One radical boat

We take a cursory look at Yves Parlier's newly launched 60ft catamaran

Yesterday at Gujan-Mestras in southwestern France's Arcachon harbour came the moment that many multihull enthusiasts (including thedailysail) have been holding our breath for - the launch of Yves Parlier's latest creation, Médiatis Région Aquitaine.

The new boat is ground breaking in many ways. Parlier anticipates racing her against the current crop of 60ft trimarans and already has her entered in this year's Transat (formerly the OSTAR). Yet his new boat is not only a 60ft catamaran but also has twin rigs mounted in the hulls side-by-side like the late Team Philips.

Conventional wisdom has it - and this was born out time and time again during Formula 40 races during the late 1980s - that for a given length a trimaran is faster than a catamaran. In light conditions a trimaran has less hull in the water, lower wetted surface area and drag while in big conditions its extra beam provides more righting moment and power. Upwind on a trimaran there is the possibility of getting some forestay tension as the rig has a hull beneath it.

Were the new Médiatis Région Aquitaine conceived by anyone other than Yves Parlier then everyone would be laughing it out of court. Parlier, it should be remembered, is one of the most exceptional individuals in our sport. He is an accomplished and highly successful sailor with three Vendee Globes under his belt and a string of Open 60 wins such as the 1992 Europe 1 New Man STAR, the 1993 Route du Cafe (now the Transat Jacques Vabre), the 1994 Route du Rhum, etc. He is a previous winner of the Mini Transat and the Solitaire du Figaro.

Yet combined with his ability on the water is his ability as an innovator. It was Parlier who was the first to put a 60ft trimaran rig onto an Open 60. Shroud base not wide to rig a rotating wingmast? Simple, add deck spreaders. His radical Aquitaine Innovations was the ground breaking Open 60 of the early 1990s.

It was Parlier's innovation that launched him to demi-God status in sailing circles during the last Vendee Globe. Into the Indian Ocean and Parlier was leading the race, but disaster struck when his Open 60 dismasted. Instead of retiring as all normal mortals would, he pulled into Bluff, New Zealand where he proceeded to put his degree in composite engineering to good use. He built a makeshift oven using materials he had on board and rejoined the severed carbon spar (under Vendee rules you are not allowed to receive outside assistance). He then proceeded to step the mast on his own without a crane and rerig it - an impressive feat in itself, before sailing Aquitaine Innovations more than half way around the world back to Les Sables d'Olonne. During this time he ran out of food and was forced to eat seaweed.

If anyone has the right to be described as the 'modern day' Eric Tabarly it is Yves Parlier. Equally understandable is why Parlier is nicknamed 'L'Extraterreste' in French sailing circles.

We will be looking at the design of Parlier's new catamaran in more detail soon. Aside from it being a bi-rigged catamaran it is also much wider than previous catamarans with a beam of 15.05m (almost 50ft) and weighs just 4.5 tonnes (more than a tonne lighter than the nearest 60ft trimaran).

Although this may be something of a red herring the hull shapes are also fairly left field and ressembles some speed sailing boats we have seen. The inspiration for the unusual stepped hull and cut-away stern sections comes from seaplanes that must reach high speed on the water enabling them to take off. The performance of the hulls is not limited to length and the team have established that at 40 knots their hulls have four times less drag than an equivalent non-planing hull form.

A significant difference to the Team Philips project is that Parlier has been in no rush to get this boat built to be ready for one particular event and has had time to build scale models and carry out a significant test program before creating the final boat.

The boat will remain in Larros harbour for the rest of this week before undergoing her first sea trials. Thedailysail will be having a prolonged crawl around her imminently and will, of course, be reporting back.

More images of the boat on pages two and three