00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30...probably quite shifty, but really pan-flat water being tucked up right under that shoreline which means there's not really much room for error. The water's going to be super flat. The boat's going to have to execute really, really high level of boat handling just to stay with the fleet. Any mistakes are going to be really punished.
00:44Well, before we look forward, we want to look back, Stevie. Last event on the Solent back in Portsmouth. An incident that people are still talking about. It's kind of filling the airwaves and the social media breakouts.
00:53Yeah, race six, gate two. They've had the umpire debrief where all the teams came together this morning. Normally we get through about eight, nine, ten incidents where they go through all of them.
01:03We spent an hour on the one incident. I think the main takeaway was agree to disagree. But yeah, I mean, it was a really, really tight incident.
01:11It was all based around, you know, should the outside boat in Australia be moving away before GBR to create the space? Australia got a penalty.
01:21They felt really hard done by. Dylan Fletcher, when you watch the video back, the GBR boat kind of seems to just go straight.
01:27Well, he says, I didn't have any choice but to go straight. I just think that the tighter the racing gets, the more of these incidents were going to happen.
01:34Ultimately, it's kudos to the Canadians. Did an amazing job of avoiding a collision because, you know, it could have been.
01:39But yeah, it's a tricky one because the right-of-way boat Canada in the incident ended up being the boat that, yeah, got the biggest hammering, for want of a better word.
01:48You know, they were right out of the back of the fleet after the incident.
01:51And I think that's, you know, I guess can often be the nature of racing. And much like in Formula One, you know, Max Verstappen will nearly always think he's further alongside someone going into a corner.
02:00Dylan's very much like Max Verstappen. So Dylan is absolutely adamant he was in the right.
02:05And that was the way the umpires viewed it. I think what's interesting from watching it back and people will be able to look, if they do look on their socials and they'll see a lot of differing opinions,
02:14is the umpires actually adjudicated the foul a lot earlier in the incident than perhaps a lot of people do.
02:19The later on in the incident you look at it, the worse it looks for Great Britain and the more ridiculous it looks for Australia got a penalty.
02:26But actually, when the incident's given, you know, it's fine margins. Rules are black and white. But with any of it, there's plenty of chance to turn grey.
02:33All right, let's get to the heart of the matter, the questions at hand. Hannah Diamond, I'll ask you this.
02:37Do you feel like we are at the point of the season for certain teams like Canada, like France, maybe even Switzerland?
02:43This is make or break time. This weekend will really determine where they are in October.
02:47Yeah, I mean, we're really coming to the business end of the season now, aren't we?
02:49And I think, you know, for some of the teams, we've seen, you know, some teams have performed consistently towards the top of the fleet.
02:55And that's been changing a little bit as the season's been going on.
02:58But it's sort of the teams who are in sort of fourth, fifth and sixth.
03:01They're the ones who really need to be stepping up.
03:03So Emirates, GBR, North Star and the French team, they have got plenty to prove over the next couple of weekends.
03:09And they're sort of running out of time to make it happen.
03:12Yeah, I mean, I think the pressure this weekend really sits fairly squarely on North Star and France for me.
03:17Because they're the two teams that I think have got the ability to get into the fight for the final.
03:23We've got four boats kind of away and gone at the moment.
03:26Emirates, GBR are outside of it at the moment, but very much, you know, in the mix.
03:30They're only one point off the Spanish in third.
03:32So it's really tight.
03:33I think North Star, you know, they've shown they can do really well.
03:36They've gone a bit cold for a few events.
03:38This venue, I think, will suit them.
03:39A few shifts and quite flat water.
03:42And it looks like we might have a bit of breeze, which, again, I think Giles quite enjoys.
03:45And France, you know, I mean, what a season they've had.
03:48It's been sort of cursed, it seemed, in many ways, you know, with some real bad moments.
03:53And then we saw on the Sunday in Portsmouth, give them the tools, give them the kit.
03:57They can go out there and be as good as anyone.
03:59So I think France or North Star, if they're going to get to the final, at least need a podium, probably need to win here.
04:06So the pressure starts to go on them.
04:08And then those top four boats, I think I'm still stinking chip away, chip away.
04:12And, yeah, the bottom boats, it's been an evolution, but we need to start seeing change.
04:16I saw an interview with Nikolaj Seherstedt, and he was already kind of saying, let's try and get some momentum into season six.
04:22So I think maybe Denmark, we're quite close to Denmark, so it's almost a home regatta for them.
04:27We know how good they are, but they've not had the season they'd want just yet.
04:31So I expect quite big things from Rockwell.
04:32I think it will suit them, and I think it could well suit North Star.
04:37So, yeah, it should be interesting, but hard to look past the usual favorites.
04:40And we'd love to get a prediction from you, Tito.
04:42We're going to try and get a bit of a winner here.
04:44You managed to avoid this.
04:45Me and Hannah get stitched up.
04:46So I'm going to jump at you.
04:48What are your predictions for this weekend?
04:50Well, I will predict that I've got two more questions to ask, and then I'll answer that question.
04:53So this is three big questions, Stevie.
04:55All right, so Hannah, I'm going to come back to you really quickly.
04:58For those teams that are in the bottom half, so we're looking at Switzerland, Red Bull, Italy, Rockwell, Denmark, Mubadla, Brazil, Germany, Deutsche Bank, and United States, is it panic time for them?
05:06Do you think we will start seeing wholesale changes, maybe changes in staff, or they're already looking for season six?
05:11I think you can even split that group of votes into two separate groups as well, because you've got Red Bull, Italy, who are definitely making some steady improvements.
05:19And I think it won't be long before we see them putting in some really top results, either in individual races or in whole events.
05:25The same with Mubadla, Brazil.
05:26You know, they've had their first race win.
05:28They've shown some really promising signs.
05:30So I think for those two teams, they need to just keep working at the basics, keep kind of learning the boat as a team and making those steady improvements.
05:38But yeah, you're right, for Germany, Deutsche Bank, for the US CLGP team, you know, they really need to start asking some serious questions about how are we going to make the jump to the rest of the fleet?
05:49And Stevie, would you agree with that?
05:51Yeah, I do.
05:52I mean, I suppose in the defense of the US team, I feel like we've got some roster changes in that US team.
05:58Mike Mellinger coming in and a few others, you know, Andrew Campbell being in there.
06:01So they've made some changes.
06:03So it's going to be interesting to see how they start to play out.
06:05They definitely have already kind of perhaps admitted things have got to change.
06:10I think, yeah, totally agree with Deutsche Bank.
06:12You know, they've been in many ways as big a disappointment as anyone this season for me because of the talent that's on that boat.
06:17And we've just not seen it yet.
06:19All right.
06:19I'm going to throw an extra question here, but just because I can.
06:21I think a lot of pressure and obviously they're in the running with points on 50 points.
06:25And that's only four points in our first place.
06:27Emmerich GBR.
06:28Is this event this weekend a make or break?
06:32They'll look back to season five and say it was Sassnitz that did us in or it was Sassnitz where we made the turn.
06:37Saturday in Portsmouth, they were so dominant.
06:39And in the fleet racing, it was such a strong performance from them, but didn't quite have the edge in the final to take the win in that event.
06:45So I think, you know, for some of these teams making the final is sometimes a bit of an expectation.
06:50But that's only the first hurdle.
06:52You need to show that you can perform, you know, in that final race when it matters.
06:55And ultimately, it's all about winning the grand final in the last event in Abu Dhabi.
06:59So we're running out of opportunities for these teams to take the chance to make sure that they can perform in that three boat final, because ultimately that's what it comes down to.
07:07Is Dylan Fletcher feeling the heat in Sassnitz this weekend?
07:10They're all feeling the heat, Todd, aren't they?
07:12All of those boats in the top four, you know, there's nothing to call in it.
07:16I mean, if we want to make a defense case for Emmerich's Great Britain, you know, they had some boat troubles on that Sunday.
07:20They lost their momentum. Blackfoils got their momentum and put on a pretty dominant display.
07:26But, yeah, I mean, all of those boats have got the heat on them.
07:29I still put the most pressure on Contan and Giles if they're going to, you know, they will have aspirations to be in the grand final.
07:35And as Hannah says, you've only got to just scrape into the grand final and then it's one race for all the dollars, you know.
07:41So it's all open.
07:43But I think the big pressure is on Giles and Contan.
07:45They need to deliver.
07:46They need to come out firing.
07:47And, yeah, I think Dylan, Diego, Tom and Tom and Pete, well, there's always pressure in there.
07:52Pressure is a privilege, though, Todd.
07:53No question about it.
07:54All right.
07:54Our favorite part of three big questions, it's prediction time.
07:57As I turn to the experts and get their picks, Stevie Morrison, we'll start with you.
08:01Who do you like?
08:02Give me a podium for the grand final.
08:03Give me a podium for the event final.
08:05And then who wins it all?
08:06Okay.
08:07Well, podium for the event final, I'm going to go Australia, Blackfoils and France.
08:13Okay.
08:13And who wins it all?
08:16I come off that umpire call.
08:17Tom Slingsby is an angry man.
08:19And an angry, accurate Slingsby is pretty hard to beat.
08:23So I'm going to give it to the Bonds Flying Roos.
08:25Okay.
08:26I'm going to match yours slightly.
08:29I'm going to go Blackfoils, Bonds Flying Roos and Emirates TBR just for the consistency they've shown.
08:35I think it's going to be quite an easy venue to sail the boat.
08:37So the teams that just execute the highest percentage of the time are going to do well.
08:41But as for a winner, I'm going to go off the back of form from the last event, Blackfoils.
08:47Okay.
08:48Tito?
08:48You know, I'm not the expert, but I will say I like Spain and light wind.
08:52I think Spain will be in the mix.
08:54And I guess my outlier would probably be Northstar Canada.
08:58So maybe it's, I'm with you, though.
08:59I think an angry Tom Slingsby is there's going to be something to prove there.
09:02And don't get in Tom's way.
09:04But I think the Bonds Flying Roos will certainly have something to say about it.
09:06So that is three big questions as we get you ready for the next event, event number eight, season five.
09:11It is the Jump to Sail for the Assassin's Creed.
09:13For Stevie Morrison and Hannah Diamond, I'm Todd Harris.
09:16We will see you after the racing.
09:34We will see you after the racing.
