Yvan Bougnon's circumnavigation in a beach cat project

I don't know what he is up to these days. I saw Stuart at a recent MYCV meeting but didn't speak to him. So he is still alive I don't think the B22 trimaran is likely to make it to market which is sad since it was a good looking little performance multihull.

 

'the cat might be a little too big'.

Personally I think it would be hard to go smaller ... especially for the attempt across the Pacific. One needs space for basics, food etc and minimum of equipment. Smaller and lighter would make the boat even more lively and to stay on top of that action for weeks on end with negligible sleep, is asking too much for any human from my perspective.
As far as 'mid-life crisis', I can only comment that I understand this challenge has been in Yvan's mind for a long time. Both Yvan and Laurent have already done so much re records & attempts and perhaps, Yvan would like to do something his brother has not ... but I'm just guessing here.
I personally think this is just a very tough, focused individual who knows what he wants, understands the risks and has far more past experience than most others to back up this attempt of such a difficult undertaking. If this was someone without that experience and background, then one might justifiably label this some 'mid-life craziness' .. but in this case, I doubt it plays much of a role. I hope he pulls off a miracle and silences the skeptics.

 

This escapade reminds me of the expression, "on a hiding to nothing"........

(idiomatic, UK, informal) A situation in which victory has little or no value, but defeat has a huge cost.

 

no value victory?

Had to smile when I read Mr Efficiency’s comment. It’s indeed likely that 90+% of our population agrees with him! But having worked with people with what we commonly term ‘a Latin temperament’ for 30+ years, I’ve seen first hand that we do not all see and evaluate such things the same way and Yvan is certainly of different ilk to most others so I feel we’d be wrong to be his judge.
After all, why do many scale up dangerous mountain sides with seemingly nothing to gain (but height) and everything to lose? They will often just reply “because it’s there!” but also, for that elated sensation of personal achievement.
But in this case, it could mean much more to many of us. It’s really too early to write this chapter but if Yvan gets safely back and can document what he has learned from the experience in practical terms, this could help many who still undertake far smaller (but still risky) cruises in open multihulls. One early example is his use of tackles to incline the mast to better enable the righting of his capsized boat but I am sure there could be many more things to learn from this adventure, as crazy as it is. Keep in mind that perhaps Yvan is 1 in a billion … so really, who are we to judge? And like the mountain climbers, his personal satisfaction ranks high for him.
So why not get behind him and hope that he can teach at least some of us, something useful? That's my take anyway.
I'd also add that Yvan is not depending on the international community at large for some expensive rescue mission as he has his own support boat that follows within a few hours. I understand that they are not helping him with his physical achievement but are there in case of dire emergency and for shore repairs. That in itself is something many adventurous cruisers can learn from .... 'always sail potentially dangerous trips in company with another boat'. mike

 

^^^

I'm happy to hear there's a support boat, Mike. Is that just on this leg?

... When it takes him four exhausting hours to right the boat after a capsize however, then something is not as it should be?

 

I have no 'inside track' on what the plans are, but I suspect the support boat will follow him, though without direct interference.
As far as taking 4 hours to right the boat .. I think it actually took him 2, including time to gather sails, collect things floating around and the setup. (The other 2hrs were to reorganize the boat and restup a bit). One has to realize that this is no easy feat and it might take over an hour just to prepare the boat, move the rig and get set up to right it.
But this will not be the last time for him and he'll be discovering some shortcuts I'm sure. Personally, I think the process is reasonable and quite amazing that one man can even do this ... after all, the boat was originally designed with two in mind (see pic of righting test on my website). And Yvan's weight is probably now only about 10% of the total after all, so one has to get smart on how to use that effectively.
I see it as a design balancing act of having the boat small enough to be rightable but large enough to carry the supplies he needs to be autonome and have some natural level of seaworthiness. Personally, I think they have a reasonable solution. Seas are likely to be so rough in some areas that capsize will be impossible to avoid, so readers should ask themselves, how many other boats or individuals could achieve this?
Then tip your hat ;-)
mike
www.smalltridesign.com ... see LATEST

 

10% would mean the boat would have to weigh around 800 kg which sounds all too much - have they given the weight somewhere? Also Mike, please excuse me, but I was a little incredulous to hear there was a support boat following him around; where have they described that?

Personally I don't like the look of those benches entirely, but Yvan and Laurent together have more experience of long distance sailing on small cats than anyone else, so I'll suppose the benches are a big improvement, that they allow long periods of getting away from the spray and not needing to be in a wetsuit constantly, which must definitely be an advantage.

... and I'll tip my hat once he is safe and sound on shore and finished with this project.

 

The way I read it, that appears to be the situation. The website www.seableue.fr reports this:
"With 400 kg of equipment, food and water, the cat is twice its own weight"
Also, the SMA originally reported this about the boat, before she left France:
"The final boat is 6.30m long x 4m beam (presumed to exclude the raised seats) and it reportedly weighs in at 450 kg dry and 750 kg loaded. Mast height is given as 12m (39.4')".
Seems quite a lot I know ... but I've asked 'seableue' to inform me if I get something seriously wrong and so far, no word on this.
I do have a full translation of what 'seableue' recently reported on my site and the above statement of weight was also posted on my website when I started reporting on this adventure last year.

 

^^^

Thanks Mike, like you say, on your 'expedition blog" it says that Seb Schmidt did design work and the boat was to weigh "450kg dry and 750 loaded".

Frankly that is a lot when instead of two onboard, there is one. The justification of why the basic 20ft boat should weigh 450 kg would be interesting to know.

I don't have the tracker showing up when I go to his page; presumably he's still humming along.

 

Weight

Not so difficult to understand really. Think of designing something to last a full year in the toughest conditions possible, where every fitting on board must withstand having say 150kg thrown against it without breaking.
(*150kg is the weight of a big man plus a shock margin). Even with that, there have been a few failures .. rudder, mast top etc. The extra platforms cannot be light and neither can be the mast to resist the repeated abuse of capsizes etc.
And oh yes ... re the accompanying support boat. I've seen several discrete references to this and the last one was Feb 2 on 'seableue.fr' that reported:
"A quelques milles de lui, le monocoque accompagnateur et son équipage ... une équipe qui assure les envois de photos, vidéos et infos". Also translated on my website.

 

Thanks W17 for these precisions. They are perfectly right, it's good sense design.
I've met Yvan at Paris a very long time ago, and exchanged a few words with him. He is sensate but very determined. He is truly tough and has proved his capability. But the challenge is very high, I do hope that whatever the conclusion, he won't be harmed or worst. The best is to achieve his task.
Another possible explanation that he is pursuing alone, a part the personal "pride and honor", is a financial one. How much have put his sponsors? How much has he put of his own money? Almost surely he needs some returns to be at least even.

 

reasons to continue

Thank you 'Voyager' .. and yes, I am certain there are many things that factor into his decision to continue .. but the driving one must be his personal pride and desire to succeed. Quite a story.

 

For sure pride, yes it's quite a story, it's like climbing the Everest without oxygen...About pride, you can be proud of your site; excellent. A gold mine of good information.

 

.

Here's the link to the tracker again (the link given earlier doesn't work).

At this time, 3 am locally, the tracker shows Yvan has been in strong easterly winds from 25 to 30 knots since an hour or so before nightfall, with the same forecast the next 24 hrs.

His boatspeed has mostly been around 8 knots, Perhaps he's sailing with nothing more than a partly furled jib. Not much opportunity to get any sleep.

Yesterday he reported being smacked violently in the head by one of very many flying fish.

There's a new hazard I'd never thought of before!

'Exocets de Kamikaze'

 

The link was working for some reason they moved it. Yvan was mentioning something about one of his sponsors leaving the project. The link no longer contains "SMA" maybe they were the sponsor who left?