Can you present us your boat and what you have optimized on it?
The boat is from 2007, designed by Owen Clark for Mike Golding. It was built in New Zealand. I bought it from Michel Desjoyeaux who himself bought it from Enda O'Conneen after his dismasting. The boat was in Port Laforet at Mer Agitée, finished, ready to sail.
So the boat I bought was structurally finished. We have changed the type of rigging. We put a wing mast with outrigger. We moved the mast foot back one meter. It's a proto mast that looks like that of SMA - we have the right on this older boat that takes advantage of the anteriority clause that says we have the right to put a mast with the maximum draft it has already had. As a result, it was necessary to make the chainplates for the outrigger rods. After that we made lift-up rudders, because originally they were vaulted rudders. It is lighter, more reliable, easier to handle. It is something that already existed on SMA, MONIN and Initiatives C?ur.
We have put on foils that are the big brothers of those of Initiatives Coeur. We took the moulds and were able to open the tip and shaft because they were two different moulds. The entry of the foils on the boat is no longer horizontal. Structurally we couldn't keep these entrances to get the space in the boat, otherwise we had to break everything. And in addition, the Mer Forte design office thought that upwind it would make it possible to have a higher anti-drift torque and in the soft, to retract the foil and to have only the wing depth that touches the water. So very little drag in light airs.
The fittings were changed, the coffee grinder was turned in the cockpit to drive the 4 winches with the same column - before there were only 2 winches connected to the coffee grinder on the 6 winches. As a result, two of them were removed and all the others were coupled. Once again, we wanted to make it simple, light and reliable.
The old mast bulkhead was kept for the foil well structure. With a look in the middle to read the rake setting that only moves 5°. It doesn't seem like much, but it has a real impact on the trim of the boat and therefore on the speed.
At the time of dismasting, the mast slipped and opened the entire deck. We had to redo the whole front of the bridge. Four days before the boat went down to Les Sables, the bridge was still open!
In the keel well, we have two hydraulic cylinders. In next year's IMOCA regulations, we will have to have a keel lock system. With my two cylinders, if one breaks, the other is used as a block.
On the design side, we sanded the whole interior and saved 25kg of dust. The sanding operation took us two to six days.
With all the lightening we've done, despite the addition of foils, the boat is lighter than ever. It weighs only 8 tons, whereas at the time it was 8.3 tons. Not to mention the moment it belonged to Enda. He had added seats, a chart table... a lot of weight that was quickly removed.
Behind them, the 3 ballast compartments were removed - the boat was heavily ballasted before the foils - but kept their lower part for the structure. That's a storage volume. From now on, the ballasts are on the sides, in the middle and at the back.
Everything is simpler and lighter, it's easier to maintain so it goes in the direction of reliability and money. I claim to have the hydrofoil boat with the lowest budget.
Can you tell us what the range of use of the foils is?
Whatever the type of foil, they are there to lighten the boat from the reaching. When we wanted to put in foils, we looked at what type of foil could support the boat's structure. Then we looked for available molds or existing foils. We found existing foils, but some didn't want to sell them. As it was necessary to be consistent with the budget I had, we opted for small but fairly versatile foils. Less extreme than on PRB for example. Unlike some of them, these foils will do the Vendée Globe (unless there is damage). Not as Bureau Vallée, which has to change foil between now and the Vendée Globe, for example.
Does the boat meet your expectations?
The boat remains perfectly manageable. It is a self-supporting rig and the boom is retreated, so gybing is not a problem. The boat is light, you get feelings quickly, it is very pleasant to sail. Mich' Dej'[Michel Desjoyeaux] came to sail with us in training and he too thinks the boat is light. And a light boat goes for performance. But that's not why he's performing so well. You have to know how to tuck the sails in and get the foils out at the right time.
As we missed a little bit of this "confrontation" aspect when we were in Les Sables-d'Olonne, we sailed quite a bit in Lorient against Fabrice Amedéo. Gildas Mahé was with us, he constantly had one eye on foil adjustment, another on sails and a third on performance. It allowed us to make the abacus we were missing. Especially since we also have the foil rake adjustment. There are very few of us to have that, it seems to me that there are only 4 of us, which is a new setting authorized this year for IMOCAs. By choosing to manufacture our foils, we did everything directly. It's a rake adjustment with ropes, not with cylinders like on Initiatives Coeur, for a matter of weight and money. The advantage of cylinders is that they can install sensors to determine the adjustment. So I put a look in the foil well to see the adjustment with a small ruler.
Is the boat at 100% of its potential?
We would have liked to train more. We have seen that in terms of lightness, we can still win. For example, there is still the old front ballast, we could remove it and gain 150kg. On a boat that weighs 8 tons, this is not negligible. When removing it, we have to keep the lower part, which is structural, and find a way to go up through the hatch. I'm not very tall. For the moment it's easy as soon as we take it off it won't be the same..
We have almost all the new sails. If we're not at 100% capacity, it's more me than the boat. But I have learned a lot in recent weeks while sailing in Lorient.
Then it's sure it's not a moped like SMA, like Romain's or Yannick's boat. They know their boats by heart, everything is already done with the previous project.
We have everything to build. That's also what's exciting about my project. We have a lot to build physically, but also behind a computer. Throwing myself into a 4 e Vendée Globe just by having a boat and sailing simply, I wasn't into that. To start building a new boat, I couldn't afford it. So we did a project to improve the boat. I don't know what my performance will be in the 2018 Route du Rhum, but whatever it is, we're in a learning and development policy until the next Vendée Globe.
Today I don't have many strangers. Everything is simple and works well.
Vincent Rioux told me yesterday that he found hydrofoil boats easier. There is a spirit of lightness. As soon as we are reaching, the boat lifts slightly - not like Charal either. As a result the boat is well balanced, there is less friction on the hull, it's easier. By flat seas at 20 knots, the boat is easy. It rarely happens offshore, but well..
What other optimisations are planned for the Vendée Globe?
Apart from this ballast thing before, I have a carbon keel that I'd like to switch to a steel keel, but it's 100,000 euros more. It is a budget to think about. I'm going to try to sail a lot. The deckchairs are one thing, but training is also essential. I hope that next year I will have more time for training sessions by the day or over 2-3 days at sea.
What is your objective for the 2018 Route du Rhum?
To reach the end, and if possible to reach the first third. I did 7 e in 2010 so I would like to do better. It's not just a validation for my Vendée Globe, the ranking is a goal in its own right.
Of course everything will depend on the conditions. I'm not getting into the game of "foiler VS non foiler". SMA makes 2 e Jacques Vabre style, he doesn't have a foil. He can be in the top 5 or even the top 3 in this Route du Rhum. On a round the world race, it may be different, there are big tacks of several days when the foil takes the lead. But on a Route du Rhum it's more versatile: there's VMG, upwind..
What will be the difficulty for you in terms of strategy, weather or even personally?
The big difficulty is not related to the boat, but to the course. The start with 123 boats, the exit from the Channel will be more or less windy, we don't yet know what we're going to be eaten from. The exits from the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay are important phases for the race strategy after and will dictate part of the rest until Guadeloupe.
What I most apprehend is to have a good apprehension, a competitor's apprehension. I'm less apprehensive about this boat than my previous one. I trust the boat. Then I say that, but I have to be careful. If I have any damage...
It's your three e Route du Rhum, can you tell us about the most memorable experience you had during this race?
My first Route du Rhum is full of symbols. I arrived in Guadeloupe, and the first boat that came to meet me was the guy I had done my first transatlantic cruise with.
My second Route du Rhum route I gave up. I was with Akena Véranda on a 40-foot boat called "du Rhum au Globe". Everyone told me: "A rum is nothing compared to what you've already done before". It's so nothing that I gave up. It is a proof of humility. Whatever races we do, there can be damage.
It is a good memory and a less good one, but the less good ones are also used for the future.
Every damage, every distress is experienced. I dismasted a Jacques Vabre, we have to think about all this. When everything goes well, you don't learn much.
That's why I'm a little apprehensive. I gave up four years ago. I don't want to give up again. I think about all this before, but once at sea I don't think about it anymore.
Could you describe the Route du Rhum in two words?
For me it's "Florence Artaud" and "Laurent Bourgnon". I was lucky to be at the finish of the second Route du Rhum route that Laurent won. I remember Laurent arriving at the hotel barefoot. He had won a Route du Rhum, he was euphoric, super nice, he said hello to everyone
I brought the boat back from Guadeloupe with Thomas Coville. I tasted rum on that side, behind the scenes as a preparer. Sam Davies had brought MacArthur's boat back. We were the two boats side by side.
Florence Artaud's victory also touched me very much. She made sailing accessible, demonstrating that it is not only for macho people, that women can also win.
