Above: first love… Marc Guillemot at the helm of his Nigel Irens-designed Orma 60 La Trinitaine at the start of the 2003 TJV; the race having been delayed in the face of a rough forecast, with the organisers – and remaining skippers – still recovering from the 2002 Rhum when 80 per cent of the Orma fleet was wiped out; why… primarily because the high-modulus carbon/honeycomb-built hull shells were too rigid to absorb the energy of wave impacts. The same issue (see last month) that led to the disintegration of Groupama 3 on her first Jules Verne attempt. Ten years later (left) and Guillemot, along with other multihull stars, has switched to Imocas and the Vendée Globe… partly having been forced to follow the sponsorship. In the case of Guillemot’s friend and Jet Services crewmate Gerry Roufs the switch to monohulls would end in tragedy when the gifted Canadian was lost during his first Vendée Globe in 1996
Florence Arthaud’s Rhum victory that
year on her striking all-gold VPLP design would then open the floodgates and turn south Brittany into a crucible of trimaran wizardry, as well as a magnet for companies wanting to make a name for themselves without having to buy costly print adverts or prohibitively priced TV time. Mike Birch’s and Paul Vatine’s match-
ing Irens-designed 60-footers achieved great results… before the gentle British designer himself decided to settle in La Trinité sur Mer, contributing to making for a definitively local affair. Years later Loïck Peyron would often refer to the Championnats des Multicoques as ‘the Trinité World Championships’. Deciding to race these offshore machines
around the cans was a crucial factor in their evolution, as it kick-started an arms race that would eventually contribute to the class’s downfall. But before this demise the new ‘Orma 60’ class spawned the sharpest, edgiest and most advanced racing platforms that the world had ever seen. ‘Paul Vatine arrived on the scene, then
myself with La Trinitaine, Loïck took over Fuji from Mike Birch… and from a fleet of four or five boats the class quickly evolved with new boats being built all over the
place,’ says Marc. He then goes on to highlight the 2002 Rhum as the pinnacle of the class, somewhat glossing over the spectacular build-up to that defining moment… and what followed. The Orma Grand Prix had become
spectacular well-run events thanks to former Royale co-skipper Philippe Facque’s excel- lent management, adding a layer of profes- sionalism to the gung-ho attitude epitomised by Laurent Bourgnon’s famous 1990s motto, ‘Only a coward eases sheets…’ Looking back, Guillemot admits that it
was slightly mad to race these by-now very light and refined machines singlehanded across the Atlantic, but he is very happy to have taken part in the adventure! The sheer number of events (and associated deliveries) each year greatly contributed to the sailors’ sense of being in charge – especially after surviving yet another successful season. Pushing the boats in fleet configuration
around tight courses meant that confidence was at its peak when November’s solo and two-handed transats rolled around. ‘Handling those boats and getting them to deliver their potential was pure magic,’ says Marc, ‘but in tough conditions you had to show humility’ (as Peyron often used to say, ‘Always remember, our multis are
more stable upside down than upright’). ‘This is why I shiver a bit when I see
people who have zero experience with such boats buying an old Orma to line up for the Rhum, as happens sometimes these days. They really don’t know what they are getting themselves into.’ One potential explanation for this
phenomenon could be that, having seen the MOD70s operated by private owners with no drama, some people confuse the two boats, thereby thinking that a smaller tri can only be safer? This would amount to forgetting that MODs were created pre- cisely as a reaction to the inherent trickiness of the Orma 60s – as a much safer, much less radical option. The subtleties of these evolutions can easily be lost on the non- specialists, but are also what makes this era of development so fascinating to unpack. Post-Rhum 2002, of dubious fame due
to only three out of the 18 Ormas making it to the other side (cue memories of shattered hulls, 18m waves and 80kt gusts), new boats were built but their dominance was such that it killed the game (looking at you, Groupama 2). Marc per- sisted with his Gitana Orma until 2004, then two years later the Orma circuit itself folded and was put on a shelf.
SEAHORSE 57
THIERRY MARTINEZ
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