Code One launches

Second Ollier maxi-cat hits the water for The Race

The second of the Gilles Ollier designed maxi-cats - Club Med was the first - went in the water on Thursday evening at 2024. Launched in Vannes, where she was built by the Multiplast yard, Code One has another international crew. Joining skipper Loick Peyron will be two former Whitbread skippers, American Skip Novak and Swede Roger Nilson. Nilson was most recently the navigator aboard the third placed Swedish Match in the last Whitbread. The rest of the crew currently includes Julien Cressant, Xavier Dagault, Loïck Le Mignon, Jean-Philippe Saliou and Stéphane Peyron as cameraman.
The programme is for the boat to remain in Vannes until Thursday next week, then sail to La Trinité-sur-Mer. The team will spend a month there working the boat up. The 2500 miles qualification requirement for The Race will be completed during the voyage down to the Mediterranean start in Monaco, sailing via the Azores and Marseille. Although a sistership to Club Med, Code One differs in some details, they've added a winch at the foot of the mast, but dispensed with the runner winch, added protective cockpit bulwarks and got 50 cm less length at the stern. But the biggest news will be who's paying for it - still no announcement as to the sponsor.