Route du Rhum 2014

A basically windless event favoured the smaller multihulls with MOD70 Spindrift in first, Gitana XI in second and Prince de Bretagne Maxi in third. Alain Gautier on Ocean Sensation the ORMA60 came in 4th.

From the following article on letelgramme.com

http://www.letelegramme.com/sports/...nenez-ca-commence-bien-04-05-2013-2091964.php

Here is the rough bing translate (good enough to get the idea)

Yann Guichard and the crew of "Spindrift" won, yesterday, the Tour de Belle - Ile, shortened to 15 miles due to the weakness of the wind.They have beaten Sébastien Josse ' Gitana 11' and 'Prince of Brittany' of Lionel Lemonchois.

476 registered, once the Tour de Belle Ile has also full of competitors. Amateurs, of the sailors cautioned, the stars of the racing as Yann Guichard, Lionel Lemonchois, Sébastien Josse, Alain Gautier, Thomas Coville. For the first time, all had the same desire to do battle at the start of this sixth edition. As promised, the Sun was good to go to La Trinité-sur-Mer but wind, he, was absent in the Bay of Quiberon smooth as a lake. These crews were forced to arm themselves with patience before dashing at 11:35 in a Southwest of barely 4-5 knots wind. With this weather windless, the event record, held for two years by Sébastien Josse and the crew of Gitana 11', might not fall. But expected with curiosity the first exit in competition of the 80 foot trimaran "Prince de Bretagne' face 'Gitana 11' (77 feet). It'll have to wait because the very soft conditions really helped these cars to three hulls to express themselves. Approaching the entrance to the channel of the Teignouse, these multihulls were becalmed, and against all odds, it is the TP 52 'Paprec recycling', skippered by Stéphane Névé, who had taken the head of the fleet. The wind being slightly back, "Spindrift" regained power in the laborious ascent of this channel.

Arrival in foals

History likely to drag on indefinitely, especially for the more small vessels engaged, Denis Hughes race Director decided to reduce the course and judge the arrival at the point of foals. The MOD 70 "Spindrift" was the first to cut this line at 15 h 25' 31', ' after a little less than four hours, anticipating less five minutes 'Gitana 11', twice taking the test. Nineteen minutes after the winner, "Prince de Bretagne" cut the line, become two-minute "Ocean Sensation" the former 60 foot Orma of Alain Gautier, 4th as last year. The victory of Guichard and his crew in mind almost all the time, was deserved.

 

Banque Populaire VII skippered by Bertrand Pace (Armel le Cleach did the Grand Prix Guyader) crossed the line first in the Armen Race improving the old record held by Sebastian Josse on Gitana XI by a considerable margin.

Record broken! At over 25 knots of average and after 12 h 40, race, the crew of Banque Populaire dethrones the reference time held since 2011 by Sébastien Josse in 14 h 05 on Gitana 11.

 

A fantastic gallery of photo's from Couse au Large by Jacques Vapillon and Francois Van Malleghem from the recent Grand Prix Guyader

http://www.grandprixguyader.com/med...b02b805aa3ce=c03df35eef4fad26b44c793457e18792

 

Francis Joyon is now on standby for an attempt at the Transat record at North Cove Marina in New York. Mystery solved the boat definitely does have float foils at the moment.

 

^^^

Good scoping, Corley!


Maybe he needs a cook?
How are you with sauces?

lool

 

===================
Well, thats great-I thought we had lost one......

 

This electronic edition of Ocean Racing Magazine has a good article on Mike Birch's victory in the 1978 Route du Rhum on the Walter Greene designed Olympus Photo trimaran and the highlights of each race up to 2006 and also of the contenders in the 2010 Route du Rhum. Old news of course but still a good read.

http://ocean-racing.net/secu/mag/ocean_racing23/index.php3?id

 

Good link Corley!

After a few days in this multihull section, I began to look more closely at some of the content further down the page, and I found of course how much you've contributed in many different categories.

If you don't mind my saying it, it reminded me of similar activity which I kept busy with for couple of years or so; my multihull association needed a website and forum and I helped set it up, and made many multihull racing news-related posts both in magazine fashion and in threads devoted to such things as the ocean racers, the 50 footers, the 18's, the Decision 35 class, the America's Cup, etc. etc.

The forum we had was similar to this one with a mix of all kinds; people seeking boats, looking for help of some kind, building cruisers, reminiscing about old boats... much of a muchness with what is found here, but with a smaller readership and fewer contributors. Apart from myself the other most active enthusiast was our forum admin, preoccupied mostly with formula 16's and 18's.

After four years or so he and I both found it was not answering and curtailed our efforts, traffic dwindled to nothing, became a cobwebbed embarrassment, and eventually the forum dropped off the net. Chalk it up to the inflated expectations we had had about Web version 1 or 2.

No doubt you've seen voilemulticoques.wordpress.com (and the older material on voile-multicoques.com), which is an admirable labor of love, I've always supposed it is a one-man show but I may well be wrong. It's a larger ad-free example of the kind of thing that Martin Vanzulli runs at catsailingnews.com.

Those are super good sites, thanks to their hyper-dedicated owners. And they are more rewarding to spend time reading if you want your cat or tri-racing fix, compared with leafing through the different forums on the net, including this one, where there's an eclectic mix over time of threads that perhaps were interesting for some days, weeks or months, but then died.

That was what spurred me to start that little thread the other day. I don't really know how it might be done better, but I think a different structure might better serve eager contributors such as yourself, closer to the forum format, easily making room for new 'editors/contributors', and not relying on the one-man-show element.

 

A gallery of photos by Marcel Mochet from on board the Prince de Bretagne Maxi 80 trimaran.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.528933007168873.1073741832.431002226961952&type=1

 

Stunning gallery of photos from the Armen Race by Philip Plisson

http://www.philip-plisson-blog.com/

 

^^^
Plisson's comment at the top of that page:

"For all too long we've not had such a wonderful show on the waters off la Trinité,

All the elements came together for a colorful start"

Glad to see Plisson back in his helicopter shooting multihulls again, after that nasty fire in 2010 when his studio burned down. I've a couple of his signed posters in the house which I often admire.


...


Info at Rivacom, who do PR for many of these boats, mentions how the 320 mile Armen race was a very windy (squalls over 30 knots, boatspeeds peaking at 40) and close sprint for the big boats; BanquePop (with 13 crew) led with an average speed over 25 knots, PdB 80 (6 crew) struggled with the more worked-up MOD70's (8 crew).
PdB's computer navigation failed halfway through, said Lemonchois "That didn't help us. It was crazy out there, the racing fleets who were crossing in all directions, as well as the fishing boats. It was truly necessary to be on the lookout!"

 

Lionel Lemanchois and the Prince de Bretagne team are going to implement mast canting on the Maxi 80 to give a straightforward boost in performance.

http://www.princedebretagne-mer.com...t-basculant-pour-le-maxi80-prince-de-bretagne

 

An intriguing snippet from good mate and fellow trimaran aficionado John Cadwallader who recently toured the Multiplast factory. The ex Geronimo being rebuilt as the new Sodebo Maxi is receiving a new main hull in addition to the other changes. Original floats (being fitted with wave piercing bows) and crossarms retained.

 

More on the canting mast system being implemented by the Prince de Bretagne Maxi 80. They are going for a string driven rather than Hydraulic ram driven system to try and minimize weight.

From the following article:

http://www.princedebretagne-mer.com/actualites/301-lionel-lemonchois-penche-pour-un-mat-a-ficelles

and the rough google translate:

Tthe team of team sailing Prince de Bretagne works to equip the mast Maxi80 a system switch. For this option allows immediate gain speed Lemonchois chose the implementation of a solution, simple and innovative at the same time, which will help to increase efforts with ropes and hoists. Rather than hydraulic cylinders, which are found on all other multihulls Ultimate, so it is a "mast ropes" which will now bow to the wind aboard the red and gray trimaran. Tour and explanations ...

It's in the shed Prince of Britain team at the base of submarines Lorient, Lionel and a small team took their summer return to the Route des Princes neighborhoods. Since the beginning of July, Jacques Roudot, foreman, and Jean-Marc Kermanach a faithful special operations have emerged composite material stratification. Their mission: to strengthen the structure of the boat, where it will soon receive greater efforts.

"Simplicity"
"For a long time now that the masts of large trimarans rock in the wind. D'adjust the tilt, it relieves the platform, which enables it to support more and thus gain speed. Initially, we n 'have not reinstalled the hydraulic system which was equipped with the old mast 60 feet. First we preferred to win in shell length and have a bigger boat. In our thoughts on how to go faster, the option system switches with hoists cascade is then imposed itself. It is part of the philosophy of simplicity initiated the original project. We have invented nothing, but it ' is the first time a ship of this size will be equipped with a mast "to strings" as we have already seen a ORMA 60, or much smaller boats, 6.50 Minis, "explains Lionel Lemonchois.


Rear arm and mast standing
To illustrate his explanations, he shows the way soon borrowed by ropes that go as Maxi80 whole, look for performance off the beaten path: "There, on the rear arm port, we modify and strengthen the backstay chain plate a bracket that holds the carbon shroud and the mast upright. then each side of the rigging system hoists six strands will be added, and will continue along the connecting arm to bring the ends under the cap. At output at the winch, the theoretical efforts of 8 tons have been reduced by up to 1.3 tonnes. This is common, and it is wide, the boat ... " added the skipper, who works in collaboration with naval architects firm Van Peteghem-Lauriot Prevost theoretical calculations confirming this development.

150 kg and less, and more nodes 2-3
As is the tradition in racing, the cult of light weight and the fight against the pounds guided the choice of the textile solution. Faced with cylinders and hydraulic joysticks, 40 meters high tech tips (Spectra), the set of pulleys, and thin layers of carbon added to the display platform, all accumulated nearly 150 pounds less on the scale. A big advantage that weighs heavily against the "2-3 knots faster speeds permitted under" the inclined mast. On the other hand, taking into account the laws of equilibrium, Lemonchois as it will also be much more mobilized navigation to meet new demands in the cockpit of his trimaran 24.3 meters. "From the extra string, it necessarily complicated maneuvers. It will give a hand and take another. It will be a little longer and demanding. But everything has been designed for the solo, and I should get there ... Especially since this system is not designed for racing between three buoys, but to adjust the inclination to the cottage on large edges off, "added the skipper Prince de Bretagne, obviously confident and sanguine about the orchestration of the score on the piano when tacking.

Fast ... the Fastnet Race
To meet this challenge of marine and flawless play its next moves, Lemonchois can rely on its broad experience in solo at the helm of an ocean trimaran. But it may also soon release in the crew. In the early days of August, and after that summer starts, which also allowed Bambino (François Denis), in charge of ropes and rigging the boat, to resize the trampoline and control all winches, the Maxi80 Prince de Bretagne, and with its freshly mast tilting is returned to the water. From August 11, is expected on the start line of the legendary Fastnet Race, where he will find number of serious competitors. A unique opportunity to test size, and in the heat of competition, the implementation of the tilting device adapted to a platform such dimensions. A bold choice, like the permitted technical advances, and offered by the multihull series Ultimate.

 

The French:
....Lionel Lemonchois mesure qu'il sera aussi beaucoup plus mobilisé en navigation pour répondre à de nouvelles sollicitations dans le cockpit de son trimaran de 24,3 mètres. "De la ficelle supplémentaire, cela complique forcément les manœuvres. Il faudra donner d'un côté, et prendre de l'autre. Ce sera un peu plus long et exigeant. Mais tout a été imaginé pour le solitaire, et je devrais y arriver...D'autant que ce système n'est pas conçu pour régater entre trois bouées, mais pour régler l'inclinaison par rapport à la gîte sur des grand bords au large," ajoute le skipper de Prince de Bretagne, visiblement confiant et serein quant à l'orchestration de sa partition au piano lors des virements de bord.

The Google translate, see above. lol

The English:

"Lionel Lemonchois reckons he'll be be also more active during sailing in response to the new demands in the cockpit of his 24.3 meter trimaran. "Due to the extra rope the maneuvers will have to be more complicated. It will be necessary to give out on one side and take in on the other. This is a little more involved and demanding. But it's designed for the solo, and I'll manage... More so as this system is not designed for racing around a short course, but to adjust the mast's cant in regard to the balance of the boat on the large offshore tacks..."


But I can't explain why he wants to play the piano while tacking.