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He was set to race the last Rhum on his little 1978 Olympus Photo sistership before being grabbed at the last minute to sail and win the race on Banque Populaire VII. Now the world’s greatest offshore obsessive and Artemis Racing tune-up skipper Loïck Peyron is back for another retro tour, this time racing Eric Tabarly’s 1960 Ostar winner Pen Duick II in the 2016 edition of the renamed Transat
FRANCE The right choice
Loïck Peyron believes in Francis Joyon’s choice. Winner of the Jules Verne Trophy on Banque Populaire V(now Spindrift 2) and winner of the last Route du Rhum on Banque Populaire VII (the ex-Groupama 3, which is now racing around the planet asIdec Sport), Loïck Peyron knows the two Ultime trimarans that are trying to break his 45-day record very well.
Loïck is sure that Francis has got it right by choosing a short- handed crew and smaller rig (Idec Sportis 8m shorter than BPwith a crew of only six compared with the 14 on BP). ‘Setting sail with a shorter mast and smaller crew is an obvious solution… ‘Francis is making the right choice setting off with his nine-year- old boat in solo mode. Sailing with the bigger mast would have meant a bigger crew and all the extra weight that entails. By taking just five crew [as opposed to the nine necessary on the same boat with the big rig] Francis is going in his familiar style: a lightweight and simple approach.
‘Less weight also means less sail. On a multihull the less cloth you have the better you feel. The shorter mast also means less drag in the air. Instead of increasing the power Francis has decided to reduce the brakes.
‘He is right also to have chosen a smaller crew. This is the obvious solution looking to the trend today in ocean racing generally. It takes fewer and fewer of us to sail these giant trimarans. In the past two Route du Rhum races we saw that they could even be managed well by a solo sailor. There were 14 of us on Banque Populaire V (as well as onSpindrift 2) – looking back I think we could have done it with 11 without any problem.
‘Having said that, it’s not as “luxurious” when there are fewer of you. But by setting up a good watch system the crew of Idecwill work well. Everyone will have to be on deck for manoeuvres, and the crew will be kept busy, but they are well aware of that. The sailors who sign up to the Jules Verne know they’re not off on a Club Med holiday.’
Loïck continues: ‘Francis’s boat has huge potential. With average power, the former Groupama 3is a good compromise. She is agile
14 SEAHORSE
and easy to handle, she sails smoothly and can accelerate quickly. One of her main assets is that she is a good all-rounder. She is at ease in practically every condition.
‘They will, however, have to concentrate on not running out of wind, as the shorter mast is less efficient in lighter air. Sailing upwind in heavy seas is also going to be tricky, as this boat becomes very uncomfortable, as I saw for myself in the last Route du Rhum. The rest of the time she’s a sheer joy. Idec Sportis in fact a very safe trimaran, with a structure that inspires confidence. You can push her hard without ever being scared.’ He concludes: ‘Our current record on BP V can be improved upon by a few days. In the Pacific we had to make a long detour north because of ice. We lost a day and a half with that, and another day or so at Cape Horn. I hope to be beaten, as that would be the strongest motivation for me to get back out there and show them what I can still do!’
Marcel Van Triest is routeing Idec Sport as he did Banque Populaire. Staring at the screens at his home in the Balearics, the seventh man now prefers to work ashore calmly on drawing out the weather patterns to racing around onboard the boat. He will of course have a major role to play. ‘We need to look for fast conditions, but which aren’t boat breaking,’ he says.
‘Understanding that we can only see the weather 10 days ahead at best, there were two initial goals: the time it takes to get to the Equator and the time to Good Hope which determine the right time to start from Brest. So far this seems to have worked out alright. ‘Once in the south, you take what you are given and there’s no way out: further south, you have the ice, further north the areas of high pressure.’ Boats like Idecsail very quickly (both Idecand Spind - riftcan easily maintain a 30kt average in normal conditions), but you still can’t jump between weather systems. ‘After that, the climb back up the Atlantic is down to chance and you need to get lucky.’ About the method of communication, he says: ‘Personally, I’m not keen on the phone. With all the noise aboard the boat, there is the risk of not getting all the info accurately and if you record it you can never understand it when you play back the conversation. So I tend to work with drawings and notes via email.
JEAN-MARIE LIOT/DPPI
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