Team Macif to join the Ultime trimaran club

Team Macif have added their support to the Ultime class with VPLP scoring a design request for an oceanic racing trimaran of around 100' to be skippered by Francois Gabart. An extensive and ambitious program of solo events ultimately working up to a solo round the world attempt.

http://www.macifcourseaularge.com/actualites/un-trimaran-aux-couleurs-du-groupe-macif-en-2015

and an article on the dailysail:

http://www.thedailysail.com/offshore/13/65333/0/new-macif-trimaran-for-francois-gabart

I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison with the current holder of the record Francis Joyon and IDEC II and challenger Thomas Coville's Sodebo

My observation from the provisional specs is that VPLP are pushing the beam out relative to the Iren's designed Sodebo and IDEC it's still not extreme but will provide more righting moment. This boat will have a 20m (65') beam approximately vs about 16.5m (54') on Sodebo and IDEC.

Macif

A trimaran of about 100 feet long in the final category, intended for offshore navigation alone.

Length: 30 m
Width: 20 m
Mast height: approx. 35 m
Surface of sails to the close: 600 m²
Downwind sail surface: 700 m²

Sodebo

Mise à l'eau : juin 2007
Port d'attache : La Trinité sur Mer
Architectes : Nigel Irens / Benoît Cabaret
Calcul de la structure : John Levell
Dessins des appendices : Martin Fischer
Etudes hydrodynamiques : Yann Roux
Constructeurs : Boat Speed (Australie)
Poids en charge : 12 tonnes
Mât : basculant 35m
Surface grand-voile : 237m²
Surface solent : 158m²
Longueur : 31 mètres(102 pieds)
Largeur : 16,55 mètres (55 pieds)
Toutes les voiles sont en Cuben Fiber ou en D4

IDEC II

Longueur hors tout : 29.70 m
Longueur flotteurs : 24.5 m
Largeur : 16.5 m
Poids : 11 t
Surface de voilure au près : 350 m²
Surface de voilure au portant : 520 m²
Hauteur de mât : 32 m
Chantier : Marsaudon Composites Lorient
Mât et bôme : Lorima
Appendices : Gepeto
Calculs : Hervé Devaux
Voiles : Incidence Brest

and for comparison Groupama3's specs, this is the Jules Verne trim so the mast fitted for the Route du Rhum was shorter (anyone know how long the "short" mast is ?). The sail area and mast height were reduced for the Route du Rhum when Franck Cammas solo raced the boat to victory.

◾Build date: 2006
◾Architects: VPLP
◾Type: Trimaran
◾Shipyard: Multiplast
◾Length : 31.50 metres (103.3 ft)
◾Width : 22.50 metres (73.8 ft)
◾Displacement : 18 tons
◾Mast height: 41 metres (135 ft)
◾Sails : 557 sqm / 828 sqm
◾Crew: 10

and the solo specs with shorter mast and renamed BPVII

Architectes : Cabinet VPLP
Nom officiel : Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII
Numéro de voile : 19
Longueur : 31,50 m
Largeur : 22,50
Déplacement : 18 000 kg
Tirant d’eau : 5,70 m
Hauteur du mât : 33,50m
Structure : carbone-Nomex
Voilure au près : 411 m2
Voilure au portant : 678 m2
Toute première mise à l’eau : juin 2006

 

A video showing construction progress at CDK technologies on the new Macif Ultime trimaran to be skippered by Francois Gabart.

http://youtu.be/kAWwoBPDc1o

 

Macif

Article: http://iq.intel.com/smart-sailing-francois-gabarts-floating-tech-lab/

 

Wow! Far out construction and far out operation! Top 1% only thank goodness.

 

Macif Test Boat

Striking new 24' foiler from Macif/Francis Gabart :
This boat is being used as an experimental test boat close to scale of the full size Macif to test foils and foil combinations. In the picture below you can see two different ama foils both of which work like uptip foils with intrinsic altitude control. Both amas have rudder T foils.

http://www.macifcourseaularge.com/a...ratoire-flottant-au-service-de-la-performance


https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/m24?source=feed_text&story_id=1282012811878630

http://www.macifcourseaularge.com/

NOTE: One of the French guys on facebook claims that the daggerboard has a "horizontal plane, trim everything". Just spectacular if true!UPDATE-no evidence found for this claim anywhere so far.

 

Macif Test Boat

Martin on http://www.catsailingnews.com/2017/04/edmond-de-rothschild-gitana-17-maxi.html#more
says that Macif is testing a foil on the daggerboard. Still can't find any corroborating evidence(like words or pictures) from Macif though.

UPDATE---Martin advised me today that he had talked to Francois Gabart and there is no daggerboard foil being tested on the converted Diam 24.