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Trophée Jules Verne – Day 7 – Sodebo again on record speed

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Published on December 25th, 2016 | by Editor

Thomas Coville Sets New Solo Round the World Record

Published on December 25th, 2016 by Editor -->

(December 25, 2016) – Thomas Coville (FRA) and his 31m maxi trimaran Sodebo Ultim’ has successfully broken the solo round the world record, completing the 28400 nm route in 49 days 3 hours 7 minutes and 38 seconds (time to be ratified).

Coville, who started the attempt on November 6, beat the current record (57:13:34:06) set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008 by over eight days (08:10:26:28).

At 17h 57mn 30s, Coville cut the finish line six miles off the lighthouse Creac’h in Ouessant (Finistère), completing the course in the remarkable average of 24.10 knots (52,596 kilometers at 44 km / h).

In the darkness of a day’s rest obscured by a mist that completely concealed the cliffs of the Breton island, the 48-year-old skipper made two final gybes before finally knowing the deliverance. Until the end, he led his trimaran 31 meters long and 21 meters wide at an infernal cadence, sparing no effort and maneuvering his enormous sailboat as if he were surrounded by a complete crew.

On November 6, at 14:49, Thomas made his fifth attempt against the record established by Francis Joyon in January 2008, in 57 days and 13 hours. This performance was simply outstanding at the time. The skipper of the trimaran Idec greatly improved the record held until then by Ellen MacArthur. Remember that they are only three in the world to have dared to attack the world without stopover and without assistance in multihulls: Francis Joyon, Ellen MacArthur and Thomas Coville.

In seven weeks of a frenzied cavalcade, Coville won this mad bet: to carry alone its trimaran 31 meters long and 21 meters wide, equipped with a mast 35 meters high and carrying up to 680 meters Squares of sail, to become the fastest man around the world alone.

Coville will spend the night at sea with his teammates who joined him two hours after the line. We contacted him by phone. It tells the minutes that follow such a feat:

“Nobody was planning to spend 50 solo days. Arrival is something that rises in you, something very dense. It is a very heavy sensation that overwhelms you. I had the anguish of the last hours, that of the last days, that of touching something, all that put pressure on me. All this is mixed up with a lot of fatigue. I am in a deficiency of sleep It’s a very big day for me as an athlete, as a man. I am proud of the way I have traveled to get there. I fell, I got up and that’s all that made me have that mental strength. Experience is what one does with one’s failures. I can say today that I valued them. That’s what I’m proud of.

“Having to do so many maneuvers is what makes us not far from crewed records. Sometimes I had blood in the mouth carrying sails weighing 150 kgs and which are full of water and that you drag 10 cms by 10 cms on the moving trampoline. There were nights outside, lying in the cockpit, in the cold with a listening to the hand ready to drop if the boat rises too high on a hull. It’s not a very elegant job, but it works. With the speeds you reach, you’re always on the edge of the razor. You have ups and downs. The South Atlantic has been very hard. I managed to satisfy myself with small victories on a daily basis. Physically, I can not go any further.

“Right now, I have only one desire: to sleep and to let my mind rest. I want to fall asleep by simply telling myself: Everything is fine!”

Team Sodebo – Facebook – Tracker

Background : Thomas Coville (FRA) and the 31m maxi trimaran SODEBO ULTIM started the attempt to break the solo round the world record from Brest (France) on November 6. The current record of 57d 13h 34m 6s, which starts and finishes between the island of Ushant and Lizard Point in southern England, was set by Francis Joyon (FRA) on the 29.8m trimaran IDEC in January 2008. To break the record, Coville must finish by January 3 at 4:23:57 am (French time).

Source: Team Sodebo

Tags: records , Sodebo , Thomas Coville , World Sailing Speed Record Council

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Jules Verne Trophy: Head-to-head foiling battle begins for round the world record

• Helen Fretter
• November 25, 2020

Two 100ft foiling trimarans crossed the start line off Brest, western France this morning, in a tantalising head-to-head battle for the Jules Verne Trophy, the round-the-world, non-stop fully crewed record

Photo: Eloi Stichelbaut / PolaRYSE / Gitana

The time to beat is 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds, set in 2017 by Jules Verne Trophy holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport .

First to announce their departure was Thomas Coville and his crew on Sodebo . Sodebo is the newest of the Ultime foiling trimarans and will be sailing with a crew of eight, including Coville, François Duguet, Sam Goodchild, Corentin Horeau, Martin Keruzoré, François Morvan, Thomas Rouxel and Matthieu Vandame.

Sodebo crossed the start line, which lies between the Créac’h lighthouse (Ouessant) and the Lizard in south-west England, at 0255 (CET). To claim the Jules Verne Trophy, they must recross the line before Tuesday 5 January at 0225.

Sodebo crossed the start line today at 0255. Photo: facebook.com/SodeboVoile / Vincent Curutchet

Despite having initially changed their standby mode to indicate they wouldn’t depart until Thursday, Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier, co-skippers of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild/Gitana 17 , swiftly announced that they too would be setting off in the early hours of Wednesday 25 November.

Gitana crossed the line at 0336 local time with a crew of six: Franck Cammas, Charles Caudrelier, Erwan Israël, Yann Riou, Morgan Lagravière and David Boileau. Their target arrival time to win the Jules Verne Trophy is 0255 on 5 January.

“We thought that the [weather] models would remain fairly stable with a view to taking a start on Thursday morning, but we see that between the American files and the European files, that continues to diverge. The start we thought we would take on Thursday morning is ultimately no better than the one we will take tonight. Waiting involves a risk that we do not want to take because the times announced on the North Atlantic would then be less good,” explained Cammas as they prepared to set off.

Article continues below…

Francis Joyon sets new Hong Kong-London record on IDEC Sport

IDEC Sport sailed under the QE2 bridge at 0737 GMT to set a new Hong Kong to London record of…

Battle of the giants: The inside story of the Brest Atlantiques Race

On Tuesday 5 November four giant trimarans – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Macif, Sodebo and Actual Leader, and their double-handed…

“The fact that our direct competitor set off on the water changes the situation a bit, but it is above all the weather that dictates our departure. We do not rush, it’s a window that we looked at, it is not great, and uncertainties persist. But there are fewer and fewer reasons not to take it. The models still diverge for the South Atlantic, but it would be a shame to let the opportunity pass. We are going and we will see if it materialises.”

Claiming the Jules Verne Trophy is a superhuman challenge

The speeds these trimarans can now reach are extraordinary. “Today our big problem is cavitation, because we reach some very high speeds, 45 or 46 knots,” Gitana co-skipper Caudrelier told Yachting World (see our exclusive feature on the Jules Verne Trophy challengers in the December 2020 issue, which is out now ).

“We have managed to push the maximum speed before cavitation from around 40-42 knots to 44-45 knots, so that’s a big step. The boat has never been so fast.”

Sustained flight is now possible at levels that surpassing even Sodebo ’s record-breaking skipper Thomas Coville’s expectations.

“Last [month] we were delivering the boat for sponsor sailing in Vendée . For three hours, we were in rough seas. It was 4 or 5m on the offside and we were sailing between 35-45 knots of boat speed all the time. I have to admit that I would not have even imagined that one year ago.”

So over the 26,000-odd miles of their Jules Verne Trophy circumnavigation, how much could potentially be sailed in foiling mode? “About a year ago, I would have told you 20%. Now, I would say it could be more like 80%,” says Coville, “And we are just at the beginning. Every day we go sailing, we’re learning more. But I’m pretty sure that we are going to fly for more than 50%.”

Caudrelier agrees: “There will be strong winds where we will not really fly, but we will be in skimming mode, when the waves are too big. But still, 50 to 60% around the world in some sort of flight mode is space travel.”

A huge factor in each Jules Verne Trophy challenger’s chances is down to their weather routing, directed by a commander on shore.

Sodebo ’s weather router is Jean Luc Nelias, Coville’s right hand man for many years, who also directed him to his 2016 solo around the world record. Gitana has the legendary Marcel van Triest, who has worked with Caudrelier and Cammas closely in the past on their Dongfeng and Groupama Volvo Ocean Race campaigns. He also routed both Loïck Peyron on Banque Populaire and current record holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport to Jules Verne wins.

Before the Jules Verne Trophy teams set off, we spoke to Marcel van Triest about the challenge ahead.

The first decision is to choose the best weather window in which to leave Ushant. Then with the benchmark time to the Cape of Good Hope less than 12 days, there is a balancing act between not only finding the optimal forecast for the Atlantic, but also setting up the boat with the best chances of hooking into a favourable low pressure system roaring eastwards around the Southern Oceans.

“I try to look at the situation from the start line in Ushant to more or less the point of entry to the Indian Ocean, so basically south of Cape Town,” explains van Triest.

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild/Gitana 17 during testing off Brest. Photo: PolaRYSE

“Then you try to judge what happens after Cape Town, because you can have a situation with a high pressure ridge off South Africa and ice to the south, which makes the entry into the Indian Ocean really narrow. To get around it, if you see a situation that is a 600-mile wide entry into the Indian Ocean, you’re willing to arrive at Cape Town a little bit slower, but it will be easier to get into the westerlies.

“Also, these boats are now so quick that you need a Southern Ocean weather system that is quick enough that they can stay in the same system the whole time. So you’re going around at more or less at the speed that the low is.” Idec Sport , van Triest says, rode a single system from Madagascar almost to New Zealand.

The Atlantic may also be where the foilers make the biggest gains on the record. “Where we have most improved the speed of the boat is upwind reaching – like the parts of the Doldrums where you are upwind and slowly the wind is lifting. This is where we have the biggest difference of speed compared to boats like Idec ,” says Caudrelier.

“Their upwind speed was between 19-21, now we can achieve between 25-30 depending on the sea state.”

The fact that the two have set off so close to each other is mouth-watering for tracker addicts, and was cautiously welcomed by the Jules Verne Trophy skippers.

You can follow the teams’ trackers at at gitana-team.com and tropheejulesverne.sodebo.com

Read our full analysis of the Jules Verne Trophy challenge and the chances of the new foiling trimarans in the December 2020 issue of Yachting World , which is out now.

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The Supreme Soloists of the Ultimes

• By James Boyd
• January 9, 2024

On January 7, ocean racing will take another evolutionary step with the mind-boggling feat of six brave Frenchmen who will set off from Brest in northwest France on board their giant 105-by-75-foot foiling trimarans—around the world, nonstop. Singlehanded. The new event is the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest, a sprint marathon that is expected to take 45 days or less at an ­average of 20 knots.

The present record for a solo lap of the planet stands at 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes, 35 seconds, but when this was set in 2018, skipper François Gabart had the luxury of departing with an optimal 10-day forecast (covering the first quarter of his voyage all the way down to the Southern Ocean). Competitors in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest will have to leave on the designated start date and make the best of whatever Mother Nature offers them. However, while Gabart’s MACIF trimaran is going again (in new livery as Anthony Marchand’s Actual Ultim 3 ), it is now one of the older of the six trimarans that will set out. The newest Ultims, which harness the latest offshore foiling technology, are much, much faster.

Two of the biggest names in solo round-the-world ­record-breaking will be missing from the lineup; Gabart has passed over the helm of his Ultim to “the next generation” in Tom Laperche. Francis Joyon, who demolished the record for the solo lap on two occasions, bringing it down from 125 days to 72 days in 2005 and from 71 days to 57 days four years later, is now 67. While all six starting skippers are highly experienced, they range in age from 55-year-old Thomas Coville, skipper of Sodebo Ultim 3 , to 26-year-old Laperche.

Coville is the race titan. When it comes to racing large trimarans around the world singlehanded, his experience is unprecedented. He’s been attempting circumnavigation records on large trimarans since 1997 and as a skipper since 2008. On his fifth attempt in 2016, he finally set a new record only for it to be broken a year later by Gabart. He also has raced in the America’s Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race (winning it with Franck Cammas on Groupama in 2011-12) and was twice part of crews claiming the Jules Verne Trophy (fully crewed, nonstop around-the-world record). He has completed circumnavigations eight times—four times solo and six times on trimarans.

The most hotly tipped skippers, however, are Armel le Cléac’h, 46, on Maxi Banque Populaire XI, and Charles Caudrelier, 49, on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild . While Caudrelier is best known for being a two-time Volvo Ocean Race winner (with Groupama , then as skipper of Dongfeng Race Team in 2017-18), both cut their teeth solo racing in the French one-design Figaro circuit. But when it comes to solo offshore credentials, Le Cléac’h knocks it out of the park. He’s won La Solitaire three times, most recently in 2020, and crucially for the upcoming Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest has also raced in three Vendée Globe races, finishing on the podium in all and winning in 2016-17.

Le Cléac’h’s trimaran was launched in 2021 as a replacement for his ­previous Banque Populaire-backed Ultim, which broke up terminally in the 2018 Route du Rhum. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is unique in the race for being designed by Guillaume Verdier, while the rest are from VPLP (although in every case, the team itself offers substantial input). While Caudrelier has won most Ultim silverware in recent seasons, including the singlehanded Route du Rhum trans-Atlantic race in 2022, Le Cléac’h ended his run by winning this fall’s Transat Jacques Vabre race between Le Havre in northern France and the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Tom Laperche has taken over as skipper of Francois Gabart’s SVR-Lazartigue for solo races. This is Gabart’s second Ultim trimaran and is considered the most advanced of the six. Laperche won La Solitaire du Figaro in 2022 and has raced with Gabart on the Ultim ever since the boat was launched. He gained his round-the-world experience on the IMOCA Holcim in The Ocean Race.

Also inheriting his Ultim campaign is Anthony Marchand, who took over the helm of Actual Ultim 3 from Yves le Blevec in January. Launched in 2015, Actual Ultim 3 is Gabart’s former MACIF ­trimaran, which is the present holder of the solo round-the-world record. Marchand, 38, sets off with vast experience on ORMA 60 trimarans, in the Figaro class, the Volvo Ocean Race (competing in 2015-16 on MAPFRE ) and in the IMOCA.

Fundamentally, the rule limits length to 32 meters and width to 23 meters, and the complex foil configuration on all six Ultims is fairly similar. 

Éric Péron, 42, is the race’s last-minute entry, and as a newcomer to the Ultim class, he will likely back marker. Péron has a strong background in the Figaro and Ocean 50 trimaran classes, and his trimaran Adagio was previously Sodebo Ultim , on which Coville set both his solo round-the-world and west-to-east trans-Atlantic records.

While there is an Ultim 32/23 rule, the design parameters of these incredible machines is a work in progress. Fundamentally, the rule limits length to 32 meters and width to 23 meters. The complex foil configuration on all six Ultims is fairly similar. Each of the boats has six appendages, including the giant, retracting rake-adjustable J-foils (of varying shapes) in the floats. The latest-generation foils have grown larger, enabling the trimarans to fly both downwind and upwind in less wind. Among the three front-runners, the most recent edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre demonstrated that SVR-Lazartigue has the lowest take-off speed, while Maxi Banque Populaire XI ’s foils work best in waves. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild lies somewhere between these two positions.

Unique to the Ultims is the T-foil pioneered by Caudrelier’s team on their MOD70 (now Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati ). Located in the center hull, this is effectively a daggerboard with a trim tab (to aid pointing ability upwind) and an elevator. This foil is used in a similar fashion to how AC50 catamaran crews negatively raked their windward rudder elevator to produce downforce, sucking the weather hull down. When a gust hits an Ultim, the crew can drop the traveler, but a more energy efficient response is to increase pitch on the T-foil’s elevator to create additional downforce. Then there are three rudders (one on each hull), each with an elevator. The rudders in the floats can be raised (typically the windward one) to reduce drag.

Aside from the significant developments to the foils, especially to reduce cavitation at high speed, teams have been focusing on improving aerodynamic efficiency. The Ultims now have low-drag vinyl fairings for the aft side of their crossbeams, and on some boats, the deck itself forms an endplate for the foot of sails. Living quarters have improved dramatically and, like modern IMOCAs, are becoming increasingly enclosed. The most extreme among them is Sodebo Ultim 3 , where the front of Coville’s “bridge” is forward of the mast step.

Autopilots have transcended beyond being able to steer to course, apparent wind angle or even true wind angle. Depending on the point of sail, the pilot will now automatically head up or bear away when a gust hits. 

The rigs are the same as those that have been fitted to French multihulls for the past 30 years—a rotating wing mast with each shroud terminating in a giant hydraulic ram, permitting the rig (and its center of effort) to be canted to weather. This reduces the downward force on the leeward bow, which can cause multihulls to pitchpole. Whether this is still required is a moot point because today’s foils effectively keep the leeward bow from immersing.

Due to the sheer physics of an Ultim, aided by the canting rig and the mast being stepped so far aft, the risk of capsize is almost ­nonexistent, Caudrelier says: “The Ultims are the safest multihulls because they fly, because they are big, but also because we have made huge improvements to the pilots with safety functions, and also we have a nice automatic ­system to ease the sails. It is quite safe. I don’t worry too much about capsizing, but I have in the back of my mind that it can happen.”

Thanks to teams working with such companies as B&G and Pixel sur Mer, Ultim autopilots have transcended beyond being able to steer to course, apparent wind angle or even true wind angle. Depending on the point of sail, the pilot (using what’s referred to as its “safety overlay”) will now automatically head up or bear away when a gust hits, which it can detect by the wind instruments or an inclinometer. In extreme circumstances, they have systems to dump the sheets, although these too seem to be near-redundant. 

An interesting point of dispute between the Ultim teams is how much automation should be permitted. Caudrelier’s team is pro automation, while other teams are less so. As a result, the autopilot can perform these functions but cannot, for example, adjust the boat’s flying mechanism, to automatically set ride height, pitch, etc.

If capsize is less of a concern, then the skipper’s biggest worries are technical failures on their giant boats, as well as collisions. They have tried to overcome the former through sheer time at sea, testing and failing to improve reliability. Le Cléac’h, for example, says that in the past year, he has sailed Maxi Banque Populaire XI some 20,000 miles, or half a circumnavigation. This has been solo and crewed, in a mix of races, private sea trials and the Ultim fleet training en masse. To avoid collisions, the Ultims have all available kit from radar to AIS alarms to the latest tech such as SEA.AI, which uses a masthead-mounted camera array to see objects—floating or semisubmerged—in the water ahead of the boat. These are compared in real time with the SEA.AI’s huge and ever-growing database of objects to identify them as threats.

In the recent Transat Jacques Vabre, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild suffered rudder issues soon after the start (later found to be a delaminating starboard rudder) and then damage to its port J-foil, but it still finished the race. It seems, therefore, very likely that this level of attrition can be expected in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest. Caudrelier says that this proved to be a wake-up call for his team as well as valuable practice for how to deal with midrace technical issues. For example, the J-foil damage occurred after a small impact. “But while we were sailing, the damage increased,” he says. Perhaps it would have been faster in the long term to stop, fix the issue, and then continue, he muses. For bigger issues, race’s sailing instructions permit skippers to pitstop where their teams can join them to effect repairs, but in this case, they are obliged to spend a minimum of 24 hours in port as a penalty.

To help reduce risks, OC Sport Pen Duick, the race’s organizers, are ­imposing a movable virtual ice barrier as we have seen in other round-the-world races. Competitors must stay north of this, regardless of whether it drives them into high pressure or storms. Interestingly, they are also imposing exclusion zones around known breeding grounds for whales (yet to be defined at the time of writing).

The Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest may be a solo race, but each campaign is genuinely a team affair. Ultim teams today are giant, some the scale of America’s Cup teams two or three decades ago, with their own in-house designers, engineers, hydro and aerodynamic specialists, and electronic and hydraulic experts. In the event of a technical issue during the race, skippers can now get immediate support using reliable satellite communications. The most consistent remote support each skipper gets is with their routing. In the Ultim class, shore-based routing is permitted. Le Cleac’h, for example, is using Dutch legend Marcel van Triest and French skipper/navigator Nicolas Lunven to provide round-the-clock routing assistance.

Ultims are fast—50 knots is very possible—but skippers are less interested in top speed and entirely focused on maintaining high averages of 30 to 35 knots. They don’t need much wind to achieve such a pace, however. An Ultim’s optimal conditions are broad-reaching in 20 to 25 knots. Any more wind than that, and the sea state gets too large to foil safely. Even in optimal wind conditions, skippers must back off if sea state and wave direction is not ideal. Understanding this is vital to the routing process.

The Ultims are potentially so fast that their routing team can go a long way in ensuring that they stay in optimal conditions. For example, in the Southern Ocean, if they can get into the optimal reaching conditions in flat water ahead of a front, they can potentially ride this for days. But the biggest limitation is the solo skipper. The Ultims typically carry a mainsail and four headsails, including two gennakers and a permanently hoisted J2, all set on furlers. Tacking and jibing requires the sails to be released and sheeted in, the mast to be canted and tacked, and foils and rudders to be raised and lowered. It’s a process that typically takes 20 to 30 minutes. Le Cleac’h says that the most time-consuming sail change is going from the J0 to the J1 because the sails are heavy (around 120 kg), and this can take up to an hour. Factoring all this into the routing is vital because the skipper on his own can do only so much.

“If reaching 95 percent of the boat’s potential requires making three jibes and four tacks and to change two sails, it will be difficult to do that if you are tired,” Le Cleac’h says. His routers offer him three options—from the one offering optimal performance to the easiest for him to achieve—which can be decided based on his energy level and capabilities.

One positive for the skippers is that the required endurance is comparably short compared with a Vendée Globe effort, but still, so much remains unknown as they embark on this extreme test of man and machine. 

“It is a bit like the first Vendée Globe,” Caudrelier says. “It is not quite the same because we know where we are going, but it is the first one, so it is a bit of an adventure. Usually you push to the maximum constantly, but for me, this is the first time I can’t do that. We will have to find the good balance between good performance and safety of the boat. That is an interesting exercise.”

• More: Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest , Print January 2024 , Racing , Sailboat Racing
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Sodebo Ultim’

Sodebo Ultim’ then Ultim ActualLeader then Brest Ultim Sailing then Mieux. 

Thomas Coville came to VPLP with an exciting project to rebuild Geronimo with the aim of winning the 2014 Route du Rhum .The firm, having originally designed the trimaran for Olivier de Kersauson, more than rose to the challenge.

So what went into turning that grey trimaran, precursor of the Ultim class, into one of the most competitive maxi-trimarans in single-handed racing? First of all replacing the central hull with a new design which focused on single-handed sailing and, at 31 metres long, was 3 metres more than the previous one.

Next, the beams were reinforced so rudders and foils – which Geronimo had been lacking – could be added to the floats. The forward 9 metres of the latter were also rebuilt, adding powerful raked bows.

And with the addition of a new mast and changes to the original boom, Geronimo became Sodebo Ultim’ , weighing in 6 tonnes lighter!

After a difficult start in the 2014 Route du Rhum (collision with a freighter and retirement), Sodebo Ultim’ would go on to enjoy a magnificent career . Her achievements include the solo round the world record (49 days, 3 hours), the transatlantic record (4 days, 11 hours) and victory in the 2017 Transat Jacques Vabre – all in the space of twelve months.

Following a period under the sponsorship of Actual with Yves Le Blevec at the controls, she was bought by the company Brest Ultim Sailing in 2021. Under the name of the corporate collective MIEUX, Arthur le vaillant takes the helm of the Ultim for the Route du Rhum 2022.

2014/2018/2021

VPLP Design

Sun Fast 30 One Design

Paris +33 1 42 77 24 00 Vannes +33 2 97 44 74 19 Nantes +33 9 85 11 79 77

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SODEBO ULTIM'

SODEBO ULTIM' is a 31.0 m Sail Yacht, built in France by Multiplast and delivered in 2001.

Her power comes from a diesel engine. She has a 21.2 m beam.

She was designed by VPLP Design , who also completed the naval architecture. VPLP Design has designed 15 yachts and created the naval architecture for 18 yachts for yachts above 24 metres.

SODEBO ULTIM' is one of 390 sailing yachts in the 30-35m size range.

SODEBO ULTIM' is registered under the France flag (along with a total of other 112 yachts)

Specifications

• Name: SODEBO ULTIM'
• Previous Names: GERONIMO
• Yacht Type: Sail Yacht
• Yacht Subtype: Multihull , Racing Yacht
• Builder: Multiplast
• Naval Architect: VPLP Design
• Exterior Designer: VPLP Design
• Refits: 2014

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Sodebo Ultim 3 Foiling Trimaran

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by Doug Lord , Jan 1, 2019 .

Doug Lord Flight Ready

Actualités - Sodebo Ultim' 3 | Sodebo https://www.sodebo.com/actus/voile/sodebo-ultim-3/ ---------------------- If the renders on the website are accurate this boat is not using a lifting foil on the daggerboard or an uptip foil on each ama. In fact the foils ,as drawn, appear very much dated. However, the renders on Gitana were not accurate until almost the launch. So I bet the foil shapes will change and I believe they'll use a daggerboard lifting foil as well as uptip ama foils-we'll see. Picture by Fred Morin, Team Sodebo:  

Sodebo in French:  

Heads Up!!! from Tip & Shaft Newsletter today: . Thomas Coville’s new Ultim trimaran, Sodebo, will come out of the Multiplast yard in Vannes on Saturday at 11:30 am. Vid starts at 15:50 in--boat at 37 min in.. -- large uptip ama foils in, no sign of daggerboard foil --renders at end of vid show no main foil, but neither did Gitana renders.. Sodebo may be going with no main foil? -- cockpit in front of the mast ======================================= This quote may indicate that Sodebo will use a mainfoil: From the latest Yacht Racing Forum: • Renaud Bañuls, Bañulsdesign, designing a new foiling Sodebo for Thomas Coville, and a number of foiling craft for weekend sailors: “After achieving foiling, the next big step is creating dynamic righting moment.” Unless they settle for differential rudder flaps to develop extra RM(lee+center rudder T-foil) using "up flap"(downforce) from the mainfoil is the only way to develop dynamic righting moment. Will be interesting to see........  

Dolfiman Senior Member

Really impressive design and building, and the unveiling from the hangar is worthy of the one of a new Airbus or Boeing !  

Dolfiman said: ↑ Really impressive design and building, and the unveiling from the hangar is worthy of the one of a new Airbus or Boeing ! Click to expand...

An article on the boat-nothing on the foils in a quick read: Un Trimaran Sodebo Ultim 3 révolutionnaire - Course au Large http://www.courseaularge.com/trimaran-sodebo-ultim-3-revolutionnaire.html  

Doug Lord said: ↑ An article on the boat-nothing on the foils in a quick read: Un Trimaran Sodebo Ultim 3 révolutionnaire - Course au Large http://www.courseaularge.com/trimaran-sodebo-ultim-3-revolutionnaire.html Click to expand...

Well, thanks! That goes along with what Martin Fischer and Vincent Prevost said in response to my questions today-the picture is getting clearer..... See their responses here: High Performance MPX Foil/Self-righting Trimaran-The Test Model https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/high-performance-mpx-foil-self-righting-trimaran-the-test-model.36058/page-192 post 2877  

From Pressure Drop: Pressure Drop - Coville's New Tri Emerges http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?9015-Coville-s-New-Tri-Emerges To draw this boat, Renaud Bañuls has also been working with Vincent Lauriot-Prevost, GSEA Design, Hervé Devaux and Martin Fischer. " To imagine a boat like this one, We Did not want it in the hands of one Knowing goal the result of joined work Where everyone can express Themselves. Who says new boat, Said new methods and why not a design team with people I Had coasted to Their expertise. By setting up this Design team, I Knew He Was going to-have me explain to Several People That I Had the taste in the mouth, music, the picture I Had in mind. The transcription of the act is quite disproportionation . There aren't Many acts That measure 32m long and 23 m wide and 34 high! "  

Corley epoxy coated

More on Sodebo (and other Ultim's) : https://www.ultimboat.com/  

From Voiles et Voiliers https://voilesetvoiliers.ouest-france.fr thanks to qbf on sa for the machine translation: https://voilesetvoiliers.ouest-fran...ifferent-0cf35612-3dd3-11e9-81df-04eb0a99a092 Sodebo Ultim. One of the architects explains the risk of being fundamentally different MACHINE TRANSLATION In the high-flying design team assembled by Thomas Coville, Renaud was one of the very first to work on the project. At the request of the skipper, the architect looked at the beginning of 2015, and for a year and a half, on this very innovative project. He explains the choices we've chosen. Sails and Sailboats: What was the idea that guided your work, did other boats inspire you? Renaud Bailey: The idea of Thomas (Cotown) was to start from a white sheet and try to be as creative as possible. We were not trying to innovate to innovate but we said: What would we do if we wanted to do something really good even if we had to be fundamentally different? And the basis of the reflection is to seek to have the most efficient sail plan possible and then draw the platform to keep this sail plan super efficient. That's what led us to draw this platform a little bit different. Sails and Sailboats: What was the idea that guided your work, did other boats inspire you? Renaud Bailey: The idea of Thomas (Cotown) was to start from a white sheet and try to be as creative as possible. We were not trying to innovate to innovate but we said: What would we do if we wanted to do something really good even if we had to be fundamentally different? And the basis of the reflection is to seek to have the most efficient sail plan possible and then draw the platform to keep this sail plan super efficient. That's what led us to draw this platform a little bit different. [Renaud Banuls, ici sous la coque centrale du nouveau Sodebo Ultim 3, le jour de la présentation du bateau.] Renaud Bailey, here under the central hull of the new Sodebo Ultim 3, on the day of the presentation of the boat. | LOÏC MADELINE/sails and sailboats Sails and sailboats: so this cockpit in front of the mast is first to have a more efficient mainsail? Renaud Bailey: Yes it allows to have a mainsail that comes to the bridge. We tried to increase the efficiency of the mainsail and all the sails but also to decrease the drag of the platform drastically. Sails and sailboats: This can amount to a percentage, this drag gain? Renaud Bailey: Yes, we're pretty happy, we expect 3% gain which is huge for a platform but we must not forget that there are other factors that are fundamental, where you gain a few points on a platform, with a new generation of foils there are a Llures or you will earn 20 to 25% efficiency! The performance will go to the sailor's ability to lead the boat to 100% of its potential. [Le cockpit très protégé est solidaire de la poutre avant, une architecture radicale qui place le barreur en avant du mât.] The highly protected cockpit is in solidarity with the front beam, a radical architecture that places the helmsman in front of the mast. | LOÏC MADELINE Sails and Sailboats: will these foils be enslaved? Renaud Bailey: Today the Ultim class is without servo and the foils have been designed and drawn to operate without any control. If the class changes and the regulations change, we'll be ready. It was already necessary to put in the chassis the maximum performance How to define Sodebo compared to other existing boats? Renaud Bailey: The difference is in the chassis. We work on the same objectives, Appendices, Vol... There we thought that if we left a blank page, we had to put the maximum performance in the chassis. We're talking about passive speed and active speed. Passive speed is all that will give performance to the boat without asking for action from the sailor. Active speed is what will ask for action to the sailor. The foils for example, it requires the action of the sailor, because they must be mounted, because they have to be adjusted and it takes enormous efforts in view of the size of the foils. We worked on the active speed but we tried to go much further on the passive speed, not only to lower the winches a few centimeters to gain in center of gravity.  

Pressure Drop - Sodebo Ultime 3 Launched http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?9056-Sodebo-Ultime-3-Launched  

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From UltimBoat https://www.facebook.com/UltimBoat/ : Deliciously weird!  

Sodebo and Gitana 17 set off on Jules Verne Record attempt

Sodebo launches new boat (tri) for 2019, thomas coville on sodebo departs on his round the world solo record attempt, thomas coville on sodebo departs on solo multihull round the world attempt, sodebo team buy geronimo maxi trimaran, thomas coville on sodebo challenging cadix - san salvador record, arkea ultim challenge : the race around the world, in solo , ultims are back in 2021, ultims are back, for the dhream cup july 19, brest atlantiques 2019 - ultims.

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