At the end of the 1970s, ocean racing underwent a revolution with the arrival of the A'Capella trimarans, designed by American architects Dick Newick and Walter Greene. These boats, among the fastest of their time, marked a turning point in the history of sailing by beating monohulls.
The most famous of these, Olympus Photo, skippered by Mike Birch, won the 1st edition of the Route du Rhum in 1978, forever inscribing its name in the annals of transoceanic events. Of a series of 5 trimarans, Friends & Lovers was the 2nd model built. Renamed Bilfot after its restoration in 1998 by skipper Jean-Paul Froc, the little yellow trimaran is still sailing. Her owner tells us about the history of this legendary trimaran series and his encounter with Friends & Lovers.
How did wood-epoxy construction, an innovation at the time, play an important role in the performance of the A'Capella trimarans built by Newick and Green?
I think wood-epoxy construction must date back to the 70s. It was introduced by the Americans when they started building small 9-10 m trimarans called Val 31s, designed by Dick Newick. There were 7 or 8 of them built, and they performed very well in various regattas, even if there were a few dramatic accidents.
When Michel Etevenon decided to create the Route du Rhum, they banned these small boats as too dangerous. Their size was limited to a minimum of 11 meters. That's why Walter Green and Dick Newick designed a series of slightly longer trimarans, the A'Capella. They made Olympus, which was basically the boat of Walter Green and Johan Green, his wife, who is herself very active in construction and sailing. They took the boat to France and took part in the Isle of Wight round-the-world race in England.
After their racing season in Europe, it was time to bring the boat home. So they asked Mike Birch, a skipper they knew, to bring Olympus back to the United States. That's when Walter told him about a new race, the Route du Rhum, which ran solo from Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre. Mike took the boat; they found a small sponsorship and that's how he entered the Route du Rhum, winning that first edition in 1978.
Were there any differences between Mike Birch's Olympus and the Bilfot, formerly known as Friends & Lovers?
Building on the success of the Olympus, they decided to build more A'Capella. There were 5 in all. The second was Friends & Lovers, skippered by Phil Stegall, an American yachtsman who wanted to do the Ostar, the English single-handed transatlantic race between Plymouth and Newport.
A few modifications had been made, in particular to the rig, which was more slender. She was transported to Cherbourg in France, then set sail in the Transat and finished 3rd in real time and 1st in her class. So much for number 2.
As for number 3, it was called Acapella. In the meantime, Olympus Photo disappeared, was sold to a French skipper and turned over off Auray. And then Walter didn't have a boat anymore, so they rebuilt number 4 with his wife. It was called Friends. Finally, there was one last trimaran in this series, a little later, which stayed in the United States and did very few big regattas.
How did you come to meet the Friends & Lovers trimaran?
Back then, when I was 24, I was already sailing, but on monohulls: long, heavy, narrow boats. That was all I knew. In 1978, I came to see the boats in the Saint-Malo basin, at the start of the Route du Rhum. I was completely dazzled by the multis, without really understanding them. For me, a boat was a hull, period.
And there were monsters. All the big names in sailing were there: Riguidel, Kersauson, Pajot... In the Bassin Vauban, under the ramparts, there was a little yellow boat. I said to myself: " It's not possible, he's not going to cross the Atlantic in that, it's too small! He'll never get his boat past Cap Fréhel ". It was a funny boat. I said, it's an ugly little yellow duckling! It wasn't really beautiful, but it was endearing.
Back then, there wasn't really any Internet. But I did follow the performance of the little yellow boat in the '78 Route du Rhum. With the dramatic death of Alain Colas on Manureva. And then the arrival of Olympus, which beat Malinovsky and his 24-meter monohull to the punch.
I never got over it. Afterwards, I watched and tried to follow the boat's performance in the nautical magazines. I followed Phil Stegall's English Transat with Friends & Lovers. And then I watched all the Routes du Rhum until 98. I followed the adventures of my mate Charlie Capelle, who also picked up an Acapella, number 3. In 98, I was on the quayside in front of Charlie's boat, which was a marvel, a masterpiece. A sort of Stradivarius violin. It was extraordinary; he'd put his heart and soul into it.
And then there was the Friends & Lovers, less glamorous but still very much present. Pierre Antoine was the skipper.
The two boats side by side, there was no comparison. On this transatlantic race in '98, both boats arrived in 22 or 23 days. As usual, that's the A'Capella rate. It's hard to do less. Things went a bit wrong for them afterwards: on the return trip, Charlie put himself on the roof and the boat was abandoned off Newfoundland. Charlie wasn't on board, but the two skipper-conveyors were rescued, recovered and airlifted to safety. As for Friends & Lovers, it dismasted and the skippers abandoned it in the Azores.
