also feel lucky. I think more girls should have access. I hope that we will open the way and that one day, there will be as many places for girls as for boys on the challenging teams for the Cup," says Jessie, who would like to succeed in reconciling an America's Cup and Olympic preparation.
"We'll see after 2028 where I am in my life, if I want to start preparing for the Olympics again or not. But in any case, I'd love to switch to professional sailing one day, either in the Cup or in SailGP, if I get the chance."
Passionate about what she does, Jessie spends most of her time on the water. "The special thing about kitesurfing is that you can sail wherever you want on your own. You can sail pretty much all the time. It's a pretty crazy feeling and we're all a bit hooked. It's hard to take breaks. My whole life is geared towards kitesurfing. I try to put everything in place to perform well."
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Date of birth: 19 May 2000
Place of birth: Crawley, United Kingdom
Her motto: "Believe you can and you're halfway there".
A particular memory of the America's Cup: "I don't have one in particular, but it's a competition that has always attracted me, and one in which I followed the technological advances and the racing."
What the America's Cup means to her: "It's the competition that brings together the greatest sailors, including Olympic medallists and Olympic icons who are idols for many people. The best of the best get together on boats and battle it out to win the Cup. It's like a hot spot for all the sailors."
Lara Granier, member of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team
Lara Granier, fresh from completing her Olympic preparation in the 49er FX with Amélie Riou, has been selected as a member of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team for the first Puig Women's America's Cup.
Lara grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, where her parents met. "My father took part in a World Windsurfing Championship in Kenya and fell in love with the country. He moved there when he finished his studies drawn by a job opportunity," she says, adding that her mother is Kenyan. Lara, who really enjoys being outdoors, was introduced to the joys of sailing at weekends by her father on "Lake Naivasha, an incredible place in the middle of the savannah, in the middle of nature, with just a little club house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by zebras, hippos and giraffes". Those weekends camping by the lake with "a lot of young people who were also into sailing" made her want to continue along that path, even though she also practised basketball, tennis, running and karate in her spare time. She soon began competing in the Optimist class. "My father has really developed sailing in Kenya. He accompanied us to the Optimist World Championships in 2007. It was the first time the country had taken part," she recalls. The young sailor then went on to compete in Southern Europe, Serbia, India and Africa, where her father organised the African Optimist Championship, before taking part in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010.
"My parents financed everything and my father coached me, but it wasn't his fulltime job, so he looked into the possibilities that existed in France," says Lara, who joined the Pôle Espoir in Antibes in September 2010. There, she sailed in the Laser 4.7 with Jean-Baptiste Bernaz and Sophie de Turckheim, among others. Seduced by double-handed sailing, she switched to the 420, which she sailed for four years. "We performed quite well quite quickly. We had a great group of eight or 10 people in Antibes. We were French champions twice. We also did well at the World Championships".
Lara then turned to the 470 in 2015 and joined the Marseille centre, with her sights set on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. U25 World Youth vice-champion and European vice-champion: Lara and her team-mate achieved one good result after another. "The transition from the Youth series to the Olympics was quite brutal. The level became much more demanding. We continued for a few years, but we realised that we wanted to do things a bit differently." The duo split up in 2019 just after the World Championships in Japan, where Camille Lecointre and Aloïse Retornaz confirmed their ticket for Tokyo. Lara wanted to stay in the Olympics, but didn't know "on what medium or in what way". So she entered the selections for the Challenge Région Bretagne - CMB in the Figaro class. "I was in the middle of a transition year. I wanted to do something different. I didn't particularly want to do ocean racing, but this was an opportunity to do something new. It's important to be open-minded and to challenge yourself on other types of craft. I was in discovery mode, but I really loved it. I learnt a lot and it was really enriching. I met people with different opinions and ways of doing things."
It was in this context that she crossed paths with Amélie Riou, who was also taking part in the Challenge Région Bretagne - CMB. Inspiration immediately took hold and Lara began to dream of becoming an Olympian. "I wanted to find someone who had the same goals, who shared the same values and the same desires as me. It's important for me to have a real human feeling and to share things with my team-mate. I'd tried the 49er FX and really liked it, so I informally suggested to Amélie that we try sailing together." Amélie didn't take to the idea straight away, but they did a test a few months later in the middle of the health crisis. In the meantime, Lara was trying her hand at mixed 470s, kitefoiling and 49er FX with several people, but couldn't find what she was looking for. So she contacted Amélie again in May 2020. The two young women decided to start preparing for the Olympics together in September 2020. "She's someone I get on really well with. We share a lot of the same values, even though our personalities are quite different. And we had a common goal: to take part in the Paris 2024 Games."
The Olympic Games have been a dream of Lara's since she was a child. "We used to talk about it a lot with my parents when I was at home. We watched swimming, gymnastics and athletics. We'd follow the Kenyan and French athletes, and in the evenings we'd go and play in the garden with my sister and invent our lives as if we were at the Games. My parents and I did everything we could to move in that direction, it's always been a goal of mine". Unfortunately, Lara and Amélie were not selected for Paris 2024, but they both found themselves as part of the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team on the Puig Women's America's Cup project.
Lara dreamt of the Cup too, even though "the world was pretty closed to women" until now. "I dared to hope that with hard work and determination, it would be possible one day to see women on this circuit. What's more, I hope that in the next edition, there will be as many women as men on the challenging teams, because women have just as much a place on board as men, and they can reach the same level". For her, the Puig Women's America's Cup is a dream "coming true sooner than expected, an incredible opportunity and a real source of pride to be part of the French team and the first wave of women to take part". Her role? "Pilot, although the final crew is yet to be decided".
When she's not sailing, the young woman, who still lives in Marseille, relaxes through sport. "I love being on the water, so I do a lot of wingfoiling, foil surfing, climbing and tennis."
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Date of birth: 11 November 1995
Place of birth: Nairobi, Kenya
Motto: "Play hard, work harder".
What the America's Cup means to her: "It's really the top level of world sailing, the competition that includes all the best sailors and the most beautiful boats in the world. It's the grail for sailors."
A specific memory of the America's Cup: "In the documentary 'Untold' about the 25th America's Cup. Australia II's victory over Liberty. The first time in the history of the America's Cup that a team won against the Americans. I was bowled over by their desire to win, and above all their belief that they could win!"
Manon Audinet, skipper of the AC40 Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team
A skilled catamaran specialist who has been racing on the SailGP circuit with the France SailGP Team since the start of season 3, Manon Audinet is now preparing to take on another major challenge: leading the Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team as skipper to victory in the first ever Women's America's Cup.
Originally from La Rochelle where she grew up, Manon didn't start sailing as a child. "My father sailed when he was young, then sailed on his father's boat. He always liked it, unlike my mother — my mother doesn't hate sailing, she's just never done it. My little brother also did a bit as a child. It didn't appeal to me at all, even though I loved going out on my grandfather's boat at the weekend," she recalls.
"Before that, I played tennis, but it was a disaster, then three or four years of swimming. I liked that and then I tried horse-riding, but that was also a failure," jokes Manon, who first sailed a catamaran at the age of 11 motivated by the mother of a friend who worked at the sailing club in La Rochelle. She really got to grips with the sport the following year thanks to a great instructor who trained the sports catamaran team year round. He invited her to join the team. Manon accepted with the support of her parents, "without knowing what it would lead to".
Things quickly took off for the young member of St Georges Voile, who started competing at the age of 12 on a small catamaran in mixed doubles. Although she wasn't originally a competitive sailor, she took to the game from the start: "We won our first regatta. I thought it was great", Manon confides, finding her way and pursuing it. From the age of 12 to 19 she sailed sport catamarans in the Youth and Senior classes, which enabled her to learn to sail daggerboard boats that required a little more fine-tuning. At the same time she won a string of national podiums in the Youth category and perfected her apprenticeship on bigger boats, including Formula 18s, an experience that was "super formative and enabled me to learn more things more quickly".
Although the catamaran wasn't an Olympic sport at the time, she was accepted into the Sports Studies class and benefited from a modified timetable, without having to follow as rigorous a training programme as the others. This enabled her to free up time to train and do physical preparation alongside her schooling, which took her to a Bac ES and then an IUT Tech de Co. "School was never my passion. I started university just as I was about to embark on an Olympic campaign, but I needed to study if my dual project was to go well. I was lucky enough to come across some super understanding professors who helped me a lot and followed what I was doing in terms of sport. I was able to split my final year, which went really well."
Manon's first Olympic campaign was in the Nacra 17, a class she turned to in 2013 with Moana Vaireaux, her Hobie 16 coach. "When I was younger, there were no catamarans at the Games apart from the Tornado, which wasn't suitable for women. I dreamed about it but I didn't know how I could do it one day. The door was opened with the Nacra 17," says Manon, who joined the French team in her first year alongside Billy Besson and Marie Riou, for whom she and Moana were substitutes for Rio 2016. A year and a half into their second Olympic preparation, the duo decided to go their separate ways. Manon then contacted Quentin Delapierre, with whom she had sailed when she was 13-14 years old and subsequently met again on the Tour Voile. "We had a week's training, which went really well. It was a bit daring to take the plunge a year before the selections for Tokyo 2020. We did it in sprint mode, but I really had Tokyo in mind and I thought that Quentin was potentially the right man to pull off the heist."
Selected for the Olympics, Manon and Quentin were delighted to take up the ambitious challenge and racked up a string of good results — winner of the World Cup in Enoshima, 4th in the World Championships, 2nd in the European Championships — before the duo performed below expectations at the Games, finishing 8th. "We believed we could do it. We were disappointed, but it's part of our career and it made us stronger afterwards", she says, delighted to have been one of the first women to fly a catamaran on the water and to have been able to realise her dream. After a few months of training the following winter, Manon and Quentin decided to throw in the towel before the first event of the season, as they were no longer enjoying sailing the boat and wanted to see if they could find happiness elsewhere. On a personal level, during the Nacra years Manon met Jason Saunders, now her partner and father of their child.
The quest for sailing happiness culminated in 2022, in SailGP, the prestigious circuit on which Manon joined Quentin a few months after his arrival at the helm of the French F50. Selected alongside Amélie Riou, the sailor from La Rochelle joined the France SailGP Team at the start of season 3 in Bermuda, at the same time as Kevin Peponnet. Her career then took on a new dimension. "I was on a circuit which made me dream. Racing an F50 was clearly a goal, even if I wasn't very keen on the system at the start, when the girls didn't have a place on board. As soon as we had it, it made sense because we're an integral part of the performance. And with this team, it's great", she comments. "It's a different kind of sailing, much more professional, with a lot of constraints linked to the fact that you don't have much time to train. Everything is superfast, and you have to perform very well by working in a different way to be at 100% as soon as you get onboard. It's complementary to what I've learnt in the Olympics, where you have months to train and fine-tune the little details. It's a bit confusing at first, but it's great to be working with a big team and sailing together."
Alongside SailGP, Manon is now the skipper of the AC40 Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team for the Women's America's Cup. A great source of pride for the young sailor, who used to watch the Cup on television with her father when she was younger. "I never thought the competition would one day be open to women. I dreamt about it, but I thought I wouldn't have a place in it. It's become a dream since the announcement of the creation of the Women's America's Cup. It's the ultimate thing that every woman sailor wants to do, the icing on the cake". The pre-selections began shortly after the announcement. Manon took part, pregnant. "Being pregnant allowed me to take a step back and reinforced the idea that I wanted to continue sailing at a high level. It came at the right time. I have no regrets. I feel like I belong here." She was selected alongside six other girls in December 2023. A great achievement for the young woman, who will be leading a crew of four people from different backgrounds for her first experience in a flying monohull. "SailGP has helped me to understand how these big machines work, with all their electronics and hydraulics, where there are hardly any bits left. There's a lot of overlap between the F50s and the AC40s in terms of using the boat and the data, even if the balance of the boats is a little different. And you can train on a simulator, which enriches things even more. I feel like I'm learning new things every day. I couldn't ask for a better way to progress in today's sailing world, and as a woman, it's great to have access to these projects, especially as a skipper," she enthuses. For Manon, taking part in the Women's America's Cup in this role is a real challenge "as we're more used to seeing a female helmswoman as a skipper", but she will be able to capitalise on the experience she gained on SailGP to help her team save time in its rapid preparation. "My aim is to potentially take the girls to victory in this first Women's America's Cup. It would be a crazy thing to do," she says.
Manon's other challenge, which she is taking on with Jason, is to reconcile her life as a couple, as a mother and as a top-level sportswoman. "It's a huge challenge, but it's really cool. We're lucky enough to have a baby that's pretty easy. We've been taking him everywhere since he was a toddler to get him used to seeing the world. He was only 10 days old when he came to Saint-Tropez for SailGP," she says. On a day-to-day basis, Manon and Jason can count on the support of a young girl, who looks after their baby in Barcelona as well as at the Sail Grand Prix. "I've known her since she was eight years old. She's great and passionate about sailing. In the event of any problems, my baby remains my priority, but it was important for us to be able to continue doing what we love, and the opportunity to be a skipper on the Cup doesn't come along 15 times in a lifetime. I think that if the parents are happy, the baby is happy too, whereas if they're frustrated, it's not very happy. I thought it was a cliché when mums said that their baby was an extra source of motivation, but it's true and it's really cool". Manon can also count on the support of her parents, who "help out a lot with the little one. I was lucky that they understood my passion and supported me all the way instead of pushing me to study. They made a lot of concessions so that I could succeed in setting up my projects. It's thanks to them that I'm where I am today."
A few months ago, Jason Saunders joined the Orient Express Racing Team and the France SailGP Team. "It's really great to be sailing with Jason on SailGP. It will be even more so when we can share victories together. When we sailed against each other, we were happy when one of us put in a performance, but the other was always a little disappointed, which is normal."
When she's not sailing, Manon tries to make the most of her free time to visit Barcelona with her family. "We go home with the little one and go out again to discover the city, which we don't know and which is really interesting. We're on the move and don't stay at home very often."
Date of birth: 12 February 1992
Place of birth: La Rochelle, France
One America's Cup memory in particular: "The incredible comeback by the Americans against the New Zealanders. I remember watching the races at my sailing club in La Rochelle with all my friends. It was magical."
What the America's Cup means to her: "The America's Cup is really about excellence, sailing at the highest level. There are the best sailors, the best of the best in every field. And there's the historical aspect, because it's the oldest sporting competition, a magnificent challenge."
Pauline Courtois, helmswoman aboard the AC40 Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team
A three-time World and European match racing champion with Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, Pauline Courtois will be helming the AC40 Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team in the Women's America's Cup. It's a dream come true for the sailor from Brest, who teaches PE at a secondary school in Le Havre alongside her career as a top-level sportswoman.
A native of Brest, Pauline started sailing at a very young age "a bit by chance". Although she grew up in a seafaring town there was no one in her family who practised the sport, even though her mother, now retired, was vice-president of the FFVoile in charge of gender equality. "My parents wanted us to discover a whole range of activities and do something that my sisters and I enjoyed, not necessarily sport". Pauline tried her hand at music, swimming, horse-riding, dance and other outdoor sports, before she was hooked by a summer sailing course at the age of seven. "We had a great group and a lot of fun. I loved playing with the wind, confronting the elements and water-based activities,” says Pauline. Two years later, she was competing. "I'm quite curious. I like learning new tricks all the time, pushing myself and testing myself against others. I already had a competitive spirit," she continues.
She enrolled in Sports Études in Brest and sailed a 420 until she was 18, a choice made because of her small stature, before doing a year or two of 470 after high school and then switching to another sport because her team-mate had decided to continue her studies. Pauline then had the opportunity to try match racing and took to it straight away. At the same time she continued her studies in STAPS in Brest and joined Julie Bossard's crew in their Olympic preparation for London 2012, as Match Racing was still an Olympic sport at the time. She then helmed the UBO (Université de Bretagne Occidentale) boat and competed in the Mondial Universitaire, where the crew finished 2nd after winning the Open Championship in 2014.
Although studying in Brest, Pauline, who trained to become a PE teacher, moved to Le Havre to train. "I went back and forth between Brest and Le Havre quite a lot while I was finishing my studies," she explains. Once she had passed her exams, she moved to Le Havre permanently and met up with Cédric Chateau, her 420 coach, she subsequently joined the Match in Pink crew 2017. The team went on to win the World Cup four times, the Nations Cup once, and the World and European Championships three times, earning the women's crew three nominations for Sailor of the Year from the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile).
Alongside her career as a top-level sportswoman, Pauline works as a PE teacher and teaches sailing to young secondary school children in Le Havre. "I'm lucky enough to have a flexible timetable that allows me to combine the two. I can train half the time and race alongside my work. It's great to be able to do both."
Pauline, who has been elected Sports Commissioner, also works for Vague Normande. "When I'm not competing, I have a bit more time. It's thanks to them and the initiatives they put in place that I'm where I am today. La Vague Normande is a driving force in creating projects that enable sportspeople to sail, particularly on the Tour Voile," she explains. "There's a real desire to give sportsmen and women from Normandy the opportunity to train and join a professional or semi-professional team". Pauline, who works in collaboration with Francis Le Goff, director of La Vague Normande, and Cédric Chateau, the executive in charge of sport, training and high performance, is making her contribution to the development of these sporting projects. "We're lucky to have a great team in Normandy. We wouldn't have made so much progress without the Vague Normande. The Match in Black team was set up just before ours. We decided to pool everything together and did a bit of mixing. We hope to launch a team next year. In all, we're a group of five-six Match Racing crews. It's great.”
After her three world titles, Pauline was keen to discover new horizons and took part in the Transat Paprec with Corentin Horeau last year in a Figaro BENETEAU 3. "It was something new for me, as I'd never sailed offshore before. I wanted to challenge myself a bit. I didn't know how it was going to go as it was a long race. The fact that I had friends around all the time helped a bit. It's amazing how demanding you have to be over time. The experience was very enriching in terms of settings, taking risks and knowing where to put the cursor. I still need to improve on the weather aspect and long-term strategy, but it was great. I didn't see myself doing solo sailing, but double-handed, that was really cool. I really liked the sharing aspect." For all that, Pauline has no plans to draw a line under Match Racing.
She learned of her pre-selection for the Women's America's Cup on the pontoon in Concarneau, just a few hours before the start of the Transat Paprec. It was a dream come true for the sailor, for whom the America's Cup, the Olympic Games and The Ocean Race, "the benchmarks in sailing", are a real thrill. As pilot of the AC40 Orient Express - L'Oréal Racing Team, she now divides her life between Le Havre, where she lives, the ENVSN in Quiberon where "there's a great fleet of hydrofoil boats, including WASZP, Birdie Fish and Flying Phantom" and the team base in Barcelona. "I'm really happy to have the opportunity to take part in this first Women's America's Cup. The team is still very much a work in progress, and we all have different backgrounds."
For her, this selection is "a dream come true", a challenge that makes her want to surpass herself to perform well in excellent conditions. "We want to progress together and build a great team. We know there's a lot of work to do, especially as I don't come from a foiling background. But thanks to Match Racing, where you have to adapt quickly to new types of craft, I have experience of finals and close contact sailing. I think that can be a plus. I've been sailing with a crew for a long time, so I'm used to the life and management of a team."
When she has a bit of free time, Pauline sails on the Wally Spirit of Malouen and Paprec's TP52, among others. And she plays sport, while concentrating on her current priority: the Women's America's Cup.
Her vision of women in the world in general and in sport in particular: "This is a great time for women in terms of opportunities, both in society and in sport. Previous generations didn't have all that. It's great, even if it's a shame that we sometimes have to enforce female inclusion in certain competitions. But it can inspire girls to set up their own projects. I'm convinced that this type of initiative can only help the development of women's sailing. For my part, I've been lucky enough not to feel limited or discriminated against. Our winter training group is mixed and we do lots of mixed regattas. People don't make a difference, it's a question of skill."
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Date of birth: 27 April 1989
Place of birth: Brest, Finistère, France
What the America's Cup means to her: "Excellence as a team".
A specific memory of the America's Cup: "The Americans' comeback against the New Zealanders in the 2013 Final. It just goes to show that nothing is lost until the end."