News Around the World �
FRANCE Stand by As well as the record number of Vendée Globe entries leaving Les Sables d’Olonne shortly, other boats will be sailing around Antarctica during the autumn/winter. They are the ‘usual’ big ocean multihulls, the Ultim, sailed by a lone man or by a crew challenging for the Trophée Jules Verne. Once again our two longtime rivals are at the front of the action. Francis Joyon’s Idec Sport (ex-Groupama 3 and then Banque Populaire VII) was relaunched last month after a little work at Multiplast shipyard. ‘For 10 years the boat has been con- tinually optimised by very clever people. We simply improved the protection for the helmsmen and bought new sails,’ said 60-year- old Francis, who holds the singlehanded record and now aims for the Jules Verne Trophy.
Last February, when they arrived back in Brest after failing in their first challenge, the six sailors on Idec Sportsaid they would come back together for a new attempt. And that is what is happening: Francis with Spaniard Alex Pella, German Boris Hermann, Swiss Bernard Stamm and the two French sailors Clément Surtel and Gwénolé Gahinet. Marcel Van Triest from Holland is also there again routeing the giant trimaran. Marcel was working for Loïck Peyron when the 40m Banque Populaireset the existing record in 2012. Francis reckons: ‘One of the significant things for me before the last attempt was to make sure the sailors were happy whatever the outcome. It makes for a more “sympathetic” team, plus when you are happy doing something you do it properly.
‘I think it was OK: we missed the record by almost nothing and now they have all come back. As we are very few onboard (actually far fewer than on other boats) and the objective is difficult, the cohesion of the crew is essential. I leave them to take the initiative. For example, the watch system has been devised by them, not me!’ Idec Sport will start ‘as soon as possible’, said Francis. ‘The weather windows are not numerous between October and February.
12 SEAHORSE
Also leaving early in the season offers the best chance of a good passage up the Atlantic after rounding Cape Horn.’ Francis is confident and happy and hopes to have a little more success than before, enough to beat the famous record held by Loïck Peyron’s crew since 2012: 45d 13h 42m 53s.
Spindrift 2 back on track… perhaps
The 40m trimaran, the fastest ocean multihull ever and current holder of the Jules Verne, went into Multiplast the day after Idec Sportwas launched. The work won’t take more than a month. After that, the boat skippered by Yann Guichard and Donna Bertarelli ‘may’ go on standby… (there have been quite uncertain noises coming from inside this team). However, if she leaves on the same day as Idec Sport, as happened last winter, then a record attempt becomes a race. Which is good. But we imagine this is not nec- essarily the best option for the sailors taking part, who have enough to deal with just sailing fast and safely around the globe.
And then there were… Thomas Coville’s Ultim Sodeboalso underwent a brief refit to be put into round-the-world configuration. The cockpit protection was improved, the foils’ angle of incidence is now managed by hydraulics and a clever pedal system has been installed directly onto the grinder pedestal. Also about to set off around the globe, Sodebo is aiming at Francis Joyon’s solo record of just under 57 days. Thomas has a full programme for 2017, with the next modifica-
tions to Sodebolikely to include two new floats, saving at least one tonne. He has also obtained a set of foils made for Oracle’s giant America’s Cup trimaran, to which he will add his own winglets.
But Macifwaits
As we write, François Gabart is preparing to challenge the solo trans-Mediterranée record held by his friend Armel Le Cléac’h on
SUPERSERIES/NICO MARTINEZ
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