America’s Cup: Kiwi Jason Saunders set for key role in French challenger’s bid to dethrone Team New Zealand

French America's Cup challenger Orient Express Racing are coming to terms with sailing an AC40. Photo / America's Cup

After seven years living in France, Kiwi sailor Jason Saunders has signed up to help the nation try and take the America’s Cup from Team New Zealand.

Saunders, a two-time Olympian and 2013 Youth America’s Cup winner, will sail with the late French entry, the Orient Express Racing Team, in Barcelona next year.

The French syndicate only confirmed their on-water roster last month, with Saunders operating as a trimmer and flight controller across the AC40 and AC75. He will be one of the core sailors tasked with getting a handle on the scaled-down AC40 over the coming weeks in preparation for the first preliminary regatta in Vilanova i la Geltru on September 14.

The French were only confirmed as a challenger in January this year, putting them a long way behind the established syndicates from the outset. However, Saunders said the French group weren’t short of motivation and could perhaps lean on one aspect of their challenge the others couldn’t.

“The motivation is actually really high,” Saunders told the Herald. “I think the fact that we’ve come in late and we know we just have one year at full gas, it actually is quite motivating.

“Some of the other campaigns have been going on for a while now; they may not have that freshness that we are able to bring. We’re under no illusions that we’ve got some work to do, but I’m really impressed with the team we have here.”

Jason Saunders is a two-time Olympic sailor for New Zealand. In 2016, he competed in the Nacra 17 alongside Gemma Jones. Photo / Photosport

Saunders won’t be the only link to New Zealand for the French syndicate, with the team purchasing a design package from Team New Zealand to help with the build of the AC75.

That was a sore point for Swiss syndicate Red Bull Alinghi Racing, who purchased Team New Zealand’s first-edition AC75 much earlier in the campaign so they could get their sailors on the water in the full-scale vessel.

The confirmation that the French would be buying a package triggered a protest from the Swiss, seemingly on the basis that the French design package would be faster as it incorporated new data from Team New Zealand testing. It was dismissed by the arbitration panel.

“That’s America’s Cup. It wouldn’t be the America’s Cup without some court cases going on behind the scenes,” Saunders quipped.

He did, however, admit that getting a design package from the Defenders was a smart play because, to some extent, they had an idea of what they were getting in the AC75 and they may not be as far behind as their late entry suggested.

“It’s hard to tell. I mean, we’ve got some disadvantages with being a bit later, but we’ve also got some advantages. We’ve got a design package from Team New Zealand, so that’s certainly going to help our development,” Saunders said.

“We know we’re going to have a pretty quick boat, so the challenge for us as sailors is to get enough time on the water with our AC40 and just get comfortable with these boats, because they’re completely different to the catamarans and other foiling boats that I traditionally have sailed, so it’s been a big learning process there.

“I think we’re on the right track. We’ve just got to try and get some hours under our belt.”

Jason Saunders has sailed with several members of Team New Zealand previously, including as part of the New Zealand SailGP team's debut campaign in 2021. Photo: Bob Martin / SailGP

While time on the water is critical for every team in the coming weeks with the first preliminary regatta on September 14, it is even more so for the French.

Every other syndicate has had plenty of time to learn how to sail an AC40, however the French have only just gotten their hands on theirs, sailing it for the first time last week in Barcelona.

Saunders said the team were under no illusions as to how tricky that made the upcoming regatta in Vilanova i la Geltru, but they had their own targets to work towards with the larger goal in mind.

“In terms of being ready for the first event, we will certainly be rusty and a bit behind to start with,” he said.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we are super-efficient with the systems we have in place in terms of maximising the hours we get, because we’ve got [to] catch up that time. We can do what we can with the time we have now, but we can’t catch up any more.

“So it’s about doing everything we can to maximise it, and if we can manage to get a couple of good races in Vilanova, then that would already be a good start.

“As long as we’re showing a sort of progression, then we’ll be pretty happy.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.