Posts tagged sailboat
20
Sep 14
Sep 14
TS 42 Imagine
Atlantic Ocean, Morbihan, Brittany, France 47º08’46″N 02º54'08″W
The TS42 Imagine Catamaran Design by Christophe Barreau and built by Marsaudon Composites.
Photo assignment for Marsaudon Composites.
10
Sep 14
Sep 14
LOICK PEYRON & THE MAXI TRIMARAN SOLO BANQUE POPULAIRE VII
Lorient, Morbihan, Brittany, France 47º40’35″N 03º23'40″W
Blue Is The New Yellow
Furthering his reputation as Mr. Multihull, Loick Peyron made a drastic change in plans for the 2014 Route du Rhum last week, switching gears from driving his Rhum Class ‘p’ti yellow’ 30′ Walter Greene designed wood trimaran with only a sextant, to helming the massive Ultime Class ‘big blue’ 100′ Banque Populaire VII maxi-trimaran, a VPLP carbon fiber designed monster outfitted with the latest technology. A difficult decision for sure, but trading up from the yellow Happy project to the impressive blue BP7 is a clear choice from a competitive racer’s perspective with Loick’s pedigree. Always looking to challenge his abilities and push it to the limits, winning the Route du Rhum has been on his bucket list for many years. So here we have the lethal combination of the best boat and the best man for the job. For the 2014 edition, Banque Populaire and Loick Peyron are a force to be reckoned with.
Words: Fred Eagle
Photo assignment for Banque Populaire.
02
Jun 14
Jun 14
Armel Le Cléac’h and the Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII in New York City
New York, NY, United States of America. 40º41’36″N 74º01'46″W
Armel Le Cléac’h and the Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII on stand by for the multihull North Atlantic solo record attempt, New York City, United States of America.
“Sometimes, from beyond the skycrapers, the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia, and you remember that this desert of iron and cement is an island.”
Albert Camus
Photo assignment for Banque Populaire.
02
Dec 13
Dec 13
MC²60
Hong Kong, 香港, 22º18’05″N 114º11’59″E
The MC²60 #1 Mach² recently finished 2nd over the line in the 656 miles Hong Kong to Vietnam Race behind Ragamuffin 90 skippered by Syd Fisher with around 20 professional sailors on board. Mach² raced with only 6 crew: Renaud Bañuls the MC²60′s architect, Incidence’s Cesar Dohy who designed the sails, Bruno Laurent who commissioned the boat, Raphaël Blot, the owner and responsible for the development of the MC² catamaran series and two of his regular racing crew from his monohull days.
The MC²60 finished ahead of the three TP52, the other 90ft monohull, Chivas and a fleet of racing 40ft monohulls. The first TP52 was US based Lucky which finished 8th overall in the Transpac 2013. The other two TPs, OneSails Racing and FreeFire are regulars of the Asian racing circuit who, between themselves, have won almost every single regatta in Asia. Mach² sailed the 656 miles in 49h30mns.
Before the race, not many expected a cruising catamaran to finish ahead of the TP52s in a downhill race. In Nha Trang, many crews were thrilled by the speed reached during the downwind sail but complained about how wet of a ride it was, bailing water out of the boats all the way down with automatic life jackets activating inside the boats and being regularly showered on by seawater crasing on the deck. In response, Raphaël Blot commented :
“The only time we were showered on was when we took proper showers….We didn’t put the foul weather gear on, shorts and T-shirts only. We hear that the guys on the monohulls had a rough time; we had red wine at 20-25kts. We reached top speeds above 30kts a couple of times”.
The concept behind the MC²60 announced 2.5 years ago was to achieve an all round sailing performance similar to that of a TP52 in a cruising catamaran capable of accommodating up to 10 guests for a comfortable cruise.
“I guess we have just shown that the concept works” commented Renaud Bañuls. “Not only does the boat perform better than my own expectations, it is very easy to handle, feels safe and reaches high speed effortlessly. More impressive than the top speed above 30kts that we have reached 3-4 times was the fact that we sailed for hours under main sail and genaker at 20-28kts without pushing the boat hard”.
Blot concluded : “I am very pleased with the result. Finishing ahead of the TP52s in a downhill race is quite an achievement as catamarans have an advantage over monohulls mainly when reaching. This results validates the concept and confirms that we made the right decisions over the past 3 years, leading to a cruising catamaran that is faster than stripped out racing monohulls”
Meanwhile, the MC²60 #2 Dragon is moored in Hong Kong, getting ready for a cruise in South East Asia. Dragon and Mach² have the same interior layout but different color schemes. The semi-custom concept of the MC²60 resulted in different boat lengths and cockpit layout. Dragon is 2ft longer on the transom and carries a 3ft longer longeron in order to fly a larger mast head gennaker. While Mach² has cockpit designed for single handed operations, Dragon has a more racing oriented cockpit with winches spread out along the aft beam.
Photo assignment for MC² Catamarans.
06
Oct 13
Oct 13
GC32s showcased at Extreme Sailing Series in Nice
Nice, France 43º41’35″N 7º16’18″E
A new chapter opened for the GC32s last week when they joined the Extreme Sailing Series for the penultimate Act of the Land Rover-backed 2013 stadium sailing catamaran circuit in Nice, France.
While the main attraction remains the Extreme 40 catamaran racing, the Series events are slowly evolving into mini sailing festivals, with multiple attractions, rather than just one. Thus on Nice’s Baie des Anges each day between 1000 and 1300, racing between the two GC32s – Laurent Lenne’s SPAX Solution and Flavio Marazzi’s Marwin – has been a warm-up act for the Extreme 40s.
Amsterdam-based Frenchman Laurent Lenne, the GC32’s creator, explains what being in Nice means: “The association with the Extreme 40s is an important endorsement: to be accepted as a good enough class to join them and be part of the spectacle. It showed what the possibilities are, being alongside the Extreme 40s, because we both race catamarans and have a similar vision. It is just different formats.”
While the boats are different, the GC32 courses are longer than the ultra-short ones the Extreme 40s sail, but they still have a turning mark immediately off the VIP tent on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais.
For both Lenne and Extreme Sailing Series organisers OC Sport, Nice has been a ‘toe in the water’ exercise, which may lead to the GC32s joining more ESS events in Europe next year.
Full throttle
Sailing on the Cote d’Azur in the autumn usually means light winds, but on this occasion crews have been challenged by 20+ knot winds and a large and short sea. Nonetheless the GC32s performed well.
“There’s been a lot of wind, so there have been some challenges out there,” said Lenne. “We were bearing away in 25 knots and the boat was fully flat going 28-29 knots and passing through the waves very well. It feels very safe. But we designed the boat to be able to handle these conditions, to be able to go through this sea state, both upwind and downwind. We are very happy with it.”
A design from New Caledonia-based catamaran guru Martin Fischer and built by Premier Composite Technologies in Dubai, the GC32 is a state of the art catamaran, with buoyant bows, but it is the double-S profile daggerboards and L-shape rudders that ensure she behaves well in stronger conditions.
As Andrew Macpherson, Chief Operating Officer for the GC32, observes: “There have been some ‘moments’ as you’d expect in 20+ knots and two metre seas, but the comment from all the crews is that with a reef in above 20 knots they feel totally safe. You could still throw it around and do your turns upwind and down. And going downwind the bows are completely clear of the water which allows you to push harder.”
Despite the lively conditions on the first two days, racing between the one design catamarans has been tight, with the starts proving vital and the boats regularly overtaking each other on both the upwind and downwind legs. At the end of Saturday SPAX Solution and Marwin were tied on 5-5.
Lenne commented: “It’s been really close – up and down all the time. We have had some really good racing, good starts, crossing each other all the time, upwind and downwind. It’s full on. Not easy.”
Mathias Buhler, an Olympic Nacra 17 catamaran sailor who stood in for Flavio Marazzi helming Marwin on Saturday added: “We were both overtaking each other. It was nice racing. Today, conditions were very tricky, especially in the first race. But we were lucky – the forecast was pretty light, but in the end only the first race was in bad conditions. All the other races were fair.”
Sunday dawned to extremely light winds. But with the GC32 only requiring a minimum of 3 knots of wind for racing, the two boats were able to compete in the 5-6 knot offshore breeze, coping happily with a difficult, left-over chop from the windy days. Where the teams were so matched in performance the previous day, in the softer breeze Marwin’s accurate positioning at the start put them at a strong tactical advantage as they cruised away to five straight victories on Sunday.
“An amazing day,” said Buhler, buzzing from his dominant performance on Sunday. “I can’t wait for the next event, provided Flavio [Marazzi] lets me out to play again!”
In Nice, the GC32 racing has been broadcast live to the internet via Livestream, which Lenne says is also an important part of the circuit’s offering. Meanwhile he is soon to appoint a Class Manager for the GC32 and is in the process of negotiating with event organisers to finalise the 2014 calendar for The Great Cup, the circuit for the GC32s.
A successful America’s Cup held in catamarans has helped. “We’ve seen a big difference since July. I had some meetings before then with people who were saying, ‘yes, maybe we’ll have catamarans in two or three years’. Now they are coming back telling me they want to move towards catamarans now! The live streaming is also very appealing. We have on board cameras and we can do interviews on the boats. That is good for the class.”
Words: Sailing Intelligence
Photo assignment for The Great Cup.
29
Sep 13
Sep 13
Armel Le Cléac’h and the Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII
Marseille, France 43º17’13″N 5º20’02″E
Armel Le Cléac’h and the Maxi Trimaran Solo Banque Populaire VII before at the start of the TransMed record attempt which they just set in 18h 58min & 13sec, beating Thomas Coville’s time onboard Sodebo in the first solo multihull record time of the so called TransMed route between Marseille (France) and Carthage (Tunisia) of 25 hours 36 minutes and 36 seconds.
Photo assignment for Banque Populaire.
