Areva Challenge christens FRA-93 and sets ambitious goal

It was the turn of the French America's Cup challenger Areva Challenge to present and christen their brand new yacht FRA-93 and they did it on Friday night during a nice "fiesta" in a tent in front of their base. We won't go into details about the show since you can watch here a nice video produced by the team.

What was really surprising was the very ambitious tone set by Stéphane KandlerChief Executive Officer of Areva Challenge

Click for more info, CEO of the team, at his opening speach, where he stated the team's goal was to win the America's Cup in Valencia. He couldn't be less explicit in his words when he said "this boat will win the America's Cup in Valencia". Check our exhaustive set of photos in our Friday report, right after the christening.

Who better to talk about the new French rocket than Dimitri NicolopoulosDesign Coordinator of Areva Challenge

Click for more info, design coordinator of Areva Challenge. Since this is a blog and we can afford the luxury of being less formal, I would like to add that a boat designed by someone of Greek-French origin (just like myself) can be nothing but excellent. We'll see next spring and summer.

Valencia Sailing: This is probably a cliché question but how do you feel now that FRA-93 has been christened? I suppose this is one of your happiest days.
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: Absolutely, the whole shore and design teams are thrilled to be able to share with everybody here what we have been designing and building for three years now. Our dream became reality tonight.

Valencia Sailing: Is this a revolutionary, radical boat?
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: Unfortunately for me, everybody can have a good look at the boat at this moment and I had proposed to keep it behind the curtain during the whole evening but our communications department obviously had a different opinion. I doubt anybody could build a revolutionary yacht for this edition of the America's Cup but this is a boat to win the America's Cup.

Valencia Sailing: Are you sure about your claim?
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: I hope so. Honestly, we tried to challenge ourselves in the areas where we thought we could have an impact and minimize the risks when it didn't make much sense taking them.

Valencia Sailing: Did Areva Challenge set you any limits or constraints on your design or did you start from scratch?
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: We didn't start from scratch since we had purschased what is called the design package from Team New Zealand with NZL-57 and NZL-60. As a result we didn't start with a blank paper but with knowledge gained through several years. This proved to be a good starting point and as a design coordinator I assembled a team that consisted of people with long experience as well as young talents. The aim was to mix all these people with mutual respect where everybody carried out their job in a perfect way. It's been an extraordinary period of three years, we had 7 designers in the core team and reached 14 at peak times. Even in the most difficult times of what was then K-Challenge, last winter, we kept working on the design despite the budget problems we encountered. We really believe in this boat and if we lose we will never use the budget problems we had as an excuse for our performance.

Valencia Sailing: How do you think FRA-93 compares to the new boats launched here in Valencia? Did you get any ideas from them?
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: During the design of the boat there were moments we thought we were doing something radical but when we saw a new boat on the water in Valencia we realized it wasn't so. Don't forget that the design of FRA-93 was more or less frozen when the new boats started arriving. We started working in the boatyard in late April but it was a good thing to see we were not the only ones to use a particular idea or concept although I doubt we would have changed anything at all.

Valencia Sailing: Obviously FRA-93 has been optimized for the conditions we have in Valencia.
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: Definitely, this is a boat for Valencia, although there are teams that believe you have to build a boat for races that start between 2pm and 3pm. We believe you need a boat for lighter winds in the first race and heavier at the second race, more versatile.

Valencia Sailing: Shorter term, when are going to see FRA-93 sailing for the first time?
Dimitri Nicolopoulos: Very soon!

A closeup look at the stern of FRA-93. Valencia, 24 November 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

A closeup look at the bow of FRA-93. Valencia, 24 November 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing