Peyron's new one design

The Race organiser Bruno Peyron tells The Daily Sail about his new one design and updates us about The Race 2004

Bruno Peyron, creator of The Race and the man responsible for the latest generation of maxi-multihulls known as the G-class, has released details of the new one design offshore racing catamaran destined for The Race Tour in 2006.

The idea for the boat is to be an 'entry level' maxi-multihull offering round the world potential. Peyron's plan was to create this new boat using a 'super' design team including all the leading creative brains behind the existing G-class maxi-multihulls such as Gilles Ollier & Associations, Nigel Irens, Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost and Marc Lombard. In the end the new boat has been mostly conceived by Ollier and his team who were responsible for the three 110 footers built for The Race and van Peteghem/Prevost who are the most prolific designers in the ORMA 60ft trimaran class.

They form the design team with structural engineering expert Herve Devaux and Peyron says that he has asked the design team to bring on board someone like Tornado medallist and designer Yves Loday, who has good knowledge of one-design rules.

"I wanted this boat to be one design but to last 10-15 years with a very high level of identity," Peyron told The Daily Sail. "It is a very fast catamaran, able to reach more than 600 miles per day, but very simple, safe and strong and the look is very innovative."

The boat will be 80ft long by 45ft wide and will weigh 8 tonnes. Looking at the boat we are reminded of the racing catamaran, VSD, which Derek Kelsall designed for Manx multihull sailor Nick Keig back in the early 1980s where the concept was more or less a trimaran with the central hull clear of the water. The new OD80 has a similar central pod that Peyron says is long, very strong, but very light in design. The idea is an exceptionally good one - one advantage trimarans have over catamarans is that it is possible to get better forestay tension because the chainplate attaches to hull rather than crossbeam. The flying central hull configuration neatly solves this.

Unlike the present G-class catamarans where there is a cockpit in each hull to which sail controls are duplicated, the new OD80 will have a single cockpit, similar to a monohull. "This central pod way of sailing is aimed in the direction of newcomers, very good sailors coming from monohulls, so it is very easy to understand," explains Peyron.
The concept also allows the forward crossbeam to be removed - one of the principle design ideas attempted with Pete Goss' Team Philips. This again is highly desirable as structurally the foreward beam is very complex not only due to the forestay loads, but because it is often subject to crashing through big seas. It will be Herve Devaux's job to ensure that the same bow breaking problems that befell Team Philips are not repeated with the new boat. Peyron says that the torsional stresses of the bows at the main beam are a lot less than the bows on Olivier de Kersauson's maxi-tri Geronimo.

The rig will be a wingmast, although definitely not in high-modulus carbon fibre and the only other real novelty will be the rudders which will be transom-hung so that they can be replaced in the event of them being broken during a collision. Peyron says you could even beach the boat! Similarly for security there will be an engine in the two main hulls. Sails are likely to be limited to reduce costs, although how this will be done has still to be decided.

There will be accommodation in both the main hulls and central hull - and it is presumed this arrangement will be similar to ENZA New Zealand where there was the accommodation in the 'God Pod' comprised the nav station and communications area and was where Peter Blake and Robin Knox-Johnston used to bunk down.

While the overall concept for the boat has been agreed upon, work is now being carried out on the detail.

Peyron is still examining how the OD80 will be built. He is keen that the build of the boat has a global feel to it. One possibility was to have separate builders around the world, in Europe, the States and Asia, but this idea has been discounted because there would be too much variation in the build. An alternative is that components of the boat are constructed at different yards around the world.

The target price for the boat is Euros 2 million (roughly £1.3 million) which Peyron says is about 25% less than a top 60ft trimaran. His expectation is to see 6-8 OD80s on the start line of The Race Tour. He ideally would like to see eight OD80s and eight G-class maxis on the start line of that event.

At present none have been sold, but 2-3 are very close to signing, Peyron says.




The Race 2004

The next running of The Race, sailing non-stop around the world in maxis - be they G-class multihulls or monohulls - is to kick off on 29 February 2004 and will start and finish in Marseilles. Peyron says this time there will not be the distraction of having to pass through Cook Strait, nor will there be a 48 hour penalty imposed for those who are forced to stop in port to make repairs. Simply stopping will be penalty enough. Peyron is considering a waypoint somewhere like the island of Fernando de Noronha off the coast of Brazil, as was used in the Volvo Ocean Race, to keep the boats together as they head towards the Southern Ocean.

At present apart from the announcement of Marseilles there would seem to be little infrastructure in place for The Race and as occurred prior to The Race in 2001, this has made it easy picking for the sceptics. But with Peyron one needs faith.

"Yes, it is like last time," Peyron says with a sigh. "It is the same people who were saying last time "no boats will be built", and then when they were built and then “no boats will come back" and everyone came back and everything and everything. They were the ones who said we wouldn’t be able to raise money, yet we succeeded in raising $25 million for our first event. So what can I say? It is very easy to say, I have no money, but last time I succeeeded to run, with my team coming from nowhere, The Race PLUS building the two first boats [ Club Med and Innovation Explorer] and having the first two syndicates in the world. I now have succeeded to build another one [Peyron has a new maxi-cat under construction - see below]. So maybe we will not succeed perfectly, but maybe we are not in the worst position to succeed again.

"The difference between this time and last time is that I don't want to waste my time trying to prove myself to people who don't want to believe what is going to happen. If they don’t believe it will be, like last time, they will be a bit surprised. Life is never easy as you know. Maybe they can give us a little bit of credit in the way we succeeded to do it last time."

Concerning the funding of The Race this time, Peyron says he wants three major partners. He has an agreement in principle with one and a second not far off.

Exactly who the entries will be also remains up in the air at the moment. Peyron's new boat will be on the start line, as, it is believed, will be Olivier de Kersauson's maxi-tri Geronimo. Steve Fossett is very interested, but looking for a sponsor to replace PlayStation as is Tracy Edwards for Maiden II. Offshore Challenges are looking to charter or ideally sell Kingfisher 2. Team Adventure, still subject to insurance claim issues following her bow breakage 18 months ago, may be sold to another Polish team led, once again, by Roman Paszke.

"I am not worried, but it is not a surprise," says Peyron about the state of the potential syndicates. "Even before the America's Cup or the Volvo some of the syndicates had to work until the end to get their budgets finished. That will be the case forever more..."

Peyron also mentions that there is an additional campaign that is likely to be building a big G-class trimaran for The Race Tour in 2006 and if that proceeds then it is likely they will find a boat to take part in The Race as well.

A particularly interesting development for The Race or The Race Tour is the prospect of the new generation of giant monohulls taking part be it Gordon Kay's new Bols, Frank Pong's new 115ft Juan Kouyoumdjian design currently in build at DK Yachts or Bob Miller's new Mari Cha, due to be launched this summer in Cherbourg.

Peyron says he is unsure if these new monohulls will be developed enough in time for The Race, but he knows they will come on board at some point in the future. "They have nothing to play with at the moment. We are the first one trying to take care of them. It is time to take care of these fantastic machines." He says it is possible that the new giant monohulls may only take part in a portion of The Race Tour if that is all they want to do - he is ultimately flexible about this.

The Far East

Peyron's favourite place at present is Malaysia where he visited Langkawi close to the border with Thailand to discuss a possible stopover for The Race Tour. Peyron says he was both surprised and delighted about the level of interest in his new round the world race during back to back meeting he had, organised by a group from the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

"It was very interesting. My feeling is that it is growing a bit faster than what I thought. There were people jumping at the opportunity to form a committee to try to get the stopover of The Race Tour in their country."

Peyron says he was going to visit China too, but didn't on this occasion because of the SARS epidemic. For The Race Tour he plans to have a major Asian stopover in either Malaysia or China - and whichever doesn't get this will get a pitstop. He was also discussing the possibility of a Malaysian entry in The Race Tour.

He feels that the prospects are extremely good for Malaysia to enter offshore yacht racing at the highest level. "Malaysia was a very famous seafaring country and they have to relearn about the sea. This can teach them in a fast way. When you realise what they have done with Formula 1 - they said "let's build the most professional circuit in the world", and today the champions consider that the Malaysian circuit is one of the best in the world".


A new giant

At present Peyron has a new maxi-catamaran in build at Multiplast in Vannes. No technical details are yet publicly available on how much of an evolution this new beast will be over the last generation although it is believed to be around 120ft long.

Currently construction is three weeks ahead of schuedule and many of the major components have been built. These will shortly be moved to Multiplast's new shed next door where the boat will be assembled.

What's your view on The Race and The Race Tour? Is there a place for the Volvo Ocean Race and The Race Tour? Send us an email with your thoughts - click here to open Outlook or here to contact us through a direct message box.