Team Lalou's new Multi 50 trimaran

I only get to read Seahorse when I'm visiting my dentist, is there anything interesting re. design concept? Do they give the weight? Who wrote the article?

I find that Lalou had some more excellent PR on the sailing chat-show Café de la Marine de Telegramme last month (link below), the first time a 50-skipper guested there, perhaps. I've not yet listened closely to all of it, as the hyper-rapid French requires of me, but Lalou describes the main hull as being very narrow with little space inside, in the interest of having a good light-air performance.

Lalou on the Café de la Marine, 20 April

 

The article goes into more detail on some of the points that have been discussed here re the planing concept of the floats and how they designed them to best to reduce suction from the immersion. "Arkema" is an evolution of the concepts used in "Actual". They discuss the deck and beam configuration which is similar to Actual (used the same mold) but they are angled to more of an X pattern to help resist torsional loads and the mast is stepped on the main beam rather than behind it as on "Actual". There is more of course but that's the general gist of it. It's nice that it finishes with a good rap for the Multi50 class. I'm in agreement with the designer Guillame Verdier that it is a good multi equivalent to the Class 40 monohull class. Minimum weight for the Multi50 trimarans is 3000kgs so you would think that's what they were going for seems feasible in a very Spartan and skinny hulled 50' trimaran that they would be somewhere close to that.

 

No, a bump would produce a suction--(Bernoulie}.
The upper back surface of the hollow would produce an upward force--(Newton).

I have often pondered if the much criticised, sharply rounded buttocks on the Buccaneer 24 may be (at least partly) responsible for that little Trimarans reputation for never having pitchpoled. Just a thought.

On second thoughts --Nah! If the nose is dug right into the water, (in Sams case up to the base of the mast), the tail would be right up in the air.

 

The newer Multi 50's range in displacement from Maitre Jacques (ex Crepes Whaou 1?) 2005. 3.2 tons; Fenetrea (Crepes Whaou 2) 2009, 3.8 tons; Actual 2009, 4.2 tons. (can't find Prince de Bretagne's displacement - that boat is supposed to reappear soon as Rennes-St. Malo skippered by Gilles Lamiré)

I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Multi50 class to get to critical mass regarding fleet size, seems more likely that it will remain as is.

P.S. and if Maitre Jacques still has the same hulls which I saw being repaired in St. Malo 3 yrs ago, which needed a lot of repair of delamination, then it's remarkable that it is still the lightest of those listed above.

 

I don't think the Multi50 will hit critical mass either that seems a bit optimistic but I wouldn't be surprised if some more teams join the competition which is great. Theres a bit more info on Guillaume Verdier's site in the form of an article from Voiles et Voiliers.

http://www.guillaumeverdier.com/index.php?/Actualites/Un-nouveau-Multi-50-pour-Lalou-Roucayrol/

 

Holy Righting Moment Corley!

I've just been browsing through your encyclopedic trimaran blog.




Here's the stats on Lalou's new crate, it's given as 3500 kg:

Longueur : 15,24 M
Largeur : 14,70 M
Hauteur du mât : 22 M
Tirant d’eau : 3,50 M
Déplacement : 3,5 TONNES
Surface de Grand-voile : 106 M²
Surface de Solent : 75 M²
Surface de trinquette : 45 M²
Surface d’ORC : 22 M²
Surface de Gennaker : 180 M²
Surface de Code zéro : 120 M²

Arkema have got an improvement on plexiglass which they call Altuglas Shieldup, 'more transparent than glass, more abrasive resistant, light'.

That is what you see on these comfy-looking steering positions and the center hull. Given how claustrophobic the center hull is, he'll spend most of his time in the steering cockpits, one supposes, similar to Lionel's PdB50:





There are a lot more photos showing the center cockpit, interior (what there is of it) etc. at the bottom of this page.

Pretty nifty!
Get your reefing system in order Lalou (problems with that recently), and show us what this equipment is good for!

 

Thanks Blackburn, I'd not seen those photo's before.

 

^^^

You're welcome of course.

Here's the (exPdB) 'Rennes-St Malo' in the inner harbor of St. Malo last weekend, now dressed in the official colors of the sponsoring French municipalities.
Lamiré said there wasn't much to improve on the boat, Lionel even had an accounting for all the screws onboard...
He's casting off next weekend for Valencia and the Route des Princes.





... and most unfortunately for all the vegetarian multihullers out there, they've dispensed with the legumes on the mainsail.

Lol

 

I'm glad to see Giles and the team are getting onto a more competitive boat the old Elf Aquitaine ORMA60 was getting pretty long in the tooth.

 

^^^

The coolest Elf Aquitaine was the maxi catamaran. Had a chance to see it in Kiel at the start of the first Round Europe Race in 1985... No wait a second, them was some other barkies. Elf Aquitaine II showed up the following year.

Who's getting long in the tooth now? lol

That platform is still afloat I think, one of skipper Anne Caseneuve's boats.

...

Article today that the daggerboard repairs on Fenetrea Cardinal were completed May 18; they did heavy damage to the daggerboard and its case when they ran aground on May 2 while sailing to Douarnenez.

So they'll be in Valencia soon as well, se Dex me gart.

 

Since we are going all OT here is a video from Actual Multi50 at the start of the Armen Race.

 

^^^

Good video from Actual.

Did you happen to follow their intense close struggle against Crepes Whaou all through the Vendée-St Petersburg race in 2010? Never seen anything like it. That northbound trip must be a record of some kind.

Did I hear you say that I'm going all off topic, Corley? Here I am working diligently to find news about Lalou's competition, and you take such knavish exception! Well! Choose your seconds, peevish reprobate, and my man will arrange with him where we settle the matter; On the deck of Lalou's new boat is as good a place as any, I think, he'll provide the champagne!

 

Doug said :- "Water acts like air at supersonic speed" (or words to that effect)
I agree.

When I built my B24 back in 1971 I fitted it with an un-weighted fin keel, with a 6% super sonic section, the plan form of the Concords wing and an area of 4% of the projected sail area. It was very successful, particularly to windward. Unfortunately it was very vulnerable to damage, so the next season I replaced it with a more suitable vertical daggerboard.

 

Your right, I guess we may as well discuss Multi50 in this thread as any other and it is relevant from the perspective of seeing how Lalou's new boat stacks up. By the way I'm not against some good old OT as Gary has said in the past it spices up the threads and makes them a more interesting read.

 

Good eye, Doug! As I've noted elsewhere it's also the case that for any given curve of areas and hull WL beam, locating the rocker curvature centrally means more planform area in the ends, and thus a higher longitudinal metacentric height.

Phil Steggall still had his 50 in build, last I checked ...