Copied from Sailing anarchy.
I have long felt that the accomplishments of Olivier De Kersauson were not fully appreciated. I am so pleased to see this post.
In the 2005 transatlantic race I sailed on ‘Tempest” and we used the same weather router who steered Olivier around the world. He was brilliant.
ultime warrior
At 111 feet long and 72 feet wide, the old VPLP Gerononimo was a groundbreaking racer in many ways. When Olivier De Kersauson launched her back in 2001, record breakers like Fossett and Peyron and Lewis were positive that giant catamarans were just better, and they’d proven it so clearly that many thought De Kersauson a nutter for risking so much on a boat that clearly couldn’t accomplish anything. But 100,000 mostly trouble-free miles and a Jules Verne (and several other) major records later, the boat’s clear advantages – safety, ability to be driven hard, motion, upwindedness – emphatically ended the era of the maxi-catamaran. Geronimo would become the basis for the most dominant record runners ever, as well as the boat that took the America’s Cup back from Alinghi: Franck Cammas’ (and now Armel Le Cle’ach’s) monstrous Groupama 2/BP6, Lionel Lemonchois’s (and then Loick Peyron, and now Yann and Dona’s) BP5/Spindrift 2, and the BMW Oracle Racing 90 all came out of VPLP’s computers and all owe their heritage heavily and directly to Geronimo.
This history lesson may bore some, but to us, ocean racing is all about history and legend, and that’s why we share it with you. And with 2014/15 seeing Thomas Coville rebuilding, refitting, repowering, and restoring Geronimo for his own Route Du Rhum, record aspirations, and Ultime solo 100+ footer class racing, we can’t wait to see history come roaring to life again on the starting line. Coville was just a kid when he first began racing with De Kersauson, and the brilliant Frenchman has now been part of most of the last decade’s Jules Verne Trophy runs as well as a Volvo Ocean Race victory. His narrow Nigel Irens Sodebo trimaran came tantalizingly close to claiming the Solo RTW record, but it’s clear that Coville has given up on that concept in favor of the heavier and far more powerful Geronimo. Above is an Yvan Zedda shot of the boat as her refit moves ahead quickly at Multiplast’s yard; go here for a full gallery, here
Inspires me to think bringing back giant trimarans as the next AmCup competitors’ one design, might take some of the crash and burn unnecessary drama out of the proceedings, in contrast to the last all too long learning curve of the AmCup Cats. It could even increase potential speeds, trimarans being faster than cats as a matter of design. And it would make it a real contest, fairer than the indomitable and undefeated Dogzilla over the Swiss cheesy Catamaran. Giant Trimaran One Design America’s Cup Racing…it would have my interest & full attention throughout the events.