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A watercolor at the base of the project
At the origin of this crazy project, we find Edith and Marc Frilet, from Marseille, who have always sailed. It was when they saw a watercolor painting of Alcyon that the idea came to them to rebuild this Houari steed dating from 1871. At that time, the Provencal yachting industry was in full swing, with houari-rigged steeds (the ancestor of the Marconi rigging) competing in fierce regattas with high financial stakes.
At a time when the merchant navy was still under sail, the most seasoned cap-horn sailors took part in regattas followed by the general public and source of very profitable bets. These regattas were held between Sète and San Remo, and the prize money could reach a quarter of the value of a boat, bringing together the elite of European yachting.
The rule was very free, and reminds the original principles of the current open rules. Indeed, the only constraint to respect was the length of the hull, which could not exceed 6, 9 or 13 meters depending on the class chosen. All extravagances were allowed, and it is enough to admire the spars of Alcyon to understand them. Her hull measures 8m at the waterline but her overall length is 21.50 meters. It is wide (3.80 meters) and displaces about 5 tons for a 600 kg ballast.
Its bowsprit measures nearly 7m and its boom exceeds 9m. Despite the fact that the houaris did not run above 15 knots, it was quite common for them to capsize, carried away by the excess power of an oversized sail.
The financial stakes were so high that the Houari were at the center of all the attention. They even had two rigs, one for breezes and another for light airs. It was customary for crews to change masts during the night between two days of racing, in order to adapt to the weather conditions of the following day. The organization of these regattas was very professionalized, and the Mediterranean calendar was adapted to the one of the regattas raced in the Solent, in order to allow the English to come and race in the southern basin.
A passion boat for a federative project in Marseille
It was during a family dinner that Edith and Marc Frilet decided to embark on the reconstruction of Alcyon. The project is all the more important to Edith because her great-grandfather was the last owner. The main problem was that there were no plans for the ship, which had been built almost two centuries ago. Literary research has uncovered some valuable clues, notably in Aureto e Aurasso (Zephir and Aquillon), a book written by Edith's grandfather, Alphonse Cyprien Fabre.
Hubert Poilroux's writings on flat boats and sandbaggers with sharp bottoms also provided valuable data. It is with all this information meticulously collected that Marc and Edith contacted Gilles Vaton, a famous naval architect, who will take several months to redesign the shape of the Alcyon.
A design far ahead of its time
Once the design plans were defined by Gilles Vaton, Edith and Marc turned to Daniel Scotto, a marine carpenter also based in Marseille. A talented man recognized by all, Daniel had long had his heart set on giving life to a Marseille houari. But the delicate alchemy between an oversized sail plan and the balance of the living works required another year of reflection and calculations.
Daniel Scotto had to adapt the righting moment to the current standards, while guaranteeing the safety of the ship, by adapting in particular a self-bailing cockpit. The discovery of a model of Houari in an antique shop made the research easier. Moreover, this model was intended for an educational use in a club, and was provided with all the details useful for reflection.
Straight bow, extra large master: Alcyon is the opposite of what English architecture did best at the time. It was under pressure from the English that the Houari disappeared in favor of the metric gauge
A 14-month construction site
The hull was built by Daniel Scotto and his team. The rigging and seamanship is entrusted to Patrick Moreau, while the Italian Beppe Zaoli is in charge of making the sails. The hull is composed of a multitude of wood species, including red cedar applied in strip-planking on oak or pine frames.
Launched in 2013, nothing has moved since, proof of the quality of construction. The operating instructions for such a unit were not easy to find. The absence of winches on deck makes maneuvering very physical. A crew of 8 is not too much to master all the maneuvers regulated by the force of the hoists.
Just like his elder brother, Alcyon has been racing the circuit, always with the same enthusiasm. "It's a boat that sails in a very different way, it heels very little but gives incredible sensations because it's flush with the water "Marc enthuses.
And the story is not ready to stop, as a new project to rebuild a houari is underway, with the "Ville de Marseille", which measured 27m overall for 265m2 of upwind sail. The goal is to have it sailing for the summer of 2024, when Marseille will host the Olympic sailing events.
