Francis Joyon
L’Hydroptere breaks 50 knot barrier
announces
Alain Thébault's foiler trimaran L'Hydroptere has
set a new outright world record on the 500m long
his next solo
course off Hyères averaging 51.36 knots with a
peak speed of 55.5 knots. The record, which has
challenge
yet to be ratified by the WSSRC, was set in 28
knots of wind from the west.
Holder of the solo round the world
This is faster than French kiteboarder Alexandre
record, his challenge is an innovative
Caizergues's record of 50.57 set last year and
new record breaking course – a middle
Macquarie Innovations' speed of 50.07 knots set earlier this year.
distance record to be set between Port
Earlier in the day they also set a new 1000m record of 44.9 knots over the course
Louis, France to Port Louis, Mauritius
and new one nautical mile record of 48.7 knots
This is a 9000 miles route involving a
charge down the Atlantic round the
Alain Thébault was joined on board by his crew - Anders Bringdal, Jean-Mathieu
Bourgeon, François Cazala, Damien Colegrave, Stephan Dyen, Matt Hodgson,
Cape of Good Hope and across part of
Jérémie Lagarrigue, Pierre Trémouille, Gerard Navarin and Jacques Vincent.
the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. This is
a route taken by trading vessels to the
“The crew was amazing today on this fantastic record, a true illustration of our
Indian sub continent and therefore the
collective work, that of a team well welded together and determined," said Thébault.
route is laced with history and tradition.
"Sailing at more than 100 km/h generated more adrenalin than we had ever
It would appear that Francis Joyon
experienced before.
is planning to leave as soon as the
weather is right for this solo record "Today, we did it! Let us not forget that this record is the culmination of a whole
attempt. technological adventure and team work which would never have been possible
without the support of our partners. It is in particular thanks to my partnership with
Record Name:
Thierry Lombard Associé, the private bankers in Geneva, (whose year of creation,
The Mauritian, record France-Mauritius
1796, is written on their mainsail) that have been our Principal Partner since 2005,
Start of standby: 1st October 2009
enabling us to launched out on the conquest of these records and to beat them”.
Starting line: Port Louis (Brittany)
Finish Line: Port Louis (Mauritius)
Christophe Simian, WSSRC supervisor, is on site for 7 days to officially open the
Number of miles: 9 000 miles
speed base in Hyères. l’Hydroptère will be able to sail on each side of the Giens
peninsula.
L’Hydroptere has been substantially rebuild and redeveloped following her pitchpole
and major destruction last December when foiling at over 55 knots. They have stuck
at it and are now reaping their reward. They will be trialling l’Hydroptere.ch on Lake
Geneva in 2010 which is a scale development of the next generation vessel.
Meanwhile Paul Larsen is taking his SailRocket team back to his speedspot at Walvis
Bay in Namibia for one more assault on the outright speed sailing record. The 28
day record period will commence on the 2nd of October.This will be the final record
attempt for this version of Vestas SailRocket. Paul Larsen commented:

‘Nothing focuses the mind like
competition. The record hasn’t
fallen so many times recently by
chance. Sometimes the limits are
as much psychological as they
are physical. When the level you
need to attain gets so high that
your current best isn’t enough
then your options become limited
and in some respect the job gets
easier. You simply have to change
your sights and find another gear.
In this case it is ‘all or nothing’. We
will no longer focus on the mile record as the Walvis Bay course is a little too short
to challenge the new benchmark. We will go down there with our eyes firmly on the
outright prize. 50 knots is last year’s story... we simply have to go well over that now.
I look forward to taking this wonderful boat out to do battle one more time. There’s a
final chapter to be written and I’m sure she still has a few knots up her sleeve. It will
be one hell of a ‘suck-it and-see’ ride on the ragged edge that’s for sure!’
More details on both amazing project from:
www.vestassailrocket.com and www. Hydroptere.com
»
  OCTOBER 2009 : MULTIHULL REVIEW  45
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