Multihull One Design-ORMA 70

I really liked this photo. Courtesy of the MOD70 facebook page.

 

Looks like Virbac Paprec have entered the MOD70 fleet with their new boat this extract from the MOD70 page.

"Virbac Paprec, loyal sponsors in the sailing world launch the 7th MOD70 and move from the CDK Technologies yard in Lorient today."

 

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Thats great. As an aside, they were the second program to use curved lifting foils on a monohull.

 

Looks like the quota of French boats in the MOD70 circuit is full. I wonder if any sponsors will ante up to fund teams from the rest of the world I certainly hope so! It's interesting that Imoca is now struggling with funding the teams and it would be somewhat ironic if the more of the Imoca teams stepped into MOD70 as an exercise in cost control.

http://www.yachtracing.biz/blog/2011/10/jean-pierre-dick-mod70/

Alot of head scratching is going on over in IMOCA as they try and find a path forward it could be that (gasp) they go down the one design route to keep costs down.

http://www.yachtracing.biz/blog/2011/10/imoca-60-one-design/

They decided to defer a decision till after the Vendee Globe.

 

MOD70 European Tour comes to Dun Laoghaire, Dublin

Looks like the MOD70's are visiting Dublin in September might be worth a look for any of the Irish Boatdesign contingent who are interested.

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=107275

 

Foncia MOD70 sets new record in the Artemis Challenge

From the MOD70 facebook page:

FONCIA set new record round the Isle of Wight on the Artemis Challenge!

MOD70 skipper Michel Desjoyeaux, sailed his crew on FONCIA round the Isle of Wight during Cowes Week on the Artemis Challenge, in an astounding record time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds. Sidney Gavignet on board Musandam-Oman Sail crossed just 1 minute and 28 seconds later to also beat the record set back in 2001 by PlayStation.

 

Here is a video from the event looks like all the big boats were revelling in the conditions multi and mono.

 

Mod 70

From SA front page: http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php

On the heels of breaking the decade-old ‘round the island’ record, today Michel Desjoyeaux, easily the world’s most successful solo racer of the past decade, announced that as of December, sponsor Foncia is OUT. Their five-year partnership could hardly have produced a better result for the huge real estate conglomerate; Mich Desj won the Solitaire du Figaro, the Vendée Globe, a Transat Jacques Vabre, the Europa Race and the Bol d'Or Mirabaud.

This shocker comes on the heels of two other major offshore sponsors deserting the sport; you’ll remember that both Groupama (Franck Cammas) and Veolia (Roland Jourdain) quit the sailing business over the past six months, and now Desjoyeaux will need to find 4 million dollars per year just to keep his MOD-70 afloat for next year’s MOD Europe Tour and 2014’s round-the-world spectacle.

 

Yes, going to be tough for the MOD70 class as a whole I think.

But regarding SA article, Foncia isn't really a "huge real estate conglomerate" (although a major one in France), as Groupama isn't either a big international player in insurance, not the case for Veolia on the other hand (cac40 company).

What I find "strange" (or interesting) in this sailing sponsorship thing in France is that it is mostly done by medium or even small regional enterprise (like Akena veranda, cheminee poujoulat), but not that much by really big companies (although Orange was one) and previously their were others like Elf (now Total), but this was/is working on truly iconic races having exposure of their own, not the same if you also have to create the expoure of new races ...
And of course the overall economic situation ..

 

Looks like Franck Cammas and Thomas Coville are going to be joining the MOD70 team Race for Water for the European Tour. I wonder whether Groupama would stump up for a MOD70 team for Franck? It would have to be less expensive than the VOR70 and there are boats available and ready to go.

From the MOD70 news page.

21.08.12

The MOD70 European Tour fleet of five MOD 70 multihulls will muster in Kiel, Germany on Tuesday 28th August, making ready for five weeks and almost 5000 miles of racing around the European mainland coast, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, finishing in Genoa on October 2nd.


The inaugural tour event encompasses challenging offshore races linking Kiel in Germany, Dùn Laoghaire – Dublin Bay, to Cascais by Lisbon in Portugal to Marseille in France to a finish in Genoa, Italy. The race starts from Kiel on Sunday 2nd September.

The five offshore stages will encounter a full range of weather and sea conditions, from strong contrary winds and big seas off the North of Scotland to the very light, unpredictable winds of the Mediterranean.

Aboard the five MOD70’s will be some of the best, fastest offshore multihull sailors in the world. Yann Guichard’s Spindrift racing has already won the KRYS OCEAN RACE across the Atlantic and includes Atlantic and round the world record holders such as Pascal Bidégorry and recent winner of the Solitaire du Figaro Yann Eliés. Michel Desjoyeaux, skipper of FONCIA has won the Vendée Globe solo round the world race.

Class and circuit co-founder Stève Ravussin of Switzerland will be joined by Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper Franck Cammas and Thomas Coville on Race for Water.

Sidney’ Gavignet’s Musandam-Oman Sail will again have Britain’s fastest round the world sailor Brian Thompson on board. The Omani team will be joined by German ace Michi Mueller for the inshore city races. Sébastien Josse can rely on the cohesion and performance of his well trained team on board Groupe Edmond de Rothschild.At each city stop the five identical MOD70’s, all equally matched 70 foot high speed offshore racing multihulls, will compete in a series of short, fast races closer to shore City Races and Speed Matches.

The MOD70 European Tour is the second event of the Multi One Championship, following on from July’s inaugural KRYS OCEAN RACE which saw the MOD70’s race the Atlantic from New York to Brest, France at remarkable speeds. The first three boats finished within less than two hours after traversing the Atlantic in under than five days with the winning boat making more than 711 miles in one 24 hours period.

The high speed MOD70 class of trimarans are a new innovation for sailing. They have already proven to be the fastest offshore sailing one design class in the world. Each MOD70 is completely identical, built from the same moulds, so that success – inshore and offshore – reflects the skills of the sailing crew and not any technological advantage.

Crew Lists :

Race For Water : Stève Ravussin (SUI), Yvan Ravussin (SUI), Franck Cammas (FRA), Thomas Coville (FRA), François Morvan (FRA), Loïc Forestier (SUI), Tanguy Cariou (FRA), Nicolas Heintz (FRA), Gurvan Bontemps (FRA), Benoît Lequin (FRA)


FONCIA : Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), Antoine Carraz (FRA), Thierry Chabagny (FRA), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), Emmanuel Leborgne (FRA), Xavier Revil (FRA), Sébastien Col (FRA), Alban Rosselin (FRA), Nicolas Texier (FRA), Julien Falxa (FRA)

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild : Sébastien Josse (FRA), David Boileau (FRA), Florent Chastel (FRA), Cyril Dardashti (FRA), Olivier Douillard (FRA), Christophe Espagnon (FRA), Antoine Koch (FRA), Thomas Rouxel (FRA)

Spindrift racing : Yann Guichard (FRA), Léo Lucet (FRA), Pascal Bidégorry (FRA), Jacques Guichard (FRA), Jean-Baptiste Levaillant (FRA),Yann Eliès (FRA), Kevin Escoffier (FRA), Devan Le Bihan (FRA)

Musandam-Oman Sail : Sidney Gavignet (FRA), Fahad Al Hasni (OMA) Moshin Al Busaidi (OMA) Khamis Al Amburi (OMA) Brian Thompson (GBR) Jean-François Cuzon (FRA) Thomas Le Breton (FRA) Michi Mueller (GER)


Offshore legs
1188 miles Kiel to Dublin. Starts 2nd September finishes 5th September
1215 miles Dublin to Cascais. Starts 9th September finishes 12th September.
558 miles Portugal race 17th-18th September.
1071 miles Cascais to Marseille, Starts 20th September finishes 23rd September
672 miles Marseille to Genoa Starts 30th September finishes 2nd October.

 

This shot from the MOD70 website made me smile. Roar across the Atlantic at speeds up to 40 knots and yet pull up close to the shore like a farrier.

 

The MOD70 news site for the European tour is live. Race for Water is leading the tour point score so far.

http://www.mod70-europeantour.com/en/

 

Click http://www.mod70-europeantour.com/en/
Click multimedia, then click Pictures. Latest gallery from Kiel from picture 8.

Pure Close Exiting Sailing Symphony.

 

Foncia came out on top during the racing in Kiel and have taken an early lead in the next leg to Dublin.

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=108198

Looking at the race tracker now looks like Spindrift Racing have taken over the lead with Foncia moving back to second. Now Foncia are back out the front again looks like the lead is swapping between the two lead boats regularly and Edmond de Rothschild is breathing down their necks too in third.

 

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=108268

MOD70 European Tour : Light winds set to slow MOD70 yachts en route to Dublin

Monday, 03 September 2012

After a thrilling exit Sunday afternoon from Kiel, Germany, a high speed chase through the islands to the east of Denmark, an interlude of 27-30 knot headwinds potentially boat breaking conditions off Skagen point at the north corner, the leaders of Leg 1 of the MOD70 European Tour are now set to have their first ever real encounter - as a racing fleet -with very, very light winds.

Through the first 24 hours of this opening stage from Kiel to Dublin, via the English Channel, the fleet had already covered more than 450 of the 1238 miles, enjoying sustained bursts of 32-34 knots through the islands in the dark of Sunday evening, but an elongated high pressure system centred over the south of England and extending into the North Sea looks set to offer an entirely new challenge for the crews.

Winds over the next 24 hours may be as light as two or three knots for the new fleet of one design trimaran speedsters.

The only similarity to July’s remarkable high speed Transatlantic dash, the KRYS OCEAN RACE is that the same top three boats are presently led, again, by Yann Guichard’s Spindrift racing which managed to pass Michel Desjoyeaux’s FONCIA team in the small hours of Monday morning.

“In an area where the wind died down for a few miles, we were expecting it to come back and did not set more sail. And it didn’t….so the bolder Spindrift took the chance to overtake us.” Recalled Desjoyeaux today.

Spindrift stayed some four miles further off the Danish coast and managed to power pass FONCIA to earn a lead, which they had grown to five miles by Monday afternoon. Seb Josse’s Groupe Edmond de Rothshild lay third, just 14.2 miles behind the leaders, on the same SW’ly track.

The passage down and across the North Sea into the Channel had already seen Race for Water – with the combined talents of Stève Ravussin, Franck Cammas and Thomas Coville in play – making an early move to the NW from their trailing position, seeking to try and stay with the remnants of the breeze for longer by avoiding the centre of the ridge.

Mid-afternoon Monday the leading duo still had some 175 miles to make to the entrance and were progressively slowing, ready to deal with the slalom of marks and buoys marking out shipping lanes, wind farms, oil platforms, which Desjoyeaux calls the ‘Pas de Calais gymkhana’

Race for Water’s 25 miles hitch to the NW was matched a few hours later by fourth placed Musandam-Oman Sail. Sidney Gavignet’s crew were just under 50 miles off the lead, ruing some small mistakes during the first night, but all well aware that there are at least three major transition zones where the fleet is likely to compact again before they reach Dublin.

Recent weather models show it might be Tuesday afternoon or early evening before a more stable, meaningful NW’ly breeze returns for the MOD70’s, so patience and focus will be tested to the extreme over coming hours. ETA Dublin is still late Wednesday, early Thursday but that may be ambitious given the evolution of the weather over the next few days.

Standings at 1230hrs UTC Monday 2nd September
1-Spindrift racing (Yann Guichard, EUR) at 780,4 miles from Dun Laoghaire
2-FONCIA (Michel Desjoyeaux, FRA) at 5,5 miles from leader
3-Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (Sébastien Josse, FRA) at 14,2 miles from leader
4-Musandam-Oman Sail (Sidney Gavignet, FRA) at 49,3 miles from leader
5-Race for Water (Stève Ravussin, SUI) at 70,6 miles from leader

Brian Thompson (GBR) Musandam-Oman Sail on Monday mid-morning: “We are off the coast of Denmark going upwind on port tack in 18kts of breeze with a full main and the big jib, the Solent up, with reasonably flat seas and everything is good on board. It is looking like it will be upwind all the way across the North Sea so it will be very strategic. Race for Water tacked before us but we have three boats in front of us who have not tacked yet, so it looks like we can split across the North Sea and it will be interesting and there are light winds expected so all to play for.
It was a great start in Kiel with so many people turning out to see us and hopefully we put on a good show. And it was really fast sailing last night through the Danish islands. The highlight was passing Race for Water about ten metres off when we were doing 33 knots and they were doing a sail change, just above them just as they were finishing their sail change. The leaders got away from us a little bit but there is a long way to go.”

Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) FONCIA (mail today): “After starting out with a fanfare from Kiel, pocketing three nice 3 bonus points, the climb to the point of Denmark saw us making good speed on a flat sea, a good time to slide along at speed. For 300 miles up to the Cape we managed to hold on to our opponents, but in an area where the wind died down a few miles we were expecting it to come back and did not set more sail. So the bolder Spindrift took the chance to overtake us.
The passage between Denmark and Norway was made upwind on a long tack along the coast in 30kts of wind and a short sea and so it was not easy to go fast, it slammed a lot. As it went NW the wind began to soften. The sea is flatter, it's really nice in the sun with organised watches on board Foncia. We should see the first course mark of the Pas de Calais gymkana in a couple of hours, and after the wind dies away tonight we might be here a while”

MULTI ONE DESIGN media


A video about the racing in Kiel and the thoughts of the crews going into the Kiel - Dublin ocean leg: