News Around the World
We all knew that Italian skipper Ambrogio Beccaria was something special from his previous successes as a solo skipper – usually racing on very tight budgets. Also how in demand he has been as a co-skipper or crew when not racing his own boat. But everything changed when he hooked up with Pirelli for his first new Class40, not only co-designing the boat with two (very talented) friends from college but then helping found a new shipyard in Genoa in which to build her. Beccaria’s new Musa 40 might have been built without Pirelli’s support, but it was only launched a month before the start of the Route du Rhum so probably would not have made the start in time, nor had the boost in the design and build that created a boat that flew straight out of the box to finish second in Guadeloupe. Now all that talent, hard work and determination are being rewarded with at least four new Musa 40s either in build or about to start
lost control of Ambrogio [Beccaria] the day before the finish and it stressed us a bit. Overall it was a super transat, with a lot of strategy and a lot of lessons. I am delighted to get one more victory on this boat (Ian’s new Raison design is still under construction at Lorient) and with this great crew.’
Race against time Multiplast was chosen by the French Orient Express Team challenge, which was made official early in February, to build the hull and deck of their new French AC75. This latest commitment to the America’s Cup is a real challenge for the yard located in Vannes, as explained by Multiplast CEO Yann Penfornis, project manager Samuel Napoléoni and Antoine Carraz, the technical director of the AC challenge. The relationship between Multiplast and the America’s Cup is already a long story. Over the past 30 years the shipyard has manufactured six boats (five Class Americas and an AC50 flying catamaran) for French Cup challenges. Yann Penfornis said: ‘We built the ACC boats F1 and Ville de
Paris for Marc Pajot for the 1992 America’s Cup. Then there were the 6ème Sens for the 2000 edition in Auckland, the two boats of the Areva Challenge (2003) and the AC50 Groupama France for the 35th Cup in Bermuda in 2017.’ The story will therefore continue. The first approach came in May
2022 from the founders of the French challenge, then called K-Challenge, Stéphane Kandler and Bruno Dubois. ‘A few weeks later, at the end of June, we got confirmation that we would work together to build the AC75 platform,’ says Yann. ‘Unfortunately, the project then slowed down because of the
withdrawal of a key investor. Then everything accelerated again last November, Stéphane Kandler and Bruno Dubois came back to us and the project restarted.’
24 SEAHORSE Now with the major asset of title sponsor Accor Group, the team
could play catch-up with the purchase of the latest design package from Emirates Team New Zealand. ‘But the project would not have been viable without this agreement,’ says Antoine Carraz, who left MerConcept (François Gabart’s company) to become technical director of Orient Express Team. ‘In view of the timing, the size of our team and the know-how of the New Zealanders, we will inevitably draw a lot of inspiration from the design they will provide. But we also have the freedom to adapt things if we wish.’ Yann Penfornis is delighted with this agreement, which he
considers historic: ‘This is the first time that a French team has the same level of maturity in design as the Cup Defender. This is quite an opportunity!’ Carraz explains: ‘Multiplast is going to build the hull, deck and
interior structure that allows everything to stay in one piece! Con- struction began in early May with the hull and deck moulds which should be finished mid-July. We will then start the lay-up of the hull, deck and internal structures that will be later assembled in the hull, still in the tooling. We will then close the box by grafting on the deck. ‘Production of this “black box” will be completed in March 2024.
The boat will then remain with Multiplast for the installation of the systems and first appendages, after which she will ship to Barcelona where she will be launched in May.’ The construction of this 75ft foiling monohull is technically more
difficult than, for example, an Imoca or even an Ultim multihull – both something with which Mulitiplast have several decades of experience. ‘And this is not only due to scale,’ explains Samuel Napoléoni. ‘We find all the usual challenges of building racing boats (quality, schedule, price and so on), but with additional complexity because it is the Cup. Technically we are a notch above in terms of finesse of construction, sections to be followed perfectly…’
ALEXIS COURCOUX
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