It took more than a year of work, between 2013 and 2014, to transform Olivier de Kersauson's former Geronimo from 2001 - stored in Brest for 6 years, into Sodebo Ultim': a new, lighter and sleeker central hull of 31 meters (compared to 34 as a crew), new bows for the floats, reinforcement of the link arms (to accommodate foils), a new mast (in the molds of the former Groupama 3) and a 6-ton weight reduction. Finally, the foils, the daggerboard and the rudders come from the Oracle Racing trimaran USA17, winner of the 2010 America's Cup. Thus, the new boat is much more versatile and performs well in all points of sail.
This rehabilitation project was described by the skipper as " a real challenge ". All his expertise, linked to his 10 years of solo records, has been brought to the boat. "With this very powerful boat (4 meters wider than its predecessor), where the efforts are enormous, I feel like I have rediscovered another way of sailing. This will be the boat's first race, but my two transatlantic races on board this summer (including one solo) have given me confidence." .
Before it became Sodebo Ultim', the boat was born in 2001 under the name of Géronimo and required 100,000 hours of work. Owned by Olivier de Kersauson, she marked her era as a precursor of transoceanic maxi-trimarans designed for crewed records. It will lead to the construction of Groupama 3 and then Banque Populaire V. These three boats have successively beaten the Jules Verne Trophy round the world record, reducing the time from 63 to 45 days between 2004 and 2012.
For a year, the boat has been in the hands of the Multiplast yard, its original construction site, in Vannes, to be modified so that it can be sailed single-handed. This is a great proof of Thomas Coville's confidence in Olivier de Kersauson, who took him on board in 1997 for the Jules Verne Trophy. Re-launched in 2014 and christened by Olivier de Kersauson (read Thomas Coville and Olivier de Kersauson christened Sodebo Ultim ), the trimaran will line up at the start of the Route du Rhum 2014.
After colliding with a cargo ship in the 2014 Route du Rhum ( read Route du Rhum - Thomas Coville's misfortune ), the boat went back to Lorient for six months at Océan Développement for the reconstruction of the bow of the central hull and the reconstruction of a float.
A system of automatic release of the mainsail
"This one is specific to single-handed sailing and is more advanced than what we had before with a progressive or radical mode. Equipped with a sensor inside the boat, the release is linked to the heeling of the boat. Roughly speaking, at 9° the central hull comes out of the water and we have programmed the mainsail release at 15°, where the boat is only on a float or on a foil. This is an important safety feature."
Great favorite at the start of the 2015 Jacques Vabre, he only finished in 2nd place, only 7 hours behind Macif, after having led half of the race ( read Sodebo Ultim' takes 2nd place in the Transat Jacques Vabre ).
Finally, after a last visit to the shipyard to prepare for the record attempt on the solo round the world race, the boat has been fitted with classic rudders and the cockpit has been fitted with a tubular frame to be closed.
It is with this superb trimaran that Thomas Coville beat the record for the solo round the world race in 2016 in 49 days.
| Type of boat | Trimaran |
| Length | 31 m |
| Width | 21,20 m |
| Draft | 2,50 m |
| Air draft | 37 m |
| Upwind canopy | 444 m2 |
| Downwind canopy | 663 m2 |
| Materials | Carbon, honeycomb, epoxy |
| Old name of the boat | Geronimo |
| Architect | Cabinet Van Peteghem-Lauriot-Prévost / Team Sodebo |
| Job site | Multiplast platform / Mast : Lorima |
| Launch date | 2014 |
