80' trimaran for Route du Rhum to be skippered by Lionel Lemanchois

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Corley, Aug 24, 2012.

  1. Gary Baigent
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    Gary Baigent Senior Member

    Blackburn, that is Credit Agricole on the Daniel Charles book cover but the shot was taken when the cat was its full 75 foot length.
    I know Daniel from way back, have three of his books.
    Chopping the cat down to fit rule was not a good idea; there are shots of the boat pitching badly into a seaway, yet still carrying the original tall rig.
    I'll dig out the old Neptune Nautisme article on the righting of the boat tomorrow and post here.
     
  2. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    .

    AGIL.jpg

    This is the tugboat (for lack of a more suitable term) AGIL, which has now been steaming for 10 hrs towards Lionel's location. Here's what the cabbage-heads at PdB have recently put on their website (rendered into a more civilized language):

    (I've resisted the temptation to change the punctuation used by this PR guy, he definitely has a period-averse style and I'm hoping he sets a French record for run-on sentences, during these proceedings...).

    :rolleyes:

    ??

    Hour upon hour of blowtorching chains in the already insufferable heat, and in some miserably inaccessible dock area surrounded by immovable traffic jams, walking back and forth to the boat bearing a meter of chain at a time, thus making it quite impossible they could have spent even a moment at Ipanema !?

    There's even photo of the alleged time-consuming chains...

    You decide for yourself. I simply find this story too incredible to believe.

    ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    The cover photo was also made into a beautiful poster (see page 8-9 of the online book), a nicely framed copy of which I happen to admire often since it is hanging on the wall above the 'loo' in our powder room.

    I was unaware of it but the book explains that photo was taken during a speed record (avg. 27.09 knots over a mile, ooo aaah!) in Martinique in 1985, the year after that Transat capsize.

    Nice rig drawing of Credit Agricole on pg.61 of that online book (link above).
     
  4. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    If anyone bothered to direct their attention to this thread, the guys at Ocean Racing Anarchy/Lionel Lemonchois - La Mauricienne would find that (once again) we're a step or two ahead of them.

    :p
     
  5. cavalier mk2
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    cavalier mk2 Senior Member

    Sorry Blackburn, The photo sequence is in the book "Singlehanded The Observer Europe 1 Singlehanded Transatlantic Race" Published by Edbury Press London, copyright 1984 by The Observer Limited.

    It is a large coffee table book with some great pictures of the Ostar over the years to that point. The righting sequence is a 2 page montage of black and white photos.
     
  6. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^^
    Thanks for the title/publishing details of that book, Cavalier!

    The PR/marketing guy at PdB should quickly find a copy of it
    and tweet a photo from the last time, almost 20 years ago,
    that a larger racing multihull was righted at sea?

    He's just tweeted that they have run simulations of the planned righting procedure on VPLP's computers. He also tweets it may take several days to complete.

    The AGIL, currently doing 7-8 knots in headwinds, is expected to get to Lionel sometime between Wednesday and Thursday.

    Here's another 'chain photo', showing its dimensions better:

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Richard Woods
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    Richard Woods Woods Designs

    I was out sailing my Strider at the 84 OSTAR start and agree, the boat was pitching very badly, somewhere I've got some photos I took of it with the bows way up in the air - but not with me right now. The boat that was sailing the best of the 84 fleet was the catamaran Fury, what ever happened to that? Something for the historic multihulls thread

    Didn't one of the Hawaii charter boat fleet get re-righted at sea years ago?

    Richard Woods
     
  8. Gary Baigent
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    Gary Baigent Senior Member

    I remember Fury and a plan drawing in Multihull International; she was not a tall rigged boat like the French cats of the period but apparently a very efficient and lightweight US design. But think the boat was lost later, capsize maybe ... need to do some research.
     
  9. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    capsize

    Does anyone know the weaher situation where Lionel and the boat are waiting?
     
  10. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^^

    The wind has apparently lessened from fresh, when Lemonchois capsized, he was said to have trouble sleeping the first couple of nights on account of the hulls slamming.

    Le Peutrec in a video on the PdB website says that the boat is drifting about 30 nm per day to the east.

    But mostly it's hot. It's summertime at that latitude and in Buenos Aires I was just reading about how the price of air conditioners has gone up 30% in the last week...

    So Lionel can't be staying in the hull all during less windy days, and he must have some kind of awning rigged up outside?
     
  11. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    I looked up 'Fury catamaran' and found a party boat outfit operating with a number of boats in Florida and Cancun. So if it wasn't lost it maybe has enjoyed a venerable career as a party boat, and given name to an entire class of party boats?

    Here's a reference to 'Fury', from an email (see link) last year by Buddy Bond:
     
  12. Gary Baigent
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    Gary Baigent Senior Member

    here's the original 60 foot Fury OSTAR catamaran.
    I don't think the tourist cat Fury is the same boat; OSTAR Fury was a minimalist craft and the tourist Fury has to carry a large load.
    Sorry for the jpeg copy of an old photocopy.
     

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  13. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^^

    Four and a half tons, that's one quarter the weight of a Gunboat 60!

    ....


    It is Lionel Lemonchois' birthday today! He's 54. There must be some nice presents and bottles aboard for the occasion... Perhaps the lamb tagine - a moroccan-inspired stew that his team says is his favorite freeze dried dish - will taste even better with some superior champagne and wine.

    [​IMG]
    link
    ....

    Today's update on Rivacom also mentions that the sea state around PdB is expected to remain calm with 10-12 knot winds the next few days.

    ...

    Aren't there any photos of the interior of PdB somewhere, to better depict where the birthday party is being held?
     
  14. Corley
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    Corley epoxy coated

    From what I've seen of the Prince de Bretagne interior it would be my pick of the bunch to be capsized in. VPLP have gone to more parabolic hull shapes on this design so there is definitely more headroom in the main cabin. I cant find the pic of the nav station unfortunately but it looks pretty commodious by racing trimaran standards.
     

  15. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    I'd frankly have trouble sleeping with the hatchway submerged, and open to any vile sea creatures who might enter the cabin in the dark of night...


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