Ultim Foiling Trimarans Schedule and Behind the Scenes

From Tip and Shaft Newsletter today:

ULTIM 32/23 CLASS: WHAT LIES BEHIND THEIR SCHEDULE

On Tuesday in Paris, the Ultim 32/23 class unveiled its calendar for the next five years. They will be competing in two round the world races, including the Brest Oceans as the climax at the end of 2023, several transatlantic races, a race around Europe and this autumn, a double-handed 14,000 mile race across the North and South Atlantic. Tip & Shaft analyses what lies behind these events.

After the accidents in the Route du Rhum, which led to the postponement of the Lorient-Bermuda Race and the Brest Oceans, the solo round the world race initially scheduled for late 2019, and then the refusal of the Transat Jacques Vabre to allow the maxi trimarans to compete, the Ultim 32/23 class had to respond. After the problems they encountered during the winter of 2018, they are bouncing back with a new, ambitious 5-year programme. "It took a long time," admitted Patricia Brochard, the class president. The programme was supposed to have been announced two months ago, but it took a while for Banque Populaire to sign up again, and to analyse together the accidents in the Route du Rhum, while consulting towns and partners about the right choice of dates. It would seem that the reaction from Brest was the deciding factor: "They could have forced us to organise the solo round the world race in 2021,” explained Thomas Coville, whose Sodebo Ultim 3 has just sailed for the first time. “But they were exemplary. The possibility of postponing the race until 2023 meant that the situation became much clearer.”

See Brest Atlantiques and Brest Oceans News here:
Ultims Brest Oceans Race https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/ultims-brest-oceans-race.61545/

2020: The Transat… or maybe not.

The legendary race is on the calendar for the Ultims next year, which has annoyed its organiser, OC Sport Pen Duick. Contacted on Thursday, Hervé Favre, CEO told Tip & Shaft: "No agreement has so far been signed. Talks are ongoing, but the Notice of Race won’t be published until the end of May and nothing is certain. It looks like this announcement is an attempt to force us to allow them to race. The same goes for the next Route du Rhum." However, 2022 is still some way off and a lot could happen before then.

No round the world race until 2021 … with six boats competing.

Until the second half of 2021, the boats will remain in the Atlantic with a short incursion into the Mediterranean for the Round Europe Race, called The Arch, which is being organised by Damien Grimont (who was behind The Bridge). The start of the crewed round the world race at the end of 2021 will also start in the Mediterranean. The town for the start has officially not yet been announced, but everyone knows that the application from ASO and the City of Nice – who organised the Nice UltiMed in 2018 – is likely to be chosen.

The timing means that Armel Le Cléac’h’s new Banque Populaire and François Gabart’s new trimaran will therefore be able to compete, so there should be at least six boats for this crewed race, as the former Macif will officially be up for sale this summer and will be available in 2020 after The Transat, and the delivery trip home, which Gabart is to attempt in record mode.

 

Nice day for a walk in La Trinite-sur-Mer:
posted in sa-no credit....

 

Ultimes threaten Rolex Fastnet Race record destruction
Unless there is a flat calm, it is very likely that the outright record will fall in this August's edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's premium event, the Rolex Fastnet Race. For leading the charge in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, with a fleet of 300-350 competing, will be the world's fastest offshore boats - the Ultimes.

In the last windy Rolex Fastnet Race in 2011, the Loick Peyron-skippered Banque Populaire V blasted around the 608 mile course in 1 day, 8 hours and 48 minutes. But for the mighty 131ft (40m) long trimaran (later re-christened Spindrift 2) her average speed, a mere 18.53 knots, was like she was towing buckets. Two years earlier she had managed the 2880 mile west to east Atlantic crossing, averaging 32.94 knots.

Today, while her transatlantic record may remain tough to beat, Banque Populaire V is old technology. Modern day Ultime trimarans at 100ft long may be shorter but, mostly thanks to their new foiling technology, are substantially faster. And this year's Rolex Fastnet Race will feature at least three of them.

Francois Gabart: MACIF, all 30 x 21m of her, can fly in around 13 knots of wind but optimum conditions are 15-18 knots - more than this and the sea state becomes too lumpy. In her sweet spot MACIF has already touched 49.4 knots (in the Route du Rhum, singlehanded under autopilot) although he admits this is not the goal. "Our target is to average more than 40 knots." A 40 knots Rolex Fastnet Race would take just over 15 hours!

Franck Cammas-Charles Caudrelier co-skipper set-up on board the rebuilt Edmond de Rothschild, following its bow breakage in last autumn's Route du Rhum.

The latest Ultime, Thomas Coville's Sodebo Ultim 3. Coville is remarkable for having competing in almost every major sailing event from the America's Cup and Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race (winning with Groupama 4) to the Mini, IMOCA 60, ORMA 60 and for more than a decade in giant multihulls, on which in 2016 he set a new solo round the world record (later broken by Gabart).

www.rolexfastnetrace.com