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Trophée Jules Verne – Day 7 – Sodebo again on record speed

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Ultim Foiling Trimarans Schedule and Behind the Scenes

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by Doug Lord , Apr 5, 2019 .

Doug Lord Flight Ready

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 t he 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  

Sodebo Ultim 3 Foiling Trimaran

Arkea Ultim challenge : the race around the world, in solo !

Ultims are back in 2021, ultims are back, for the dhream cup july 19, brest atlantiques 2019 - ultims, ultims in next fastnet race 3rd august, ultim: actual leader, banque populaire xi- new ultim for 2020-21 by vplp, ultims brest oceans race, transat jacques vabre: no ultims-"the question did not arise".

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The Supreme Soloists of the Ultimes

• By James Boyd
• January 9, 2024

On January 7, ocean racing will take another evolutionary step with the mind-boggling feat of six brave Frenchmen who will set off from Brest in northwest France on board their giant 105-by-75-foot foiling trimarans—around the world, nonstop. Singlehanded. The new event is the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest, a sprint marathon that is expected to take 45 days or less at an ­average of 20 knots.

The present record for a solo lap of the planet stands at 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes, 35 seconds, but when this was set in 2018, skipper François Gabart had the luxury of departing with an optimal 10-day forecast (covering the first quarter of his voyage all the way down to the Southern Ocean). Competitors in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest will have to leave on the designated start date and make the best of whatever Mother Nature offers them. However, while Gabart’s MACIF trimaran is going again (in new livery as Anthony Marchand’s Actual Ultim 3 ), it is now one of the older of the six trimarans that will set out. The newest Ultims, which harness the latest offshore foiling technology, are much, much faster.

Two of the biggest names in solo round-the-world ­record-breaking will be missing from the lineup; Gabart has passed over the helm of his Ultim to “the next generation” in Tom Laperche. Francis Joyon, who demolished the record for the solo lap on two occasions, bringing it down from 125 days to 72 days in 2005 and from 71 days to 57 days four years later, is now 67. While all six starting skippers are highly experienced, they range in age from 55-year-old Thomas Coville, skipper of Sodebo Ultim 3 , to 26-year-old Laperche.

Coville is the race titan. When it comes to racing large trimarans around the world singlehanded, his experience is unprecedented. He’s been attempting circumnavigation records on large trimarans since 1997 and as a skipper since 2008. On his fifth attempt in 2016, he finally set a new record only for it to be broken a year later by Gabart. He also has raced in the America’s Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race (winning it with Franck Cammas on Groupama in 2011-12) and was twice part of crews claiming the Jules Verne Trophy (fully crewed, nonstop around-the-world record). He has completed circumnavigations eight times—four times solo and six times on trimarans.

The most hotly tipped skippers, however, are Armel le Cléac’h, 46, on Maxi Banque Populaire XI, and Charles Caudrelier, 49, on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild . While Caudrelier is best known for being a two-time Volvo Ocean Race winner (with Groupama , then as skipper of Dongfeng Race Team in 2017-18), both cut their teeth solo racing in the French one-design Figaro circuit. But when it comes to solo offshore credentials, Le Cléac’h knocks it out of the park. He’s won La Solitaire three times, most recently in 2020, and crucially for the upcoming Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest has also raced in three Vendée Globe races, finishing on the podium in all and winning in 2016-17.

Le Cléac’h’s trimaran was launched in 2021 as a replacement for his ­previous Banque Populaire-backed Ultim, which broke up terminally in the 2018 Route du Rhum. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is unique in the race for being designed by Guillaume Verdier, while the rest are from VPLP (although in every case, the team itself offers substantial input). While Caudrelier has won most Ultim silverware in recent seasons, including the singlehanded Route du Rhum trans-Atlantic race in 2022, Le Cléac’h ended his run by winning this fall’s Transat Jacques Vabre race between Le Havre in northern France and the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Tom Laperche has taken over as skipper of Francois Gabart’s SVR-Lazartigue for solo races. This is Gabart’s second Ultim trimaran and is considered the most advanced of the six. Laperche won La Solitaire du Figaro in 2022 and has raced with Gabart on the Ultim ever since the boat was launched. He gained his round-the-world experience on the IMOCA Holcim in The Ocean Race.

Also inheriting his Ultim campaign is Anthony Marchand, who took over the helm of Actual Ultim 3 from Yves le Blevec in January. Launched in 2015, Actual Ultim 3 is Gabart’s former MACIF ­trimaran, which is the present holder of the solo round-the-world record. Marchand, 38, sets off with vast experience on ORMA 60 trimarans, in the Figaro class, the Volvo Ocean Race (competing in 2015-16 on MAPFRE ) and in the IMOCA.

Fundamentally, the rule limits length to 32 meters and width to 23 meters, and the complex foil configuration on all six Ultims is fairly similar. 

Éric Péron, 42, is the race’s last-minute entry, and as a newcomer to the Ultim class, he will likely back marker. Péron has a strong background in the Figaro and Ocean 50 trimaran classes, and his trimaran Adagio was previously Sodebo Ultim , on which Coville set both his solo round-the-world and west-to-east trans-Atlantic records.

While there is an Ultim 32/23 rule, the design parameters of these incredible machines is a work in progress. Fundamentally, the rule limits length to 32 meters and width to 23 meters. The complex foil configuration on all six Ultims is fairly similar. Each of the boats has six appendages, including the giant, retracting rake-adjustable J-foils (of varying shapes) in the floats. The latest-generation foils have grown larger, enabling the trimarans to fly both downwind and upwind in less wind. Among the three front-runners, the most recent edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre demonstrated that SVR-Lazartigue has the lowest take-off speed, while Maxi Banque Populaire XI ’s foils work best in waves. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild lies somewhere between these two positions.

Unique to the Ultims is the T-foil pioneered by Caudrelier’s team on their MOD70 (now Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati ). Located in the center hull, this is effectively a daggerboard with a trim tab (to aid pointing ability upwind) and an elevator. This foil is used in a similar fashion to how AC50 catamaran crews negatively raked their windward rudder elevator to produce downforce, sucking the weather hull down. When a gust hits an Ultim, the crew can drop the traveler, but a more energy efficient response is to increase pitch on the T-foil’s elevator to create additional downforce. Then there are three rudders (one on each hull), each with an elevator. The rudders in the floats can be raised (typically the windward one) to reduce drag.

Aside from the significant developments to the foils, especially to reduce cavitation at high speed, teams have been focusing on improving aerodynamic efficiency. The Ultims now have low-drag vinyl fairings for the aft side of their crossbeams, and on some boats, the deck itself forms an endplate for the foot of sails. Living quarters have improved dramatically and, like modern IMOCAs, are becoming increasingly enclosed. The most extreme among them is Sodebo Ultim 3 , where the front of Coville’s “bridge” is forward of the mast step.

Autopilots have transcended beyond being able to steer to course, apparent wind angle or even true wind angle. Depending on the point of sail, the pilot will now automatically head up or bear away when a gust hits. 

The rigs are the same as those that have been fitted to French multihulls for the past 30 years—a rotating wing mast with each shroud terminating in a giant hydraulic ram, permitting the rig (and its center of effort) to be canted to weather. This reduces the downward force on the leeward bow, which can cause multihulls to pitchpole. Whether this is still required is a moot point because today’s foils effectively keep the leeward bow from immersing.

Due to the sheer physics of an Ultim, aided by the canting rig and the mast being stepped so far aft, the risk of capsize is almost ­nonexistent, Caudrelier says: “The Ultims are the safest multihulls because they fly, because they are big, but also because we have made huge improvements to the pilots with safety functions, and also we have a nice automatic ­system to ease the sails. It is quite safe. I don’t worry too much about capsizing, but I have in the back of my mind that it can happen.”

Thanks to teams working with such companies as B&G and Pixel sur Mer, Ultim autopilots have transcended beyond being able to steer to course, apparent wind angle or even true wind angle. Depending on the point of sail, the pilot (using what’s referred to as its “safety overlay”) will now automatically head up or bear away when a gust hits, which it can detect by the wind instruments or an inclinometer. In extreme circumstances, they have systems to dump the sheets, although these too seem to be near-redundant. 

An interesting point of dispute between the Ultim teams is how much automation should be permitted. Caudrelier’s team is pro automation, while other teams are less so. As a result, the autopilot can perform these functions but cannot, for example, adjust the boat’s flying mechanism, to automatically set ride height, pitch, etc.

If capsize is less of a concern, then the skipper’s biggest worries are technical failures on their giant boats, as well as collisions. They have tried to overcome the former through sheer time at sea, testing and failing to improve reliability. Le Cléac’h, for example, says that in the past year, he has sailed Maxi Banque Populaire XI some 20,000 miles, or half a circumnavigation. This has been solo and crewed, in a mix of races, private sea trials and the Ultim fleet training en masse. To avoid collisions, the Ultims have all available kit from radar to AIS alarms to the latest tech such as SEA.AI, which uses a masthead-mounted camera array to see objects—floating or semisubmerged—in the water ahead of the boat. These are compared in real time with the SEA.AI’s huge and ever-growing database of objects to identify them as threats.

In the recent Transat Jacques Vabre, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild suffered rudder issues soon after the start (later found to be a delaminating starboard rudder) and then damage to its port J-foil, but it still finished the race. It seems, therefore, very likely that this level of attrition can be expected in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest. Caudrelier says that this proved to be a wake-up call for his team as well as valuable practice for how to deal with midrace technical issues. For example, the J-foil damage occurred after a small impact. “But while we were sailing, the damage increased,” he says. Perhaps it would have been faster in the long term to stop, fix the issue, and then continue, he muses. For bigger issues, race’s sailing instructions permit skippers to pitstop where their teams can join them to effect repairs, but in this case, they are obliged to spend a minimum of 24 hours in port as a penalty.

To help reduce risks, OC Sport Pen Duick, the race’s organizers, are ­imposing a movable virtual ice barrier as we have seen in other round-the-world races. Competitors must stay north of this, regardless of whether it drives them into high pressure or storms. Interestingly, they are also imposing exclusion zones around known breeding grounds for whales (yet to be defined at the time of writing).

The Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest may be a solo race, but each campaign is genuinely a team affair. Ultim teams today are giant, some the scale of America’s Cup teams two or three decades ago, with their own in-house designers, engineers, hydro and aerodynamic specialists, and electronic and hydraulic experts. In the event of a technical issue during the race, skippers can now get immediate support using reliable satellite communications. The most consistent remote support each skipper gets is with their routing. In the Ultim class, shore-based routing is permitted. Le Cleac’h, for example, is using Dutch legend Marcel van Triest and French skipper/navigator Nicolas Lunven to provide round-the-clock routing assistance.

Ultims are fast—50 knots is very possible—but skippers are less interested in top speed and entirely focused on maintaining high averages of 30 to 35 knots. They don’t need much wind to achieve such a pace, however. An Ultim’s optimal conditions are broad-reaching in 20 to 25 knots. Any more wind than that, and the sea state gets too large to foil safely. Even in optimal wind conditions, skippers must back off if sea state and wave direction is not ideal. Understanding this is vital to the routing process.

The Ultims are potentially so fast that their routing team can go a long way in ensuring that they stay in optimal conditions. For example, in the Southern Ocean, if they can get into the optimal reaching conditions in flat water ahead of a front, they can potentially ride this for days. But the biggest limitation is the solo skipper. The Ultims typically carry a mainsail and four headsails, including two gennakers and a permanently hoisted J2, all set on furlers. Tacking and jibing requires the sails to be released and sheeted in, the mast to be canted and tacked, and foils and rudders to be raised and lowered. It’s a process that typically takes 20 to 30 minutes. Le Cleac’h says that the most time-consuming sail change is going from the J0 to the J1 because the sails are heavy (around 120 kg), and this can take up to an hour. Factoring all this into the routing is vital because the skipper on his own can do only so much.

“If reaching 95 percent of the boat’s potential requires making three jibes and four tacks and to change two sails, it will be difficult to do that if you are tired,” Le Cleac’h says. His routers offer him three options—from the one offering optimal performance to the easiest for him to achieve—which can be decided based on his energy level and capabilities.

One positive for the skippers is that the required endurance is comparably short compared with a Vendée Globe effort, but still, so much remains unknown as they embark on this extreme test of man and machine. 

“It is a bit like the first Vendée Globe,” Caudrelier says. “It is not quite the same because we know where we are going, but it is the first one, so it is a bit of an adventure. Usually you push to the maximum constantly, but for me, this is the first time I can’t do that. We will have to find the good balance between good performance and safety of the boat. That is an interesting exercise.”

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Video: Sodebo Ultim smashes round-the-world solo sailing record

The 31 metre trimaran Sodebo _ Ultim_  has smashed the record for a single-handed circumnavigation with French sailor Thomas Coville at the helm.

Sodebo Ultim arrived into Brest on December 26 to complete the voyage in 49 days, 3 hours, 7 minutes and 38 seconds, shaving more than eight days off Francis Joyon’s record, which had stood for eight years.

This incredible achievement required Coville to sail across more than 28,000 nautical miles of open ocean on the bare minimum of sleep. Speaking after his arrival, the 48-year-old told Le Parisien : “Mentally I had my highs and my lows but I knew where I wanted to get to. Physically I could not have gone much further.”

Launched by Multiplast in 2001 as Geronimo , Sodebo Ultim  is a former Jules Verne record holder. She was refitted in 2013 in collaboration with VPLP Design and now sports a full set of 3DI and NPL sails by North, which gave Coville a wide range of options for dealing with the varied conditions that he faced on his solo circumnavigation.

Sail designer Gautier Sergent worked in collaboration with sail coordinator, Loic Le Mignon and North Sails expert, Quentin Ponroy to design this flexible set-up.

Coville had made five previous attempts before breaking the record, and his 49-day solo circumnavigation now ranks as the fifth fastest round-the-world voyage by any sailing boat.

“Sailing these boats is tough, they are unforgiving,” he added. “If you lose your concentration for two minutes, the boat will take over, and you risk breaking equipment in what quickly spirals into life-threatening situations. You can not back off and 49 days of intense sailing is a long time to maintain your mental focus and physical strength.”

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Sodebo Ultim’

Sodebo Ultim’ then Ultim ActualLeader then Brest Ultim Sailing then Mieux. 

Thomas Coville came to VPLP with an exciting project to rebuild Geronimo with the aim of winning the 2014 Route du Rhum .The firm, having originally designed the trimaran for Olivier de Kersauson, more than rose to the challenge.

So what went into turning that grey trimaran, precursor of the Ultim class, into one of the most competitive maxi-trimarans in single-handed racing? First of all replacing the central hull with a new design which focused on single-handed sailing and, at 31 metres long, was 3 metres more than the previous one.

Next, the beams were reinforced so rudders and foils – which Geronimo had been lacking – could be added to the floats. The forward 9 metres of the latter were also rebuilt, adding powerful raked bows.

And with the addition of a new mast and changes to the original boom, Geronimo became Sodebo Ultim’ , weighing in 6 tonnes lighter!

After a difficult start in the 2014 Route du Rhum (collision with a freighter and retirement), Sodebo Ultim’ would go on to enjoy a magnificent career . Her achievements include the solo round the world record (49 days, 3 hours), the transatlantic record (4 days, 11 hours) and victory in the 2017 Transat Jacques Vabre – all in the space of twelve months.

Following a period under the sponsorship of Actual with Yves Le Blevec at the controls, she was bought by the company Brest Ultim Sailing in 2021. Under the name of the corporate collective MIEUX, Arthur le vaillant takes the helm of the Ultim for the Route du Rhum 2022.

2014/2018/2021

VPLP Design

Sun Fast 30 One Design

Paris +33 1 42 77 24 00 Vannes +33 2 97 44 74 19 Nantes +33 9 85 11 79 77

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Published on December 25th, 2016 | by Editor

Thomas Coville Sets New Solo Round the World Record

Published on December 25th, 2016 by Editor -->

(December 25, 2016) – Thomas Coville (FRA) and his 31m maxi trimaran Sodebo Ultim’ has successfully broken the solo round the world record, completing the 28400 nm route in 49 days 3 hours 7 minutes and 38 seconds (time to be ratified).

Coville, who started the attempt on November 6, beat the current record (57:13:34:06) set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008 by over eight days (08:10:26:28).

At 17h 57mn 30s, Coville cut the finish line six miles off the lighthouse Creac’h in Ouessant (Finistère), completing the course in the remarkable average of 24.10 knots (52,596 kilometers at 44 km / h).

In the darkness of a day’s rest obscured by a mist that completely concealed the cliffs of the Breton island, the 48-year-old skipper made two final gybes before finally knowing the deliverance. Until the end, he led his trimaran 31 meters long and 21 meters wide at an infernal cadence, sparing no effort and maneuvering his enormous sailboat as if he were surrounded by a complete crew.

On November 6, at 14:49, Thomas made his fifth attempt against the record established by Francis Joyon in January 2008, in 57 days and 13 hours. This performance was simply outstanding at the time. The skipper of the trimaran Idec greatly improved the record held until then by Ellen MacArthur. Remember that they are only three in the world to have dared to attack the world without stopover and without assistance in multihulls: Francis Joyon, Ellen MacArthur and Thomas Coville.

In seven weeks of a frenzied cavalcade, Coville won this mad bet: to carry alone its trimaran 31 meters long and 21 meters wide, equipped with a mast 35 meters high and carrying up to 680 meters Squares of sail, to become the fastest man around the world alone.

Coville will spend the night at sea with his teammates who joined him two hours after the line. We contacted him by phone. It tells the minutes that follow such a feat:

“Nobody was planning to spend 50 solo days. Arrival is something that rises in you, something very dense. It is a very heavy sensation that overwhelms you. I had the anguish of the last hours, that of the last days, that of touching something, all that put pressure on me. All this is mixed up with a lot of fatigue. I am in a deficiency of sleep It’s a very big day for me as an athlete, as a man. I am proud of the way I have traveled to get there. I fell, I got up and that’s all that made me have that mental strength. Experience is what one does with one’s failures. I can say today that I valued them. That’s what I’m proud of.

“Having to do so many maneuvers is what makes us not far from crewed records. Sometimes I had blood in the mouth carrying sails weighing 150 kgs and which are full of water and that you drag 10 cms by 10 cms on the moving trampoline. There were nights outside, lying in the cockpit, in the cold with a listening to the hand ready to drop if the boat rises too high on a hull. It’s not a very elegant job, but it works. With the speeds you reach, you’re always on the edge of the razor. You have ups and downs. The South Atlantic has been very hard. I managed to satisfy myself with small victories on a daily basis. Physically, I can not go any further.

“Right now, I have only one desire: to sleep and to let my mind rest. I want to fall asleep by simply telling myself: Everything is fine!”

Team Sodebo – Facebook – Tracker

Background : Thomas Coville (FRA) and the 31m maxi trimaran SODEBO ULTIM started the attempt to break the solo round the world record from Brest (France) on November 6. The current record of 57d 13h 34m 6s, which starts and finishes between the island of Ushant and Lizard Point in southern England, was set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008. To break the record, Coville must finish by January 3 at 4:23:57 am (French time).

Source: Team Sodebo

Tags: records , Sodebo , Thomas Coville , World Sailing Speed Record Council

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Coville sets incredible new 49-day solo round the world record – with a blistering average speed of 23 knots

• Elaine Bunting
• December 25, 2016

French solo sailor Thomas Coville has succeeded in his fifth attempt to break the solo round the world record with an incredible time of under 50 days

Solo sailor Thomas Coville has pulverised one of the hardest records in sport: the single-handed round the world record. He took his 105ft trimaran Sodebo Ultim over the finish line off Ushant on Christmas Day to set a new time of 49d 3h 7m, smashing the record set in 2004 by Francis Joyon by an incredible margin of 8d 10h.

This new sub-50 day record is one that exceeded all expectations, including perhaps Coville’s himself. It equates to a mind blowing average speed of 23 knots over the entire 27,325-mile course.

The previous record, set by Francis Joyon record in the maxi catamaran IDEC, had stood for 12 years and had resisted three previous unsuccessful attempts by Coville.

Thomas Coville

Thomas Coville’s long quest to gain this record has been punctuated by disappointment and, on two occasions, the bitterest of defeats. His previous challenges have all ended in retirement through damage and, on two attempts he completed circumnavigations only to miss out on the record by days.

But this time Coville had good fortune to match his skill, and benefited from favourable weather that sped him south through the Atlantic. With one gybe he entered the first Roaring Forties low pressure system and managed to stay ahead of a cold front with the following wind angle and low sea state in which his boat performs best.

Coville had no hesitation in diving south, much further than the Vendée Globe yachts have been allowed to do, in pursuit of the right winds and best VMG. He crossed the Indian Ocean in just 8 days ,12 hours and kept going through the Pacific to Cape Horn in 8 days 18 hours.

To put this in context, compare those times to the fully crewed round the world record times. Crossing the Indian Ocean took Banque Populaire V 8 days 7 hours in 2011 and Spindrift 2 8 days 4 hours in 2015.

Such weather occurs perhaps once a decade – and it has taken Coville all these attempts to find and make use of it.

Thomas Coville breaks the solo round the world record on Sodebo Ultim

He made these speeds despite hugely difficult conditions. Through much of the Indian Ocean, Coville experienced 30-40 knots of wind and 10m seas. “We often sailed under three-reefed mainsail and J3. It’s exhausting,” he said. “Living with it is not easy, because you have to be very focused and available for the boat. You have to be outdoors; there’s a lot to regulate.

“The problem there is that either you have too much canvas, or not enough canvas. It is therefore necessary to accept that, at times, you are sailing underwater. Sodebo is big, but in troughs of 10m waves it’s like a model yacht.”

Guided by his weather router, Jean-Luc Nélias, with whom Coville sailed in the the Volvo Ocean Race winner Groupama IV, and with help through 24 hours a day also from friend and fellow sailor Samantha Davies, Coville picked his way carefully through the south to avoid ice.

He had more favourable winds and a much quicker time back up the Atlantic than Joyon had in 2004, when the route was beset with headwinds. This meant Coville was able to extend the handsome lead of over 5 days he had accumulated at Cape Horn.

Coville communicated with his weather team using Skype instant message, and very rarely by speaking and every day the team would put weather maps, satellite photos, synoptic charts, wave height models, grib files and routeing options on an FTP server for Coville to pick up and download.

Coville’s previous failed attempts took a huge amount out of him psychologically, he has admitted.

On his first attempt in 2008, the same year Joyon set his superb record, the crash box of Coville’s theoretically faster trimaran was damaged in a collision, possibly with ice, and he had to retire.

On a second attempt, he endured some quite hair-raising times, including one occasion in the Southern Ocean when, overcanvassed for a squall, his boat lifted up onto one float and set off blindly on a huge surf. Coville was on the point of retreating to the cabin, the only place he’d be sure to survive a capsize, when the boat sat back down, picked up on another surf, and a piece of the traveller whistled by, decapitating both carbon wheels.

He went on to battle up through the Atlantic, only to finish 2 days outside Joyon’s record.

When he tried again in 2013, he suffered in the Southern Ocean, rounding Cape Horn some 800 miles behind the record time (potentially less than a day-and-a-half in such a yacht) and had no better luck in the Atlantic. Once again, he finished in Brest just days outside the record. He broke down in tears and was inconsolable.

Although not as well known outside France as he deserves to be, Thomas Coville is one of the most experienced and accomplished ocean racers in the world. He has now raced round the world eight times. He has twice won the Jules Verne Trophy for the outright (crewed) round the world record: in 1997 with Olivier de Kersauson on Sport-Elec and again in 2010 as part of Franck Cammas’s crew on Groupama 3.

He was also part of Cammas’s winning crew in the 2012/3 Volvo Ocean Race in Groupama 4. He has also race in the 2000/1 Vendée Globe, finishing 6th.

His trimaran, Sodebo Ultim, was originally Olivier de Kersauson’s trimaran Géronimo, built for an (unsuccessful) attempt by de Kersauson on the crewed round the record.

As Sodebo Ultim, little remains of the original configuration other than the platform itself, as it was completely modified by Coville and designers VPLP. A key feature is the foils the trimaran now sports, which came from the USA 17, Oracle Team USA’s 2010 America’s Cup winner.

Key statistics from the record

Start on 6 November at 13 hours 49 minutes and 52 seconds GMT

Passage of the equator: on 12 November at 07h 04min 54s GMT

Time from Ushant / Equator*: 5d 17h 15m 2s

Passage of Cape of Good Hope: 20 November at 18h 33min 40s GMT

Time from Ushant / Good Hope*: 14 days 4 hours 43 minutes and 48 seconds

Passage of Cape Leeuwin: on 27 November at 16:59 GMT

Time from Ushant / Cape Leeuwin: 21 days 3 hours 9 min and 8s

Indian Ocean Record* (Cape Agulhas /Tasmania): 8d 12h 19m on 29 November at 06:51 GMT

or 23h 47min faster than the previous record set by Francis Joyon in 2007 (9d 12h 6min)

Average speed: 25.16 knots for 5,325 miles

Time from Ushant / Tasmania: 22d 17h 1m 23s – or a lead of 2 days 5 hours 4 mins over the record set by Francis Joyon

Pacific Ocean record* (Tasmania/Cape Horn): 8d 18h 28m 30s or 1 day 19h 58min better than the previous record set by Francis Joyon in 2007 (10d 14h 26min)

Time from Ushant / Cape Horn: 31d 11h 30m 8s – Or a lead of 4 days and 59 mins over Francis Joyon’s record

Record Equator/Equator: 35 days 21 hours 38 min 6 sec – Or 5 days 11 hours 36 minutes better

Trimaran Projects and Multihull News

Trimaran project is intended to showcase multihull news with a focus on racing, build projects, launchings, interesting ideas past and present and also updates on my own trimaran projects. Lots of content and updates to come so keep checking back.

Monday 19 August 2024

New cape wt10, 33' folding trimaran design from white tip yachts.

 White Tip Yachts have partnered with Francois Perus and Romain Scolari of the Yacht collective to create an exciting new performance oriented 33' trimaran design.  The build is to be handled by Cape Performance Sailing.

White Tip Yachts

From Thomas Wilson of White Tip Yachts:

The design of the boat is the fruit of a 2-year collaboration between the two naval architects of Yacht Design Collective, François Perus-Romain Scolari and my wife and I.

Having sailed a trimaran in May 2022, we were convinced that this was the ideal boat for us.  I had been following makes such as Dragonfly, Corsair and Farrier. I was impressed with the new Corsairs, particularly their 600, 760 and 880.  I was however surprised to see that across all makes there were no modern deigns in the 30-to-40-foot range.  Most of the trimarans in that size bracket have hull shapes that are based on pretty old designs.

As a YMI and pro Ocean sailor I have sailed and raced on many yachts.  I was convinced that with YDC, we could create an exciting and innovative boat that would be a top performer. I therefore decided to commission YDC and asked them to design this trimaran for us.

The brief was simple:

The boat had to be 33 foot: I race and want to participate in RORC races with this boat including Fastnet. As I am sure you know, RORC require a minimum LOA of  30 feet for multihulls. I therefore wanted to be over this length.  The boat had to be foldable and trailable: We came up with a design that folds to 3.5m which is the maximum width allowed on UK and European roads without “Special Convoy”.

I wanted the boat to be light and fast but with a MOCRA rating below 1.5 as this then moves the boat in the Grand prix category.  Last but not least a special effort needed to be made to ensure that every aspect of the boat was designed and built with attention to detail and focus on quality throughout the project

YDC came up with the design you now see on the renders. In our view, they have done a fabulous job. In addition Francois and Romain are a great team to work with. The interior renders attached to this email are those of the “race style”. We also have another interior possible with lighter tones.

During the design we also looked for a good yard. We wanted a yard that was:

Interested in this project;

Capable of ensuring a high-quality build.

I was introduced to the owners of Cape Performance in South Africa. There was very quickly an excellent meeting of minds between all of us.  As you know Cape Performance builds the fantastic Cape 31 and they have therefore been able to bring true value to the project.  As a result, we are now ready to start the build of this new Trimaran, the Cape WT10, and to announce its arrival to the sailing world.

To that effect we have now created White Tip Yachts. The company will focus on selling these yachts worldwide.

Our website is

www.whitetipyachts.com

We aim to have the first boat finished in the first half of 2025.

Boat 1 will be our boat and belong to White Tip Race Academy Ltd which is a new race school that my wife and I opened this year based in Haslar,

Gosport, South of England

The boat will 

Allow potential buyers to test a boat properly as they will sail it with me as the owner and instructor

Allow clients to have trimaran lessons

Allow clients to participate in multihull races.

Here are the specs

BOA folded 3.5m

BOA/LOA 84%

DRAFT 1.8m-0.4m

WEIGHT DRY BOAT READY TO SAIL 2100kg

MAX TOTAL WEIGHT EXCL CREW  2500kg

SQ M UPWIND 71m  Mainsail 42 Staysail 14.4m Genoa 29m

DOWNWIND SAILS A2 94.5m Code3 72m Code 0 42.5m

ENGINE : OUTBOARD OR INBOARD OPTIONAL

MAST SECTION ABOVE DECK LEVEL 14.6m

Expected price ready to sail approx. €425 000.00

I personally think that YDC have managed to design a superb trimaran that will be fast yet retain some comforts.  She can be sailed short-handed or with 5 on board.

Her interior is roomy and clever whilst her shape promises stunning performances with the potential of reaching 30 knots.

You can sail and race her in the Solent and then tow her to the South of France and have fun on board with your family.  You might even be able to leave the Solent in the morning for France, enjoy lunch in Cherbourg and be back for an evening drink in Cowes.

Not many 33 foot sailing yachts can offer such a diverse program.

Monday 22 April 2024

Q&a with andrew fennell on his 40' shuttleworth racing trimaran.

Q&A with Andrew Fennell on his 40' Shuttlewort racing trimaran Morpheus.

  https://trimaranproject.blogspot.com/p/morpheus-shuttleworth-40-racing.html

Thursday 29 April 2021

The latest addition to the ultime class banque populaire xi launches.

 The latest Ultime to launch is the new maxi ocean racing trimaran Banque Populaire XI designed by VPLP and built by CDK technologies.  There appears to be a lot of thought put into low drag aero solutions on this new powerhouse.  

An article on Sailworld:

https://www.sail-world.com/news/237111/Launch-of-the-Maxi-Banque-Populaire-XI

Sunday 25 April 2021

Maserati mod70 trimaran sets new course record for the cowes-dinard route.

 Ocean racing trimarans Maserati and Powerplay have made a record attempt on the Cowes-Dinard route.  The result which is awaiting ratification by the WRSSC saw  Maserati set a new record of 4 hours 30 minutes and 49 seconds improving on the previous record set by the Phaedo team on Phaedo3 with a elapsed time of 4 hours 48 minutes and 57 seconds.  Powerplay who also broke the previous record set by Phaedo3 came in with a time of 4 hours 34 minutes and six seconds.

A video from Planet sail is here: 

Friday 6 July 2018

Photos of some deck details on maxi trimaran spindrift 2 by jason gard.

New Tony Grainger designed carbon TR36 trimaran ready to launch

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Shuttleworth 39' offshore racing trimaran launches.

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Video of the launch of ultime trimaran banque populaire ix.

Monday 30 October 2017

40' racing trimaran for shorthanded sailing designed by kurt hughes.

Friday 21 July 2017

Trimaran macif sailing in new york.

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Rob denney's racing proa bucket list hits the water and has first test sail.

Friday 3 February 2017

Kurt hughes, updates to daysailor 23' trimaran design.

Tuesday 31 January 2017

Kurt hughes sailing designs updates on 27' trailerable catamaran along with 31' and 35' trimaran models.

Francis Joyon and the IDEC team smash the Jules Verne Trophy record.

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Thomas coville smashes round the world solo multihull record..

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