where to place the cursor on that spectrum to get the best “power made good” ratio. In the 2010 Rhum, if we look at Groupama 3’s polars, it turns out that Franck [Cammas] only used 65 per cent of the boat’s potential… precisely because the boat had not been designed with solo sail- ing in mind.’ On that note, it would be interesting to see the equivalent percentage for the giant tri Spindrift on the St Malo- Guadeloupe route! Even lower, I suspect. ‘The fact is,’ says Xavier, ‘that Macif is the first big multihull purpose-built for a singlehander that VPLP have designed since de Kersauson’s Un Autre Regard back in the 1980s… So we’ve been dream- ing about a project like this for a while. Rather than adapting and compromising, we focused on harmonising the platform and the sailplan from the outset, defining ergonomics and optimising for one man only rather than having to constrain an existing platform into something that it was never meant to be.
‘Franck did a fantastic job in 2010, and in the process paved the way for a new era in a sense, but Groupama 3 was penalised by her weight obviously, 18.5 tonnes in Jules Verne mode because she’d been con- ceived for a crew of 11 guys. That dropped down to 16 tonnes in 2014 Rhum configu- ration. In the case of Macif, we have a boat that is only slightly smaller, with a length of 30m and a width of 21m, but which weighs 2-3 tonnes less – so 13-14 tonnes (the exact figure remains confidential). ‘Now there’s a virtuous spiral at play since this lighter displacement allows for more creativity in terms of hull shapes, reduces the pressure on the structure, and does not force us into an arms race when it comes to sail area. As you might have noticed, we’ve worked quite a bit on the float design, while the central hull remains relatively conventional.’
As the designer explains and as expected owing to the long-distance nature of her programme, this boat will sail reasonably flat most of the time (as opposed to heel- prone Orma 60s), so the central hull will effectively act as a damper: ‘That’s why we went for ‘soft’ shapes and lines that encourage a smooth ride: the central hull is optimised for displacement-mode sailing. ‘It’s another story for the floats, whose design is more aggressive and geared towards power, bearing in mind the boat will indeed remain flat, but at the same time won’t be sitting low due to the fact that she’ll be fitted with rather generous foils – a major step forward from Groupama 3. The aim with Macif is for the leeward float to be working in skimming mode, with a good amount of upward thrust – this boat should ‘bounce’ off waves and not suffer the suction effects that generally befall round hull shapes… ‘Macif’s floats will push off the surface rather than tend to sink.’ In that configura- tion reaping the benefits of the positive effect generated by the foils will be an easier job than with conventional hulls.
36 SEAHORSE
‘The drawback,’ adds Xavier, ‘is that platform stiffness is increased, violent wave impacts are more likely and the boat’s general behaviour is likely to be a bit more demanding than that of Groupama 3 – think of a car whose shock absorbers have been wound up tight.’ So not at all the ‘4x4 of the seas’ that
B&Q was, to name one fine earlier solo trimaran. This will be more of a track machine released into the wild… As far as foil shapes are concerned, we won’t know everything for a little while, as the team is keen to keep that aspect under wraps for as long as possible. However, Xavier is willing to risk a little pedagogy: ‘On the Orma 60s at 28-30kt the foils could support the equivalent of 60 per cent of the boat’s weight. That figure dropped right down on the bigger multihulls, but with Macif we’re aiming to get back to that kind of percentage.
‘This does not mean that we’re design- ing a pure foiler of course, but in terms of foil surfaces they will be more important (proportionally) than on Groupama 3 or Banque Populaire V/Spindrift, and shape- wise we’re looking at appendages that generate more lift.’ Reading between the
lines, our guess is that Macif’s foils will sport pronounced winglets, and will not follow a classic and simple C shape. ‘Looking at platform geometry, we’re in known territory with an X-configuration (two chevrons facing each other) completed by a curved traveller at the back: on the one hand this allows us to centre the weight, on the other to create a natural safe working space between the aft beam and the main traveller.
‘This space has been optimised for solo handling, with a specific focus on protec- tion and on the reduction of friction points for line management. There is a central pod on which five winches are mounted, all of them linked together and connected to a pair of grinders. All the aft control lines go through the aft beam, again following the most direct line possible. ‘The “living” space is located right next to the manoeuvring space, allowing the skipper to intervene very quickly, while the helming posts are offset from the central hull so as to give a good view of the bows. Everything is protected by a wide and generous awning while the central hull itself is largely empty.
‘We’ve also done some aerodynamic
J-M LIOT/DPPI
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