A successful first edition
The first edition of the Multihull Trophy took place in May 1980 and attracted 22 multihulls at the start of the four races raced over three days in the Bay of Quiberon. Among them, names that have marked the history of sailing and notably, the future winner of the OSTAR (English transat): the American Phil Weld on his trimaran Moxie, Eric Loizeau winner of this first edition on Gauloises IV or Eric Tabarly on the Paul Ricard foiler. He also broke the historic record for crossing the Atlantic in the same year, previously held by the schooner Atlantic led by the legendary Charlie Barr (1905). Twelve cruising multihulls also embarked on the adventure, including Iroquois, Hirondelle and Hobart.
If the race was so successful, it was because at that time, the only multihull gatherings were the OSTAR (which has been held every 4 years since 1960), the Route du Rhum in 1978 and Lorient-Les Bermudes-Lorient in 1979.
The rise of Multihulls
The Multihull Trophy has given impetus to the multihull world, particularly in France, first with the American school of architecture (Dick Newick, Walter Greene), then in Europe with the British Derek Kelsall, Nigel Irens, Phil Morrison, John Shuttleworth and the French Sylvestre Langevin, Xavier Joubert, Gilles Ollier, the Grail, Gilles Gahinet, Michel Joubert, Marc Lombard, Philippe Briand, Vincent Lauriot-Prévost & Marc van Peteghem (VPLP)..
All of them are working to optimise their multi-hull sailing yachts and to make them bigger and bigger, such as William Saurin by Eugène Riguidel (27.10 metres long), Charente Maritime II, Royale II, Formula Tag... A trend confirmed by the 1983 edition, which included 33 ocean-going yachts and 25 cruise races.
But unfortunately, this event came to a halt due to a disagreement between the various organising parties, as Marc Guillemot, one of the initiators of the project, explained to Bateaux.com "It stopped following a dispute between the sponsors and organisers who imposed a 60' boat size limit. A few years later, we saw the birth of the ORMA Grand Prix organised by Philippe Facques. These Grand Prix were a real opportunity for us sailors, for the architects for the shipyards"
Charente Maritime came to La Trinité/mer in 1982 with thirty other ocean-racing multihulls and twenty-nine cruiser-racing boats: Jean-François Fountaine however lost by 0.3 points to Marc Pajot on Elf Aquitaine - Jacques Vapillon
Relaunch the multihull "party
The Multihull "party" is what the former organisers used to call it. And it is this festival which will be reborn next year, from Tuesday 28th to Friday 31st August 2018 in the ports of Morbihan. An initiative explained by Marc Guillemot "We thought that this event reserved for all multihulls was missing from our landscape. What's more, as a young crew member of Patrick Morvan and then Mike Birch in the 80s, I always imagined doing this race again. As it no longer existed, it had to be relaunched. That's what we're doing with Dominic Bourgeois, Agnes Caradec and Martine Camus."
This competition, which will take place two months before the start of the Route du Rhum 2018, will above all be a friendly gathering for the skippers preparing to cross the Atlantic. A race that is set to become a permanent fixture in the ocean racing landscape, as Marc Guillemot explains "It is indeed our ambition, we have no room for error for this first edition. Changing caps is interesting, I see it as a challenge. Two elements reassure me, the support of the riders, the complementarity and the desire of each member of the organising team."
The Port of La Trinité was already hosting the Multihull Trophy - Yvon Fauconnier came aboard Umupro Jardin in 1983, a Phil Morrison design that transformed the architectural approach of ocean racing multihulls with its voluminous floats - Jacques Vapillon.
Bringing together the entire multihull family
With the construction of new Ultim boats, there will be 7 trimarans over 30 m to be on the market in 2018 (IDEC-Sport, Sodebo Ultim, Spindrift, Actual, MACIF, Gitana 17, Banque Populaire IX). There will be at least seven Multi50s (FenétreA-Mix Buffet, French Tech Rennes-Saint Malo, Réauté Chocolat, Arkema, Celia Village, Drékan Group, Solidaires en Peloton-ARSEP) to which must be added the maxi-trimaran Prince de Bretagne, the MOD-70s (Concise, Maserati, Phaedo...) and the former ORMA multihulls.
To which we must add other Route du Rhum contenders (Acapella, Friends & Lovers, Happy...), the Golden Oldies (Hydrofolie, PIR2, Moxie, Gordano Goose, Nova, Picardie Region, VSD...) and many others..
The boats will be sailing between Lorient and Vannes, via Quiberon La Trinité/Mer, the Gulf of Morbihan... While the larger multihulls will be taking part in big races, the smaller ones will be taking part in coastal courses.
Some skippers have already shown their interest in this race, such as Francis Joyon (IDEC Sport), Sébastien Josse (Gitana 17), Yann Guichard (Spindrift), Yves Le Blévec (Actual), Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire IX), Thomas Coville (Sodebo), Lionel Lemonchois (Prince of Brittany), Armel Tripon (Réauté Chocolat), Charlie Capelle (Acapella), or Loïck Peyron (Happy)..
