Until Francis Joyon (somehow) won the 2018 Route du Rhum, to give Idec Sport a hat-trick, it was widely thought that his remarkable 40-day Jules Verne record set in 2017 would stand as the most outstanding achievement for an outstanding yacht. That is now up for debate, but there is no doubting that the way that Joyon’s six-man crew (above) drove an ‘adequately robust’ big tri around the planet so fast yet with few if any big technical issues earned a permanent place in yachting history as one of the greatest voyages of all time
was still a mad challenge, but look how quickly things have changed: Thomas [Coville] seems to throw his boat around as if she were an oversized dinghy, and François [Gabart] calls his a moped,’ laughs Vincent. But on 9 November 2010 Cammas
raised both arms in triumph as he crossed the line in Pointe-à-Pitre, unknowingly marking the start of an incredible series of Rhum triumphs for what would become the most successful VPLP – or any other brand – offshore trimaran ever built. Now Banque Populaire and Armel [le
Cléac’h] had their sights set on the boat, with the clear intent of replicating Franck’s feat on the Rhum. They kept her virtually unchanged save for a paint job and a few new sails after acquiring her in 2013. The ‘blue’ team also had another Vendée Globe planned, after Le Cléac’h’s previous second place in 2012, and the strategy was for the brand to maximise exposure by campaigning hard on all fronts: the 2014 Rhum therefore was a passage obligé, and they needed a step up from the Imoca class to maximise media impact. To warm up and take the measure of his
new toy (rechristened Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII), Armel embarked on a records campaign and successively set new reference times on the Mediterranean passage and the Discovery Route. It was also a useful tool to gauge what would be advisable to do for the team’s new maxi- foiler Banque Populaire IX (ed: which sadly was lost during this year’s Rhum).
40 SEAHORSE Unfortunately for the fast Breton a hand
injury prevented him from taking on the Rhum in 2014, forcing the team to call on Loïck Peyron who quickly had to take a crash course in solo maxi-multihull sailing! (Seahorse 466). Conditions this time were pretty horrible
at the start, yet Peyron sailed a textbook route out of the Channel, leaving everyone in his wake… and after an exhausting cross- ing, endangered by damage to a crossbeam, he gave the boat her second Rhum victory, breaking the 2006 record in the process. Idec acquired the boat just after that win
and initially rented it to Renaud Laplanche who raced her in the USA under the name Lending Club with Ryan Breymaier and Roland Jourdain. After a few race records, including the Newport Bermuda Race (with Groupama 3’s big mast reinstalled for the occasion), she was handed over to Francis in 2015 and spent three weeks at the Multiplast yard for a quick refit. However, Francis had decided to stick
with the short mast configuration, even for a fully crewed round-the-world assault. As VPLP’s Xavier Guilbaud, who oversaw the operations, recalls: ‘Apart from that rig change, which brings her back to the original Rhum configuration, not much has ever been altered. We worked last year on the appendages for Joyon… we made new rudders with elevators for the floats, but nothing radical since the idea was to avoid any modification of the platform. ‘The same logic naturally led us to adapt the existing foils rather than make
new ones, with the goal of generating more lift using the existing appendages as a base. We added tips pointing upwards, but only about 600mm long, a modification similar to those we’d carried out on Sodebo 4 and the much bigger Spindrift.’ The new rudders on the amas proved
very helpful in terms of longitudinal stabil- ity, which helps distribute the effort and reduces the ‘dragster’ tendencies, as Xavier puts it. The revamped foils’ benefits kick in at speeds exceeding 25kt, providing a boost of as much as an extra 2kt once boatspeed is past 35kt, ‘and the ride proved smoother as well,’ adds Xavier. ‘Everything feels a little steadier! ‘I’m convinced that this new appendage
configuration massively helped Francis during the two final days of the Rhum, when he was pushing very hard to catch up with François. The boat is also very reliable, capable of handling unpleasant sea conditions, and these factors con- tributed to her success – but it’s also clear that against modern Ultims in top shape she would not have fared so well. I must add that to be fair.’ ‘Undoubtedly,’ echoes Vincent, ‘if con-
ditions on this Route du Rhum had been ideal for the foilers, then Idec could have finished half a day behind them. But that’s part of the offshore game, it’s about seizing opportunities… and clearly that boat is still capable of seizing quite a few. She holds a special place in VPLP hearts, for sure, and we’ll be following her next adventures closely.’
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JACQUES VAPILLON/DPPI
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