New de Kersauson tri launched

Codenamed K2000, this 111ft three hulled monster was dropped in the water on Sunday

The boat was built by Chantier Multiplast who were responsible for the construction of the three Gilles Ollier & Associates-designed cats such as Club Med. The build technique used for K2000 is much the same as the big cats - the main hull and floats are constructed from pre-preg carbon fibre and Nomex honeycomb core), cured at 120°C, as are beams.

The standing rigging is simple sloop design with retractable baby stay. The 130ft wingmast rotates on a titanium joint resting on the forward beam. This is fairly low tech compared to the 60ft tris which now have masts which cant not only athwartships, but fore and aft as well. De Kersauson has shrewdly planned to introduce these improvements at a later stage once he has covered some tens of thousands of miles with the boat in this configuration.

In the sail wardrobe are three gennakers, a Solent jib and a staysail fabricated out of Cuben Fibre and made by Incidences, France. The main sail is 378m² and fitted with three reefs. The Solent is 192m².

Unlike the 60ft trimarans, K2000 has only one rudder in her central hull and is not designed to be sailed on the leeward float alone. This is also a function of the power generated by her righting moment - while the 60ft trimarans are 'square' in terms of their length:beam ratio (a function of the class' length restriction), K2000 is not nearly as beamy for her length.

Down below there are two sail lockers and berths for 14 crew and two galleys. Remarkably her 20 tonnes displacement is similar to the Ollier cats.

De Kersauson's new boat will be staying opposite the Multiplast yard for a few days for the finishing touches to be put to her fitting out. The mast has to be stepped, sails put on board, and the deck gear finished off before she can set sail. "Everything we have done up until now will be put to the test at sea. We'll still have one or two butterflies until the trials are over. But I'm confident. I'll be on board until around about 10th August," commented project manager Yann Pennfornis.

For her vital statistics see page 3...