News Around the World
Above: Solidaires en Peloton sailed by Vauchel-Camus/Duthil crosses the TJV finish in Bahia, Brazil in 2019 as the runners-up in the small Multi 50 class. The first two 50s home were both designed by VPLP but they launched 10 years apart and counterintuitively it was the race winners who were sailing the ageing 2008 design. There have always been hopes the Multi 50 will fill the void left by the Orma 60s – particularly as a modern 50 has a similar performance to its bigger predecessors. New boats do appear from time to time but their high retirement rate in big races does little to encourage new sponsors into the class. Meanwhile, one man who does know how to get a big tri to the finish is François Gabart (opposite), seen here surrounding himself with carefully labelled Post-it notes as he finalises the instrument layout inside the new Ultim codename ‘M101’ now being assembled at his MerConcept facility in Lorient
FRANCE Switching sides Three weeks before the start of the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix on 24 and 25 April the French team are out on the water aboard their flying F50 catamaran to kick off season 2 of SailGP. The tricolour team, helmed by Billy Besson and managed by
Bruno Dubois (who also oversaw Dongfeng’s win in the last Volvo Ocean Race), aim to be on the F50 podium this year, building on their experience and incorporating new elements into this second season of competition. ‘The idea is to try to give ourselves a second breath, a new energy to move forward and achieve clear performance goals. But without changing the good things!’ explains Billy. Englishman Leigh McMillan is now in charge of wing trim. After
a good campaign as flight controller on Ineos in the America’s Cup he will have a new challenge in the French SailGP team this year: to tame the F50’s new adjustable wing. ‘It is now a retractable wing (18-24m high), allowing you to adapt
to a much wider range of conditions. In its reduced configuration, when the wind comes up it will allow the F50 to go even faster, says Billy, adding: ‘The level is incredible in SailGP this season with eight national teams, including four Olympic gold medal winners and two double America’s Cup winning helmsmen! It’s really exceptional to be able to navigate at such a high level.’ Multihull expert François Morvan will again hold the demanding
position of flight controller, taking advantage of Leigh McMillan’s experience to sharpen his skills. ‘François has been with us since the beginning of SailGP. He has shown his skills and knowhow despite the very limited sailing time we have had on the boat.’ The team is completed by the very experienced Matthieu
Vandame, Olivier Herledant and Timothé Lapauw, pillars of the crew in charge of the demanding positions at the front of the boat. Two young women also join the team: Hélène Noesmoen, foiling
22 SEAHORSE
windsurf world champion and 49er FX champion Amelie Riou. In addition to pursuing her Olympic dream in her discipline Amelie was seduced by the opportunity to join a professional circuit like SailGP. Both will try out different roles onboard the F50 during practice.
Multi 50s set a new dimension The Multi 50 is a fantastic trimaran capable of sailing faster than the Imocas. They are spectacular, very exciting for their crew and relatively easy to handle and maintain, and their price is not pro- hibitive (⇔2.5-3 million). Though they are evolving in terms of both transat and inshore racing, they struggle to find their place between the bigger boats of the Vendée Globe and the more affordable Class40s, which are also significantly more numerous but less attractive for promotional sailing. A new Pro Sailing programme could perhaps help this interesting class to develop. The Multi50 class became the Ocean Fifty class in mid-March
with a name change but the boats and rules remaining the same. Its new professional circuit, the Pro Sailing Tour, has been created by Upswing Prod, a company that specialises in event and audio- visual production, who will offer the public an immersive documen- tary series filmed at the heart of crew life. For its first year the Pro Sailing Tour, registered in the official calendar of the French Sailing Federation, will take place from May to August in France and Spain. The ambition (inspired by a Formula 1 series on Netflix) is to make racing ‘live’, with viewers gaining total immersion into the daily lives and human endeavours of crews, thanks to some novel venues in the hearts of cities and new high-quality audiovisual production. The five episodes will have a spectacular format, with six boats
sailed by a maximum crew of five plus a media man and offering inshore and offshore races. Each episode is to be strongly supported by host regions wishing to bring offshore racing closer to the general public, with a strong social as well as environmental dimension.
JEAN-MARIE LIOT/ALEA
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