Gautier and MacArthur take Grand Prix

Foncia-Kingfisher wins the ORMA's circuit's Fecamp Grand Prix in variable conditions

Superb finish for Banque Populaire

Making constant progress throughout the event, Banque Populaire finished the regatta with a great day (1st, 2nd and 3rd in the final three races), enabling her to climb on the podium. The Lombard design seemed to shine in particular in winds greater than 12-13 knots. They were starting weell, made good tactical choices and had a motivated crew - all of this helped the blue tri step out of the shadows. Skipper Lalou Roucayrol (below) now needs to find his multihull's pace in light winds.

But there is no miracle, in her performance. Her crew spent two weeks intensely training in Lorient in August and this appears to have paid off, proving once again that whether it is Banque Populaire or any of the other boats, these high tech fliers can only unlock their full potential with lots of training and systematic analysis and development of their performance. This is what the 'Banq Pop' has been trying to do, even bringing on specialist coaches like an America's Cup or Olympic campaign.



This way the fleet is moving forward and the boats are becoming increasingly level: Out of the seven races, five different boats ( Fujifilm, Foncia, Groupama, Bonduelle and Banque Populaire) each won at least one race and six of the seven boats have shown sufficient potential to do win. The 60ft trimaran is no longer a one or two horse race.

This observation is confirmed by architect Benoït Cabaret, who works with Nigel Irens. "The boats of the new generation are just about the same. Some are better suited for offshore racing and others for Grand Prix events, but they mostly lack reliability. The crews did not have enough time to test the boats, and none has yet reached 100% of their potential.

"A good example of this is Fujifilm's performance in Cagliari : despite a very irregular speed, she managed three good races. The same is true of Banque Populaire, whose performance varies a lot as well. But the boats seemed to be getting up to speed faster. Previously it always took about a year or even two for a boat to become competitive. Now it seems that only a few months are required."

The next 9 Telecom ORMA Grand Prix takes place in Zeebrugge on 14-16 September. In this two new multihulls will enter the scene Jean-Luc Nelias' new Belgacom, a Marc van Peteghem/Vincent Lauriot Prevost design and Sergio Tacchini a Nigel Irens design for the glamourous Karine Fauconnier.