In 2018, Francis Joyon will line up on the start line of the Route du Rhum (4th November 2018) aboard Idec Sport, the ultimate trimaran and Jules Verne Trophy holder. A race in which he has taken part on many occasions, but which continues to make him dream, at the age of 62. "I can't remember how many editions I've been in." he laughs, " but when you love, you don't count."
To maximise his chances against these brand new giant trimarans equipped with load-bearing appendages (Maxi Banque Populaire IX, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild or Macif), the skipper is going to make a few modifications to his multihull.
Idec Sport, a record of achievements to make you pale with envy
It was in 2006 that Idec Sport was launched, a 31.50 m (105 foot) long Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost (VPLP) design built at the Multiplast yard in Vannes under the name Groupama 3. Since then she has come a long way (holder of the Jules Verne Trophy from 2010 to 2012 and then again in 2016, winner of the last two editions of the Route du Rhum) and has proved to be a loyal ally of Francis Joyon since 2015.
Improving the foils
For the next Route du Rhum, Francis Joyon - in consultation with the boat's architects and Patrice Lafargue, President of the IDEC Group, has decided to equip his boat with load-bearing designs. This transformation will enable Idec Sport's performance to be maximised and to gain in stability, lightness and speed.
With the fashion for flying boats, Francis Joyon has studied different possibilities to replace his classic foils, with beak foils and load-bearing rudders, without hoping to fly "So much so that the increase in reinforcements needed to add truly load-bearing topsides would have thrown us into an infernal spiral, with a notable increase in sail area and mast height to compensate for the two tonnes of reinforcement on the structure. Instead, we have opted for a significant improvement to our current foils, which we are going to equip with bowsprits to increase their carrying capacity. This profound modification will be accompanied by the addition of rudders with horizontal, "T" shaped planes. This will considerably improve the boat's course stability, while at the same time providing a speed gain of around 3 to 4 knots depending on the point of sail. The floats will naturally be reinforced accordingly."
Regaining your youth
Idec's technical team will take advantage of the wintering of the boat to replace some old elements. "The mainsail carriage, for example, had never been replaced since the boat was launched 11 years ago. We're going to work on all the fittings to change the original equipment, which will result in a substantial weight saving and better fluidity in the manoeuvres."
On the programme, therefore, no major changes, but developments to make Idec Sport even more efficient. These transformations will be validated during the delivery to Nice (for Nice UltiMed) from Brittany.
"We're going to reinstall the famous bike, which, as we remember, helped Franck Cammas and Loïck Peyron, aboard this same boat, to win the Route du Rhum in 2010 (Groupama 3) and 2014 (Banque Populaire VII). The small mast has given us complete satisfaction from the start. It considerably lowers the boat's centre of gravity for better performance. As such it's not in question for this 2018 season" concludes Francis Joyon.
