Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008 - (Page 51)

The design? A strict one-design including the sails, a European circuit which will essentially involve legs taking two or three days and will allow some great marketing opportunities at the stopovers. No fewer than 55 days of racing per year, which is an increase of 32% in comparison to today’s 60-footers. We want to be the elite, creating a fascinating machine to enable people to dream over the ten years after 2009. The budget? On the basis of five years, 1.7 million euros per year. The boat will cost around 2 million euros, the running costs 1.2 to 1.3 million euros per year. Why did you reject the decision to build less expensive 50-foot boats? Look at Joyon and Coville. They’re not setting out around the world on fifty-foot boats! In all honesty, 60 people worked for months on this dossier skippers, architects, design studios, yard bosses – and we went through all the suggestions: 50-foot, 55, 60, 65, 70, more? One-design? Open ? That’s how we came up with this 70’ one-design trimaran, which in our opinion represents the best compromise and the best guarantee of a return on the investment for the sponsors. Competing or not against the 50foot boats? No. Today, the 50’ boats may represent a phase, or for starting out in multihulls. For example, for skippers coming from the Figaro circuit, but they are not the elite. In my opinion, the two projects are not competing against each other, but are complementary. I would say that it is a good thing that there is an accessible 50’ boat, but the sailing « stars » will be the 70-foot boats. Today, whether it is something we want or not, the public and media are looking for stars. 50-foot boats Bertrand Chambert-Loir (Whaou !) : You are in charge of the development of Whaou ! which intends to encourage the construction of sisterships to «The two Franck-Yves projects are Escoffier’s competing» fifty-foot trimaran. Where is the project at now? That’s true. The aim is for Franck-Yves’s superb boat to finally have some competition within the 50-foot Open class, which can be developed immediately at a much lower cost, making them more accessible to racers and to small businesses, who can become sponsors. We are co-owners of the moulds with the CDK yard. Each mould can be used to make at least eight boats. We could very quickly see a great little fleet. At least three racers are already interested, including Victorien Erussard. Corentin Douguet’s name has also been mentioned. Do you think that the media will be interested? The public doesn’t care about the size of the boats. What they like is the adventure and racing. Moreover in today’s open races, there can be some great battles in real time between 50-foot multihulls and the 60’ Imoca boats, which sail more and more quickly. To finish, they are boats, which allow great PR operations, where you can take ten people or so on board in complete safety. There could be three top classes: the 60 and 40-foot monohulls and then the 50foot multihulls. Do you therefore believe that 50 and 70-foot boats are in competition with each other? I believe so. There’s not enough room for everyone. Today, we have reached a point, where no one dares to make a move. We’re each eyeing up the other without really deciding to come to a decision. We’re up against it now. We believe that the Class 50 Open is the future of the multihull, as these boats can be very spectacular, excite the general public and offer a good return on the investment made by small businesses, who wish to become involved in sponsoring sailing. What do you believe are the differences in terms of the budget? A fifty-foot trimaran will cost 1.2 million Euros as opposed to 2 or 2.5 million Euros for a seventy-footer. In terms of running costs, the 50’ boat demands an annual budget of 550 thousand Euros, while it is three times more for a 70’. But it would appear impossible to limit the size of a multihull? Why? In Formula 1, they limited the cars. In ocean racing, they decided many years ago to limit the size to 60-foot boats. Why not do the same for the 50’ boats? Once again, it isn’t the size of the boat that creates the excitement. The 50-foot boats are very fast and very exciting! What programme are you thinking of for these 50’ multihulls? We will be starting out with what already exists and developing things from there. Thus, apart from one transatlantic race per year, we should be able to develop events like the Malo Trophy and the Jean Stalaven Trophy and also take part in major races like the Route du Rhum, the Transat Jacques Vabre, and the Quebec-Saint Malo. Just imagine that as soon as we have a nice little fleet, we can have a race in legs, either a solo race or a two-handed race with offshore stages. This would be ather like the Figaro event for The fifty-foot Crêpes Whaou! type boat Class 50 open boats. Interview by Bruno Ménard V PL ©V Ocean Racing - december 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008

Cover
Edito
Contents
What they said
News
Portfolio - The news in the picture
Transat Jacques Vabre - Monohulls in power
In the words of the skipper - Michel Desjoyaux, A little bit more
Barcelona World Race - A couple sailing around the world
Imoca - Growth crisis in the Imoca class
Transat 6.5 - A whole series of records
Mini Class - Anatomy of a winner
Multihulls - What sort of trimarans tomorrow ?
Volvo Ocean Race - Second generation
Trials - Mach 45 : an unusual IRC
Match Racing - King Richard
Tactics - A good start
Portrait - Jacques Caraës
Lab - Tubular or wing mast ?
Forty years ago - Chichester, the lonely sea and the sky
Equipment - Shop window
New products - From the drawing board to the boatyard
Opinion - The mirage of worshipping technology

Ocean Racing Magazine - #6 - December 2007 & January 2008