New race for the maxi-multihulls

Designer club together to conjure up a new event from Vannes round Iceland and back

A new short-distance race aimed exclusively at maxi-multihulls was today announced at the Salon Nautique in Paris by Le Morbihan’s Regional Council.

The new race will take place in June 2007, starting from the Morbihan on France's Brittany coast and will then head for Iceland and back - a course of around 3,200 miles/6000km.

Since The Race was launched by Bruno Peyron the man responsible for the recent generation of maxi-multihulls, the only race course available has been round the world and the great ocean records such as New York to Lizard. An appropriate event has been lacking where the boats could race at close quarters. Once this had been identified naval architects Vincent Lauriot-Prévost/Marc Van Peteghem and the Gilles Ollier Design Team got their heads together at the start of the Oryx Cup (Qatar) in February 2005 to look at setting up such an event.

These two firms of architects are based in Vannes and with the exception of Steve Fossett's Cheyenne have designed all of the 32-38m long maxi-multihulls already afloat or shortly to be launched: the three sisterships - Club Med, Innovation Explorer ( Orange I, Kingfisher II) and Team Adventure, Geronimo, Orange II and Groupama III. In addition all these boats were built at Chantier Multiplast at the Pôle d’Excellence Nautique in Vannes, France.

Since Commodore Explorer (also designed and built by Ollier/Multiplast) skippered by Bruno Peyron set the reference time for the Jules Verne Trophy back in 1993, they have continued to evolve a majority of the pioneering work eminating from Vannes. It thus seemed reasonable that a race for the G-Class boats should be run from their birthplace.

As Yann Pennfornis, architect and member of the Gilles Ollier Design Team puts it: "We know these boats inside out, not to mention their skippers, crews and sponsors. We had no bother contacting them to ask them what they thought of our idea. They returned highly positive vibes which encouraged us to pursue the idea. We started to set the ball rolling with the local institutions and private partners to get them involved from the start. We did likewise with other ocean-racing experts to offer competitors an ad-hoc sporting and logistical organisation. Once again the idea did not fall on deaf ears."

Janick Vigo, Deputy Mayor of Vannes also representing François Goulard, Minister of Research and Further Education said: "This event is the opportunity to highlight the true technologic know how of our town and is in the right way of the development of our nautical activity where designers and builder of that fantastic boats are located…”

Unlike record attempts which require the teams to be on stand-by for weeks and often months so the Maxi Multi Race where there is a fixed start date will take three weeks maximum. The aim is for the fleet to be in Vannes a week before the start, race a prologue off the entrance to the Golfe of Morbihan, in Quiberon Bay, the start gun going in mid-June 2007. That way the competitors will be able to round Iceland around the summer solstice on 21 June as they cross the arctic circle (66°33 North). These machines should be able to cover the 3,200 mile distance in 7 or 8 days. It will be a technical and tactical course, requiring the boats to sail at close quarters.

As Bruno Peyron, skipper of Orange II comments: "Heading towards the great north, it’s truly exciting. Sailing at 40 knots near icebergs on these magic boats, we will get some nice shots. That race is a good opportunity and I am supporting it as it is helping the development of the G-Class fleet."

Roger Lair, sailing sponsorship manager for Groupama added: "We are exited to launch our new 32m trimaran Groupama III and the chance to fight against Orange II. Well done for this original course. We will all do our best to ensure the success of this new event”.

Franck Proffit, co-skipper of Groupama commented: "With this race we must try to internationalise the fleet. It’s the right event to complete with the giant records program.”

Jacques Caraes, Jules Verne Trophy holder aboard Orange II said "Four days with seven with crew in close contact races! The boats are going to be pushed hard.”

So the initial impetus is underway. From now on, the Morbihan Regional Council and the town of Vannes have confirmed their support for the event and will set up the necessary framework and infrastructure to develop and host the event, (pontoons and services) for these giant boats. Meanwhile Chantier Multiplast will be making its facilities available for the technical logistics support required by the boats. Finally, the team which is behind the whole project is in contact with a private partner which has expressed a high degree of interest in the race, the first multihull race over the arctic circle.

Date: June 2007
Course. Vannes (Quiberon Bay) - Iceland (Arctic circle 66°33’ N) - Vannes (Quiberon Bay)
Distance. Around 3,200 miles (6000 km)
Race time. 7-8 days