18 knots upwind - 27 downwind

James Boyd describes racing on Franck Cammas' new Groupama trimaran at the ORMA Grand Prix in Fecamp

From time to time one gets a ride on a race boat that enables top bragging rights. For me Sunday was just such an occasion when I was fortunate enough to sail on Franck Cammas' brand new, state of the art 60ft trimaran Groupama, not for a half baked press trip around the bay in 2 knots of breeze but to taste 60ft trimaran sailing in anger in 20 knots of wind on board for the penultimate race of this weekend's Fecamp Grand Prix.

Getting a ride in a race on one of the top 60ft trimarans is a rare privilege - the next 'special guest' to sail on board the new Groupama after thedailysail is supposed to be Russell Coutts.

While the Open 60 and Mini circuits in France are becoming increasingly international the 60ft trimaran circuit remains much more of a closed shop with precious few foreigners taking part. 11 boats were racing in Fecamp with 10 crew on each but among these the only non-French or Franco-Swiss sailors were to be found on Thomas Coville's Sodebo: former djuice bowman Jonas Wackenhuth, American Steve Calder plus semi-French sailors Stefan Fodor and Jochen Krauth.

One reason for this, a Sergio Tacchini crewman explained to me as we celebrated their victory in Fecamp's only nightclub sometime later, is due to language. In the high octane environment of sailing boats this fast and complex round the cans with a relative large crew, commands must be understood and carried out within a split second. There is no time for translation. This was all too apparent from what I experienced.

First things first. Before one can sail on a race boat in France one needs a licence. I figured my chances of getting out on Groupama were scuppered when I turned up in Fecamp without one. But after a half hour with the right person in the Société des Régates de Fécamp I departed 40 Euros less well off but the proud owner of a Federation Francais de Voile (the French equivalent of the RYA) licence for one year.

Three races were held on Sunday and I was able to get on board Groupama for the second as the breeze was building from the west. Trying to keep various media paraphernalia in my pockets I was dumped on to the trimaran's green expanse of netting from the RIB of Groupama's PR guru Vincent Borde.

Launched in June Groupama II is the newest 60ft trimaran on the ORMA circuit and has a great deal to live up to. Since the departure of Loick Peyron from the class following the destruction of his boat in the 2002 Route du Rhum, Franck Cammas and his previous Groupama have dominated the ORMA circuit winning every event last year - Grand Prix and offshore races, singlehanded and fully crewed alike - save the Cagliari Grand Prix when they finished second. And this was in a boat that was decidedly not state of the art.

The new Groupama has been some two years in development - lengthy for an ORMA 60. Vincent Lauriot Prevost and Marc van Peteghem worked with German A-class catamaran designer Martin Fischer on the design (to read the compete story about the design of this boat click here) and carried out much tank testing on the hull shape. As a result Groupama's floats appear to be more slender, but Lauriot Prevost says that they are the same volume, just slightly fatter lower down.

On deck the new boat is very similar to Geant - hardly surprising as she shares the same deck mould as Michel Desjoyeaux's winner of The Transat. The boat has a X-beam configuration with an additional beam for the mainsheet track, enclosing the back of the cockpit. In fact the beams are not in a true X configuration like Gitana X as there is 1.5m gap between their apex much simplifying construction.

The ORMA 60 experience

Once on board I am immediately struck by an atmosphere of intense concentration with Franck Cammas, our 30 year old skipper perched in one or other of his driving seats located at each end of the elliptically-shaped cockpit, navigator Franck Proffit studying his tiny wireless tablet PC and Tanguy Cariou, the former 470 World Champion and now Groupama's tactician, the man with his eyes 'out of the boat'.

Other members of the crew include Philippe Touet of the Incidences sail loft who handles the sheet for Groupama's magnificent 175sqm inshore mainsail with the world's largest square top outside of the gaffer fleet. Eric Coulon shares grinding duties with Stephane Guilbaud, technical director of the Groupama campaign. America's Cup veteran Benoit Briand is genniker trimmer while Thierry Fouchier, with whom Briand usually sails as part of Bertand Pace's match racing team, is the Solent trimmer. This leaves Ewen Le Clec'h, part of Groupama's shore crew, in charge of the elegantly named 'piano' - the impressive array of Spinlock-ware for the huge number of lines coming aft from the mast and foredeck - a job equating to that of a pitman on normal race boats. Last but not least is the familiar face of Franco-South African round the world veteran ( Silk Cut, Tyco, Club Med) Jan Dekker dealing with the bow. Again another very different job this boat having just five headsails, including two gennikers in her Grand Prix wardrobe - and all of them on furlers.

With the exception of Dekker (who occasionally mans the pumps too) and the afterguard, all are huddled around the centre of the cockpit on top of the centre hull while the journalist huddles in the back of the cockpit near Cammas trying to prevent any limb-removing contact with any fast moving lengths of zero-stretch cordage.

The start of 60ft multihull round the cans races is fairly unique, the technique of crews somewhere between dinghy and keelboat racing. After some jockeying at the committee boat end, Cammas violently bears away causing the boat speed to surge momentarily over 20 knots. There are nine other 60ft by 60ft boats each with a similar game plan. Tanguy Cariou spots a gap and Cammas heads up towards the line. The multihulls come to a near standstill with 30 seconds approaching as, like dinghies, they have the most impressive acceleration and can pull off semi-standing starts. On the bow Cariou calls the line and we cross at pace with Foncia nuzzling our starboard aft quarter as Michel Desjoyeaux's team on Geant get the best start down by the pin.

Within seconds we are progressing upwind at a lively 17-18 knots pointing high thanks to the sizeable trim tab on Groupama's 5m long raked daggerboard. Few sailpowered vessels can achievve the kind of progress we are making upwind unless they're sitting on ice.

The non-essential crew have followed the journalist to the front of the netting on the high side just beneath the curved retractable foil, fixed in its up position in the weather float. Some 10ft above the water it is surprisingly dry and from this vantage point we can see through the netting the wake from the daggerboard as air becomes visible beneath Groupama's centre hull. While heeling so much that the tip of the daggerboard leaves the water is good for photos, it isn't for boat speed and the technique, which Cammas has down to perfection, is to keep the centre hull just kissing the water. This reduces drag while presenting the maximum amount of sail area to the wind and enables the helmsman to point higher.

No doubt due to the huge amount of power surging through the boat's structure, the motion is much more steady through the waves than you would think for a 60ft long multihull weighing a mere six tonnes. While in the sea conditions we experience the boat isn't pitching particularly if there is a motion to the boat as she forges upwind it is more like lurching. At the start of the beat there is a slight hum from the daggerboard, which disappears as the trim tab is wound on.



Cariou and Proffit make the call to tack and it is here that the teamwork necessary within a 60ft trimaran crew becomes evident. There is much to do in addition to throwing the helm over and pulling the sails across and order and timing are critical. The main issues involve the rig.

In the 20 knot conditions our 30m tall wingmast, with an area similar to that of a jib on a reasonably-sized cruising boat, can be canted up to weather by up to 9 degrees. The combination of the foil in the leeward float and moving the centre of effort of the sail plan up to weather alleviates the downward force on the leeward bow so that the crews on modern trimarans no longer receive a constant hosing. Aside from the comfort factor this reduces drag and thus is a lot faster.

While there are runners attached to the stern of the main hull, each shroud curls around a sizeable block on the back face of the aft beam before connecting to a long hydraulic ram mounted at the front of the cockpit. Cleverly these are driven by rotary hydraulic pumps hooked up to the pedestals. The hydraulics between these two giant rams is connected so that when the weather one is released the pressure is taken up in the ram to leeward automatically.

In addition to canting, the mast also rotates, the basic principle upwind being to keep the mast pointed at the direction the wind is coming from. On Groupama the mast spanner points aft and is controlled by a sizeable block and tackle arrangement running across to the helm position on each side.

Prior to a tack the mast cant is dropped back down and the rotation neutralised. As the boat goes through the wind, the new weather foil in the float is hauled up as the new leeward one is hauled down. To help the boat go through the tack the traveller is allowed to drop down. Timing the release of the Solent is critical - too early and the boat will simply stall and start sailing backwards but in competitive terms if the timing or operation of any part of this process is fluffed then the results can be disastrous as the boat gets locked in irons allowing other boats to get ahead. The tack is completed with the mast canted up to weather, the mast trimmed in terms of its rotation and the trim tab on the daggerboard tacked.

With all these processes it is necessary for the team work of a symphony orchestra and in this respect the Groupama crew is equivalent of the Berlin Philharmonic. While crews on other boats in the mid- and lower echelons of the fleet chop and change Cammas' team are consistent, manoeuvres appear second nature and usually flawless and this, in this journalist's opinion, is key to their top results.

The complexity of tacking one might reasonably assume would make the beat in an ORMA Grand Prix race to be a one tack affair, but this is decidedly not the case and being able to pick lanes well and get clean air is just as essential as any other class. Fortunately Tanguy Cariou is a master at this.

At the weather mark Geant rounds first and we follow 32 seconds later with Sergio Tacchini, the regatta leader 12 seconds astern of us. As Cammas pulls the helm toward him Groupama screams off on to a reach towards the spreader mark, the centrifugal force forcing you to cling on to the netting else you get thrown over the side. This is the most high speed part of the course where 60ft trimarans have been clocked at speeds exceeding 35 knots.

At this stage Jan Dekker is up on the bow feeding out the furled genniker as it is hoisted. Once round the spreader mark, Cammas bears away further and with a resonant 'bom' the genniker furling line is released and the sail unwinds itself in a trice. The staysail is kept unfurled.

Upwind we were sailing under full main and staysail, while the alternative upwind headsail for lighter conditions is the Solent, left furled on outer forestay. Both sails are sheeted via powerful barber hauler arrangements creating the tiniest of slots. For big conditions the boats are obliged to carry a storm jib known as an ORC, hoisted on a third and innermost forestay. Downwind there is a choice of two gennikers, big and small, both hoisted furled off the bowsprit. Groupama carries a mix of North France and Incidences sails.

Turning downwind it is time to bring into play yet another mast control. As with most of the latest 60ft trimarans, the rake of Groupama's wingmast can be altered on the fly. Upwind the team normally sail with 4 degrees of rake in the mast. Downwind this is increased to 6-7 degrees by easing off the forestays both of which are attached to hydraulic rams beneath the foredeck. The ram on the inner forestay on Groupama is unique in being mounted on a large ball and socket joint at deck level allowing some degree of lateral movement between ram and stay.

Groupama is also unusual in having the gooseneck for her boom on the mast rather than the deck. The thinking is that this helps to prevent the shape of the mainsail distorting as the mast is canted, raked and rotated. Interestingly the clew of the mainsail is lashed to the end of the boom and if outhaul is required a hydraulic ram inside the boom pushes the entire boom away from the mast - a system that was once upon a time used on old maxi boats Jan Dekker assures me.

Downwind the speed is staggering. First off there is the sensation of apparent wind. Upwind with 17 knots of boat speed and 20 knots of breeze the wind feels like it is blowing at gale force strength over the deck. Downwind as the speedo goes from 24 to 27 knots and back it is eerily sedate in comparison. Cammas slaloms downwind bringing Groupama up to build apparent and then sailing down with it, the trimmers working in unison with him.

So far Groupama has proved herself to be a flier downwind and sure enough by the leeward mark we round in first place 13 seconds in front of Geant. Over the course of the rest of the race we continue to extend, finishing with a lead of almost a minute and a half ahead of Desjoyeaux's boat and Fred le Peutrec on Gitana XI.

Going into the final race Groupama is one point off the leader Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini but in this the webbing at the top of the staysail parts company with the sail and despite recovering well she finishes fourth. Second place overall and a near win in her first Grand Prix indicates that Cammas' team and their new steed is a force to be reckoned with. Such a result in their first ever Grand Prix on the new boat indicates they are upping the ante in what is already a highly competitive class.

The question remains will anyone be able to compete with the Groupama as Cammas' team better familiarise themselves with their new boat and develop her speed even further? If Cammas starts dominating the class again as he did last season, then it will not benefit the ORMA circuit at a time when many fear that this extraordinary circuit is going to implode.

Last season we saw significant sponsors such as Belgacom and Bayer withdraw the sponsorship of their trimaran campaigns and earlier this year long term sponsor Biscuits la Trinitaine pulled the plug on Marc Guilemot's campaign. For the last two seasons the ORMA circuit has been without a title sponsor following the withdrawal of 9 Telecom. In addition there are rumours that Sergio Tacchini is looking to pull out of the circuit as is Steve Ravussin's sponsor Banque Covefi at the end of this season.

The reasons are escalating costs - the new Groupama cost around Euros 3 million to build and she was not the most expensive - versus dwindling returns. Incredibly despite being one of the most gripping spectacles in yachting and Royale Productions creating top quality footage of each event the ORMA Grand Prix do not get anything like the television coverage they deserve and with no circuit sponsor there is no possibility of buying TV time.

In France I am convinced that the ORMA 60s are suffering from a case of over familiarity. While ORMA Grand Prix are outstanding spectacles and provide highly competitive racing between some of the world's fastest boats, such events have been running for almost 15 years now in France and one gets the impression a certain apathy has set in about the class particularly from the domestic media. The class is in urgent need of a shake-up, the skippers and crews in need of a fresh set of challenges, the media in need of a fresh story.

As an aside there are at present a number of high competitive boats up for sale including Bonduelle, Bayer and Biscuits la Trinitaine and now that it is something of a buyer's market for 60ft trimaran it would be a perfect time for some fresh blood to step into the class from overseas to take the French on at their own game.

In the meantime we look forward to getting Russell Coutts' impression of the class in due course...

More photos on the next pages...