trimaran flo sete

Yachting World

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Extraordinary boats: Flo – Florence Arthaud’s iconic 60ft trimaran

• Rupert Holmes
• February 8, 2023

Flo, formerly Pierre 1er, is the iconic 60ft trimaran which Florence Arthaud sailed to win the 1990 Route du Rhum, now returned to its golden glory and racing again

There are many iconic raceboats, but few capture the feeling of an era as much as the 60ft trimaran in which Florence Arthaud won the 1990 Route du Rhum . She beat Philippe Poupon, winner of the previous edition, by eight hours to become the first woman to win a major offshore race, inspiring a new generation of young women to follow in her footsteps.

Arthaud had already broken the west to east transatlantic record earlier that year, taking a whopping 20% off Bruno Peyron’s existing time. She also became the first sailor to be awarded the title ‘Champion des Champions français de L’Équipe’. It was a remarkable turnaround for someone who, only four years before her first Route du Rhum, had been gravely injured in a car accident that left her in coma and hospitalised for six months.

The pace of change in yacht design in the 1980s was as breathtakingly fast as it is today. Although they’re separated by only 12 years, this boat could hardly be more different to Mike Birch ’s 39ft plywood Walter Green trimaran Olympus Photo in which he won the inaugural Route du Rhum in 1978. Birch’s boat, for example, had little more than half the beam of Arthaud’s.

The ORMA 60 trimarans that quickly came to dominate the scene from the mid-1980s were huge vessels by comparison, built of the most hi-tech materials available, while their creators pressed hard against the boundaries of design and engineering knowledge. Pierre 1er , as the boat was originally named, was built to a VPLP design of fibreglass and Kevlar by Jeanneau’s former JTA (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées) division.

iconic image of Arthaud at the finish of the 1990 Route du Rhum in Martinique. Photo: Thierry Martinez/ Sea&Co

These boats had an unprecedented power to weight ratio that, despite their enormous inherent stability, led to a number of capsizes. This came to a head in the stormy 2002 Route du Rhum in which five boats capsized and only three of the 18-strong fleet finished. As a result sponsors rapidly quit the class, which collapsed within three seasons.

Nevertheless, Pierre 1er went on to have an illustrious 20-year history of racing and record breaking. American billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett, who renamed the boat Lakota , became her second owner in 1993.

He picked up 5th place in the 1994 Route du Rhum, despite a lack of experience at the time, before taking line honours in the Transpac the following year. In a seven-year period he broke 12 world records with the boat, including Round Britain and Ireland and around the Isle of Wight.

Poupon reduced the size of the staysail for heavy weather work and added a furler. Huge asymmetrics are flown from the bowsprit. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Her next owner was Atlant Ocean Racing in Sweden, with the boat again breaking records under several different names. Andrew Pindar chartered her in 2001, when she was renamed Pindar Systems for Emma Richards to race in the Transat Jacques Vabre . She finished 9th, with Miki von Koskull, who had sailed with Richards on Tracy Edwards’ 1998 Royal Sun Alliance Jules Verne attempt, as co-skipper.

The boat picked up line honours in the 2003 Cape to Rio race, before heading east under the ownership of an experienced French multihull sailor from 2011-2021 who was based in Hong Kong and kept the boat in Subic Bay in the Philippines, using her primarily for fast cruising and ocean voyages.

Flo – Golden girl

Despite all the different owners and skippers, when I visited Flo in Saint Malo, just before the start of the 2022 Route du Rhum , it was striking just how original the boat remains. There’s a huge curved mainsheet traveller on the aft beam, while the giant winches in the small cockpit are physically much larger than today’s equivalents. And, despite the boat’s awesome power, there are no pedestal grinders.

Both amas have helm seats in a similar way to MOD70s, but without the foot pedal to dump the mainsheet in a hurry. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Equally, Flo still has both a central tiller in the cockpit and helm seats perched precariously at the aft end of each ama.

Below decks the boat is surprisingly small, with a vestigial galley, just one berth, plus a navstation tucked in the corner between the daggerboard case and the main bulkhead.

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The original striking gold colour scheme on the hulls and spars was reinstated earlier this year, when she was renamed Flo by Poupon, who skippered her in the 2022 race, 36 years after his 1986 victory.

Surprisingly, he told me very few changes were needed to prepare Flo for her latest transatlantic : “Almost nothing has changed, the electrical system and electronics are new, but the deck gear and layout are almost all original.”

Relatively minor alterations included lowering the head of the staysail and adding roller furling for it. “I prefer a smaller sail that’s easier to handle and has better shape for this purpose,” says Poupon. He also added a fourth reef to the mainsail, “which has a lot of surface area.”

Philippe Poupon, runner up to Florence Arthaud in the 1990 Route du Rhum, now skippers Flo. Photo: Jean-Louis Carli

Dramatic new role for Flo

What led to Poupon’s current involvement with Flo ? “Me and my wife [film maker Géraldine Danon] were very close to Florence Arthaud,” he told me. Indeed, in French media interviews he has even described her as “part of the family.” Poupon and Arthaud competed together as co-skippers on a later Fleury Michon in the 2000 Transat, and Arthaud also took part in a Figaro ll and Transat Jacques Vabre campaign with Poupon’s brother Luc in the mid-2000s.

“Géraldine started working on a script for a film about Florence two years ago,” continued Poupon. “We started to talk about what boat to use for the film and of course it had to be this one.”

The trimaran turned out to be easy to find, as Vendée Globe veteran-turned yacht broker Bernard Gallay was listing the boat for sale at the time. However, Poupon and Danon lacked both the €250,000 purchase price and the time to sail her back to France. Poupon says those problems were “… solved in a bar,” and the deal was completed in December 2021.

Controls for the wing mast. Daggerboard needs to be fully lowered to clear the boom in tacks and gybes. Photo: Rupert Holmes

The new owner, Philippe Brillault, took a crew that included Bernard Stamm as skipper out to deliver the boat back to France, via the Red Sea. The four-month trip was not without incident. New batteries were needed in Thailand, engine problems forced a stop in Sri Lanka, and having strayed too close to the coast of Yemen after departing Djibouti, the delivery crew was attacked by pirates.

“There were bullet tracks on the mast!” Fortunately they were able to escape and return to Djibouti, before proceeding with a military escort.

Poupon took over the boat in Cannes in July last year, where shooting for the film started. Flo took pride of place in the Vieux Port and anchored overnight off Île Sainte Marguerite, where Arthaud’s ashes were scattered after her 2015 death in a helicopter accident while filming a reality TV programme in Argentina.

Return to Rhum

The final leg took the boat to Michel Desjoyeaux’s Mer Agitée yard at Port La Forêt, where Flo had a short refit ahead of an opportunity for Poupon to complete the 1,200-mile solo qualifier needed for the 2022 Route du Rhum.

I visited him on board just before it was announced the race would be postponed by three days to avoid a dangerous sea state in 7.5m waves with a brutal 12 second period. How concerned was he at the prospect of sailing an old boat in such conditions?

“I have sailed a lot before on this type of boat and I am sailing more than six months a year on my own boat [a 66ft high latitude expedition yacht] so I will know what to do – maybe it will be to wait in Finisterre. I don’t have sponsors and I am not out to win overall, so I can decide for myself. I am here just to pay homage to Florence and for the movie.”

Poupon was also quick to point out that when he did the first race back in 1978 medium range weather forecasting didn’t exist and all that could be expected was a rough idea of what to expect the day after the start.

Flo’s small cockpit has most of the original winches and no grinder, despite the boat’s enormous power. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Poupon finished the race in 7th place in the 17-strong Rhum Multi class, crossing the line in 18 days and 19 hours, more than three and a half days slower than Arthaud’s 1990 time. Her Route du Rhum victory was just months after Tracy Edwards ’ all-woman team on Maiden finished the Whitbread Round the World race 2nd in class, having won two legs, including the gruelling 7,260 mile Southern Ocean section. Back then there was real hope that professional sailing was changing from its entrenched position of male dominance. Yet three decades later only seven of the 138 Route du Rhum skippers were women.

It’s a concern Volvo Ocean Race winner and ex-race organiser Knut Frostad (now CEO of marine electronics and equipment conglomerate Navico Group) highlighted in his keynote speech at the most recent Yacht Racing Forum – not just for the sake of fairness, but also for the threat it represents to the sport in the longer term. Frostad warned: “Our industry will die in a generation if carry on as we are…”

Flo specifications

Design: VPLP Launch: 1989 LOA: 18.28m / 60ft 0in Beam: 15.10m / 49ft 6in Draught: 1.54m-2.88m / 5ft 1in-9ft 5in Displacement: 6,000kg / 13,230lb Upwind sail area: 230m2 / 2,475ft2

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Le trimaran de Florence Arthaud est à vendre... sur Leboncoin !

Désormais baptisé "Flo", le trimaran a gagné la Route du Rhum en 1990 avec Florence Arthaud comme skipper. Il s'appelait alors Pierre 1er. Le voilier de légende, à quai à Sète, est à vendre sur le site leboncoin. Une folie nautique à près de 400.000 euros.

Flo, c'est son 9e nom depuis sa construction en 1989 dans le chantier naval Jeanneau. Le trimaran de 60 pieds et 230 m² de voilure est un bateau mythique. Avec Florence Arthaud, il a remporté la Route du Rhum 1990 en 14 jours, 10 heures 8 minutes et 28 secondes.

Ce voilier est à vendre depuis plusieurs semaines sur un site en ligne... pour 390.000 euros.

Un multicoque historique

Il a été une référence en matière de course au large. Après la victoire dans la Route du Rhum en 1990, Florence Arthaud se classera 5e du Trophée des Multicoques et 3e de Tour de l'Europe - Open UAP, puis vendu, le bateau reprend la compétition avec Steve Fossett dans une nouvelle Route du Rhum, où il finit 5e en 1994.

On le verra aussi au cinéma fin 2023, après une présentation en mai à Cannes, dans le film biographique Flo sur la vie de Florence Arthaud. Un long métrage tourné en 2022 et réalisé par Géraldine Danon.

Une réplique de ce voilier est aussi apparue dans le film Waterworld de Kevin Reynolds en 1995.

Son propriétaire, Philippe Brillaut, souhaite s'en séparer et, depuis avril, le célèbre multicoque est en vente sur Internet . Il espère le céder pour un vrai projet, une seconde vie, comme il l'a expliqué à nos confrères de Midi Libre.

" Je ne veux pas le vendre comme on vendrait une voiture. L'objectif est de le conserver pour qu'il puisse encore faire de belles courses ".

Le descriptif de l'annonce précise que l'ex Pierre 1er a été entièrement révisé en 2022, pour la 12e édition de la Route du Rhum avec Philippe Poupon. Montant de la facture 116.000 euros et une place de 7e sur 17.

Pour aller plus loin :

• copier le lien https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/herault/sete/le-trimaran-de-florence-arthaud-est-a-vendre-sur-leboncoin-2788458.html
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En vente sur Leboncoin : et si vous achetiez le mythique trimaran de Florence Arthaud, amarré à Sète ?

Acheter le trimaran qui a remporté la route du Rhum avec Florence Arthaud, ça vous tente ?

Non, vous ne rêvez pas, il est possible d'acheter un trimaran vainqueur de la Route du Rhum. Et pas n'importe quel trimaran : celui de Florence Arthaud, la célèbre skippeuse décédée lors d'un crash d'hélicoptère en Argentine en 2015. Anciennement appelé Pierre 1er puis rebaptisé "Flo" en hommage à son ancienne propriétaire qui a remporté la célèbre course à voile transatlantique en 1990, ce bateau est actuellement en vente sur Leboncoin au prix de 390 000 €. Entièrement révisé en 2022, il a encore récemment pris le départ de la Route du Rhum l'hiver dernier avec Phillipe Poupon.  

Un appel à projet

Situé en ce moment à Sète sur le quai de la République , ce trimaran a été ramené des Philippines il y a un an par Philippe Brillaut, son propriétaire actuel.  "C'est un bateau que je ne veux pas garder" , explique-t-il. Ce dernier  "souhaite lui obtenir un vrai projet",  et n'envisage de le céder qu'à un acheteur en capacité de lui donner une belle seconde vie : "Je ne veux pas le vendre comme on vendrait une voiture. L'objectif est de le conserver pour qu'il puisse encore faire de belles courses. Je n'emploierai pas les termes vente et achat car ils ne correspondent pas à l'éthique de Florence Arthaud et de la mer." 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/nautisme/2301665331.htm

156000 €

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239000 €

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"Je ne veux pas le vendre comme on vendrait une voiture." Dans ce cas il faut en faire cadeau

Ce bateau fait parti du patrimoine maritime , il a déjà été vendu a des américains avant de revenir temporairement en France et il risque de repartir a nouveau ;c'est dommage .

Le bateaux de Florence a été le premier équipé d'une balise Argos avec celui de Tabarly.

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Le trimaran de Florence Arthaud est à vendre… sur Leboncoin !

Pierre 1er, l’ancien bateau de course de la navigatrice Florence Arthaud, cherche preneur. C’est à sa barre que la Française est devenue, en 1990, la première femme à remporter la Route du rhum, reliant Saint-Malo à la Guadeloupe.

Bateau mythique à vendre sur Leboncoin ! Actuellement amarré au port de Sète (Hérault), il s’agit du trimaran ex-Pierre 1er qui a permis à la navigatrice française Florence Arthaud d’être la première femme à remporter la Route du rhum en 1990. Surnommée « la petite fiancée de l’Atlantique », celle-ci a trouvé la mort en 2015 dans un accident d’hélicoptère en Argentine.

Vendu 390 000 euros, contre 450 000 euros il y a quelques mois, son ancien bateau peine à trouver preneur. « Nous n’avons eu pour l’instant que des doux rêveurs, confie Jean-Pierre Fréry de Cap Océan, chargé de sa vente depuis février. Dès que l’on aborde la question du financement, ça coince. » Cet ancien skipper professionnel estime qu’il faut prévoir 60 000 euros de rénovation et près de 50 000 euros d’entretien annuel.

« Une heure de voile, deux heures de travaux derrière »

En 2022, ce géant des mers de 18 mètres a pourtant une nouvelle fois franchi la ligne d’arrivée de la Route du rhum, cette fois-ci skippé par Philippe Poupon, qui a terminé 7e. Détenu par l’ancien maire du Chesnay-Rocquencourt (Yvelines), Philippe Brillault, depuis 2021, le voilier a également été utilisé pour la réalisation d’un biopic sur Florence Arthaud par Géraldine Danon. « Flo » a été présenté hors compétition au Festival de Cannes en avril et sortira en salles le 29 novembre.

« Ce bateau représente la première génération de trimaran. Désormais, il est plutôt destiné à des sorties à la journée », poursuit Jean-Pierre Fréry, qui imagine le futur propriétaire « passionné » et « pour qui une heure de voile rime avec deux heures de travaux derrière ».

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Flo: the iconic racing trimaran

Trimaran Flo is an updated legendary trimaran of yachtswoman Florence Artaud – Pierre 1er. We tell you about the exciting story of one multihull!

Florence Artaud and the unexpected start of a career

In fact, there are a great many iconic racing yachts, catamarans and trimarans. Among this multitude, alas, not all boats can convey one important aspect - the feeling of the era, its physical imprint in the hull. 

Today's hero is the racing trimaran Flo, formerly called the Pierre 1er, just one of those multihulls that perfectly convey the spirit of their native era, namely the 1990s. With this trimaran, Florence Artaud won the 1990 Route du Rhum regatta. 

Then Artaud overtook Philippe Poupon, who won the previous regatta, by eight hours. Florence became the first woman to win such a major offshore race. With this victory, the yachtswoman inspired a whole generation of girls and women to go in for sailing.

But Florence's influence is not limited to this. In addition to winning the Route du Rhum in 1990, she had already managed to break the transatlantic race record at that time. Then Florence was able to get ahead of Bruno Peyron at 20%, setting a new record.

In addition, Artaud also became the first yachtswoman to be able to receive the title of "Champion of Champions of the French Team". All these regalia occurred against the backdrop of Florence's personal tragedy. In principle, her entire career began in a strange way - with the fact that Florence, then still a girl, had an accident.

Fast forward four years to the first Route du Rhum regatta in which the yachtswoman took part. The year is 1974, Florence is only 17 and she gets into a terrible car accident. Doctors said that the girl was born in a shirt, because after this they don’t survive, but the prognosis was disappointing. Although the girl survived, she fell into a coma. Flo spent almost half a year in the hospital, being bedridden.

It took her two years to recover from the accident. However, she was not only able to fully return to normal life, but also began to sail!

ORMA 60 - the beginning of the beginning

If you think that crazy concepts of sailing and motor boats are something new, then you are mistaken. In the 1980s, the number of interesting models that remained only on paper was no less. The only difference is that today there is more talk about concepts.

ORMA 60 trimarans could have remained such concepts, but they appeared, as they say, “at the right time and in the right place”. ORMA 60 quickly gained popularity among racers and ordinary yachtsmen already in the mid-1980s. Then the shipyards competed in the innovativeness of materials, the audacity of design and tried to reinvent the wheel - they used the latest engineering developments. Has anything changed since then?

One of the trimarans ORMA 60, namely Pierre 1er, was destined for a great destiny. The entire line, including the Pierre 1er, was produced by VPLP (project) and Jeanneau JTA (technology and production facilities). When creating the trimarans of the line, fiberglass and Kevlar were used to increase strength and reliability.

However, this trimaran also had a critical drawback, which was an unprecedented weight-to-power ratio. Despite the fact that the trimaran itself is very stable, due to weight imbalance at high speeds, the trimaran could simply turn over. 

This was the final nail in the coffin of the ORMA 60 class. In 2002, during the same Route du Rhum regatta, there were five accidents. All of them were connected with capsizing trimarans of this model during the race. Then investors and sponsors stopped sponsoring the class and turned their attention to more promising models. Yes, ORMA 60 can still be found at regattas, but they are clearly not in the spotlight anymore.

However, this did not prevent both the entire ORMA 60 class and the Pierre 1er from gaining a glorious racing history.

History of Flo

And now, after this grandiose introduction, we will tell you about the Flo trimaran. Why was such a long interlude necessary? So that you, dear readers, understand the historical context.

On board the Pierre 1er trimaran, Florence Artaud managed to break several world records and win regattas. This trimaran is the most important part of the history of the yachtswoman herself. 

When Flo was still 19 years old, life brought her together with Philippe Poupon, another famous yachtsman. It was then that the foundation of a long friendship was laid. Over time, Poupon's wife, Geraldine Danon, also became close to Florence. The couple referred to Artaud as a member of the family.

Poupon and Artaud took part in the 2000 Transat regatta together, and also helped each other on numerous occasions, replacing members of their teams. Arto once took part in Figaro ll and Transat Jacques Vabre along with Poupon's brother Luc in the mid-2000s.

Shortly before Florence's death in 2015, Geraldine, being a director, discussed with the yachtswoman the idea of creating a film about her non-trivial career. Then the women agreed that one of the heroes of the film was to be the famous trimaran Pierre 1er. 

However, after the victories and records of the road, Florence and her faithful partner parted ways. In 1993, American billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett bought the trimaran. He renamed the multihull Lakota. In 1994, he even took 5th place on the Route du Rhum, and a year later - first place in the Transpac regatta. 

On the Pierre 1er, Steve managed to break 12 world records, and also managed to circumnavigate the world. After a while, Atlant Ocean Racing became the new owner of the trimaran, and then ... Over the years of its existence, Pierre 1er managed to change many owners and names.

After Florence's death, Philippe and Gerardin decided that the trimaran needed to be restored and given a second chance. In addition, Gerardine is still working on the script for the film about Florence. The couple decided that it was Pierre 1er who should become the key character of the film along with Flo herself.

Restoration and preparation for the regatta

Together with his wife, Philip went in search in 2022. The couple ended up finding a trimaran in the Philippines and shipping it to France. Philippe says: “I was amazed at how well the yacht has been preserved.” The electronics were periodically updated, but there were no cardinal changes in the design at all.   

However, Philip did not have 250,000 euros in his pocket to buy. The new owner loaned the trimaran to Poupon to take part in Route du Rhum 2022 and to film his wife's film.

Below deck, the trimaran has little space. There is a galley, one berth and a small navigation station. However, this yacht was created for speeds and records, and not for measured cruises in the Mediterranean.

Restoration began at the shipyard. Basically, the restoration concerned only cosmetic aspects. Philip also insisted on renaming the multihull, paying tribute to his deceased girlfriend - you have already seen the new name more than once in this text - Flo. 

When the basic restoration was completed, it was time to prepare for the regatta. This is how the story beautifully looped - decades later, Flo sets off on his final tour along the same route on which it all began. 

Preparations for the journey began to boil. Philip noted in an interview that in preparation for a new serious test, it was necessary to make a minimum of changes. The electrical system was updated, but the deck equipment and sailing layout remained virtually unchanged.

Last July, Poupon got his hands on a fully completed Flo. It happened in Cannes, where the shooting of the film about Florence also began. The trimaran received its place of honor in the port of Vieux. 

On Friday, September 9, 2022, the trimaran was re-launched. After a while, he arrived at La Trinite for sea trials.

legendary return

To participate in Route du Rhum 2022, it was required to pass the qualifying stage - a solo passage of a 1200-mile stretch of track. When this test was successfully passed, the regatta began, where Pupon competed in the Rhum Multi class. 

Philipp successfully finished the race in an honorable 7th place out of 17 available. The entire race aboard the Flo took 18 days and 19 hours. However, Philip failed to beat his friend's record. Florence managed to cover the same distance three and a half days faster.

Florence's victory at Route du Rhum 1990 came just months after the women's team won second place at the Whitbread Round the World. Then the athletes and athletes noted that with the latest big names and records, it is likely that the focus of attention from male yachtsmen will shift towards women's teams. 

However, three decades have passed since then. At the last regatta Route du Rhum, out of 138 skippers, only 7 were women. This problem was brought to the attention of Knut Frostad, one of the winners of the Volvo Ocean Race, as well as the CEO of the Navico Group, a marine electronics and equipment conglomerate. 

In his speech at the last regatta forum, he noted: “... not only for the sake of fairness, we should attract more women to sailing. The absence of female representatives is a threat to any sport in the long term. Our industry will die in a generation if we continue like this…”

What's next for Flo? After participating in the regatta, the trimaran went to shoot a film about Florence Artaud. Its further fate remains in question, but most likely it will go back to its owner. 

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Interview / Route du Rhum: What changes for Florence Arthaud's former trimaran?

On September 9, 2022, the former ORMA trimaran Pierre 1er, renamed "Flo" was put back in the water after a refit by the ocean racing team Mer Agitée, directed by Michel Desjoyeaux. Beyond the return to the original colors, Philippe Poupon explains how he prepared his boat for the transatlantic race and the shooting of the film tribute to Florence Arthaud.

A tribute race and a movie to come

It is aboard Flo, the new name of the ORMA trimaran aboard which Florence Arthaud won the Route du Rhum in 1990, that Philippe Poupon will take the start of the Route du Rhum 2022. If this is a tribute to his long-time friend, Philippe has also found the boat to support his wife Géraldine Danon, who is making a film about the navigator, the first woman to win the Route du Rhum.

A mainly aesthetic refit

Bought by a shipowner and loaned to the skipper for the race and the film , the old trimaran was transported to Brittany for a refit within Michel Desjoyeaux's ocean racing team, Mer Agitée. The work mainly concerned the aesthetics of the boat , which is now covered with a giant adhesive tape in the colors of the original, and fitted with a new antifouling, always in the same perspective.

A healthy hull and some minor work

Other minor work has been done on ORMA 60, as Philippe Poupon explains: "The boat is 32 years old. We refurbished all the electricity and electronics, installing a good NKE driver. The engine has been overhauled, it is an important part for the energy of the boat. We also changed the rudder bearing of the central hull, installed an Oscar vision system and changed the entire standing rigging thanks to the Lancelin company. The boat in its hull structure is fine, there was no reason to change anything else. The same goes for the sails, which are in good condition, and which we kept and sent to be revised and reinforced. They will be sufficient for the Route du Rhum. There are still a few parts from that time on board like the winches."

A high-performance boat, but without competition

When asked how he sees himself in the Rhum Multi class, Philippe modestly replies: "On the face of it, it looks like the best performer, but there are no similar boats in terms of size. Some former comrades have taken over catamarans, like Roland Jourdain, Marc Guillemot or Halvard Mabire."

Indeed, the 18.28 m long VPLP design will be the largest of the Multi class trimarans, among the 9 three-hulled yachts on the starting line. However, it will not be the largest boat in the Multi class, that distinction going to Roland Jourdain and his 18.50 m linen deck Outremer.

A first navigation "without surprise

Launched on Friday, September 9, 2022 in Port La Forêt in Finistère, the "golden" trimaran has reached La Trinité for sea trials. Philippe answered our questions from aboard, always remaining modest about the boat's performance: "We went out to put things back in place, to adjust the boat . This allows us to make the final adjustments. There's not much to say, it's a boat we know well and it's back to its full glory! We're waiting for next week to shoot images with the actress on board, but also with other boats, notably her first boat for the Route du Rhum. Then we'll go on standby to go out to sea in sustained conditions, and make strong images with the sailing understudy."

Bateaux.com

Interview / Route du Rhum : Quelles transformations pour l'ex trimaran de Florence Arthaud ?

Ce 9 septembre 2022, l'ex trimaran ORMA Pierre 1er, rebaptisé "Flo" a été remis à l'eau après un refit au sein de l'écurie de course au large Mer Agitée, dirigée par Michel Desjoyeaux. Au-delà du retour aux couleurs d'origine, Philippe Poupon nous explique comment il a préparé son bateau pour la transatlantique et le tournage du film hommage à Florence Arthaud.

Écoutez cet article

Une course hommage et un film à venir

C'est à bord de Flo, nouveau nom du trimaran ORMA à bord duquel Florence Arthaud a remporté la Route du Rhum en 1990, que Philippe Poupon prendra le départ de la Route du Rhum 2022. S'il s'agit d'un hommage à son amie de toujours, Philippe a aussi retrouvé le bateau pour soutenir sa femme Géraldine Danon, qui réalise un film sur la navigatrice, première femme à remporter la Route du Rhum.

Un refit principalement esthétique

Racheté par un armateur, et prêté au skipper pour la course et le film , l'ancien trimaran a été convoyé jusqu'en Bretagne pour un refit au sein de l'écurie de course au large de Michel Desjoyeaux , Mer Agitée. Le chantier a principalement concerné l'esthétisme du bateau, désormais recouvert d'un adhésif géant aux couleurs de l'original, et doté d'un nouvel antifouling toujours dans la même optique.

Une coque saine et quelques menus travaux

D'autres menus travaux ont été réalisés sur l'ORMA 60, comme nous l'explique Philippe Poupon : "Le bateau a 32 ans. On a remis à neuf toute l'électricité et l'électronique, en installant un bon pilote NKE. Le moteur a été révisé, c'est une pièce importante pour l'énergie du bord. On a aussi changé le palier de safran de la coque centrale, installé un système de vision Oscar et changé l'intégralité du gréement dormant grâce à la société Lancelin. Le bateau dans sa structure de coque est bien, il n'y avait pas de raisons de changer autre chose. Pareil pour les voiles, dans un état correct, que l'on a conservées et envoyées pour être révisées et renforcées. Elles seront suffisantes pour la Route du Rhum. Il y a encore quelques pièces de l'époque à bord comme les winchs."

Un bateau performant, mais sans concurrence

Quand on interroge Philippe sur la manière dont il se situe au sein de la classe Rhum Multi, il répond modestement : "A priori, il a l'air d'être le plus performant, mais il n'y a pas de bateaux similaires au niveau de la taille. Quelques anciens camarades ont repris des catamarans, comme Roland Jourdain, Marc Guillemot ou Halvard Mabire."

Effectivement, le plan VPLP de 18,28 m de long sera bien le plus grand des trimarans de la classe Multi, parmi les 9 voiliers à trois coques sur la ligne de départ. Pourtant, il ne sera pas le plus grand bateau de la classe Multi, cette distinction revenant à Roland Jourdain et son Outremer au pont en lin de 18,50 m.

Une première navigation "sans surprise"

Mis à l'eau vendredi 9 septembre 2022 à Port La Forêt dans le Finistère, le trimaran en "or" a rejoint la Trinité pour des essais en mer. C'est d'ailleurs depuis son bord que Philippe a répondu à nos questions, restant toujours modeste sur les performances du bateau : "On est sortis pour remettre les choses en place, régler le bateau. Ça permet de faire les derniers réglages. Il n'y a pas grand-chose à dire, c'est un bateau que l'on connait bien et qui a retrouvé toute sa splendeur ! On attend la semaine prochaine pour tourner des images avec l'actrice à bord, mais aussi avec d'autres bateaux, notamment son premier bateau pour la Route du Rhum. Puis on entrera en stand-by pour sortir en mer dans des conditions soutenues, et faire des images fortes avec la doublure navigatrice."

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Trimaran - 10 Things You Should Know About the Trimaran

• The launch by Austal of the longest multi-hull vessel ever is physical proof that a shipyard has finally found a way to tap the huge potential of a vessel type that was actually invented many centuries ago by the Hawaiians: namely the 'trimaran' or stabilised monohull. We can at last design a vessel for speed and comfort without one (design goal) compromising the other.  
• Austal can make the main (centre) hull long and slender to gain higher speeds with today's engines AND at the same time design the side hulls, which are necessary to make this long hull stable, in a way that means that the roll action of the vessel can be "tuned" for comfort.  
• But the design is complex: of all the shipyards in the world it is only Austal that has proven it has the skills and experience to carry out the development. So many aspects must be taken into account in optimising the design: the number of combinations is almost unlimited.  
• Today catamarans dominate the high speed vessel market around the world: their wide decks, ability to load bow and stern, and their efficiency through the water have meant this very versatile platform accounts for over 70% of all high speed ferries being delivered. Their versatility and economy will mean that catamarans will remain a major part of the market going forward too. But in many cases where a catamaran today plies a route through difficult sea conditions the trimaran will provide a premium service for the discerning operator.  
• The enhanced sea-keeping of the trimaran will help operators offer better service on existing routes plus also begin operations on new routes where, until today, sea conditions had made them too challenging.  

For example, an operator investigating a new route discovers that for sea keeping (passenger comfort) a 100 metre long catamaran is required. This platform has the capacity for 1000 passengers and 250 cars by nature of the large box-style garage deck and superstructure of the catamaran design. The cost of this vessel is proportionate to the volume and power required to operate at high speed (40 knots). Unfortunately the operator does not have the capacity to fill such a vessel so he cannot afford to purchase or operate the 100 metre catamaran. A smaller catamaran i.e. 60-70 metres with the appropriate passenger and car carrying ability will be unable to handle the sea conditions and so will likely lead to the demise of the business through passenger dissatisfaction and cancelled sailings.

With the trimaran design it is now possible to build a 100 metre vessel with the same or better sea keeping as the 100 metre catamaran but without the correspondingly large box-style garage deck and superstructure. The trimaran can effectively be a long slender monohull only with side supports. The car carrying and passenger volume is located only above the centre hull and can be adjusted to equate to that of a 40 to a 100 metre catamaran.

The cost of the vessel therefore becomes proportionate to the desired capacity rather than overall length as the flexible nature of the trimaran design allows construction volume and powering requirements to more closely follow capacity requirements.

The trimaran enables the operator in this example to achieve both the capital investment and sea keeping suited to his particular route.

• Endorsement of the trimaran design has come from the highest possible levels. In the commercial market Fred. Olsen, S.A. is a world leader in developing high speed vessel technologies. It was due to the foresight and determination of Fred. Olsen, S.A. that we see the first (and world's largest) trimaran launched by Austal on September 25, 2004. The 127m long, 30m wide "Benchijigua Express" is a trail-blazing and revolutionary craft.  
• The other major endorsement of the trimaran concept has come from the US Navy who has chosen the Austal trimaran (the team is led by giant US defence contractor, General Dynamics) as one of two vessel types that will go through final design this year and move into production during 2005. The project is the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and ultimately the US Navy sees a need for up to 60 of these vessels.  
• The trimaran has already become the basis of a large high speed vehicle ferry and a surface combatant project. Other applications that are already emerging include passenger-only ferries, patrol vessels and supply vessels. In some of these applications the benefits of the trimaran comfort at zero/low speed will also be utilised. The trimaran also has a very low wake-wash and this is a vital characteristic that can be exploited on ferry services close to communities.  
• May 2005 is a big month in the history of high speed transport. Following the delivery from Austal via the Cape of Good Hope the full promise of this technology is shortly to be realised in service.

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Extraordinary boats: Flo an iconic trimaran

Flo, formerly Pierre 1er, is the iconic 60ft trimaran which Florence Arthaud sailed to win the 1990 Route du Rhum, now returned to its golden glory and racing again

There are many iconic raceboats, but few capture the feeling of an era as much as the 60ft trimaran in which Florence Arthaud won the 1990 Route du Rhum. She beat Philippe Poupon, winner of the previous edition, by eight hours to become the first woman to win a major offshore race, inspiring a new generation of young women to follow in her footsteps.

Arthaud had already broken the west to east transatlantic record earlier that year, taking a whopping 20% off Bruno Peyron’s existing time. She also became the first sailor to be awarded the title ‘Champion des Champions français de L’Équipe’. It was a remarkable turnaround for someone who, only four years before her first Route du Rhum, had been gravely injured in a car accident that left her in coma and hospitalised for six months.

The pace of change in yacht design in the 1980s was as breathtakingly fast as it is today. Although they’re separated by only 12 years, this boat could hardly be more different to Mike Birch’s 39ft plywood Walter Green trimaran Olympus Photo in which he won the inaugural Route du Rhum in 1978. Birch’s boat, for example, had little more than half the beam of Arthaud’s.

The ORMA 60 trimarans that quickly came to dominate the scene from the mid-1980s were huge vessels by comparison, built of the most hi-tech materials available, while their creators pressed hard against the boundaries of design and engineering knowledge. Pierre 1er , as the boat was originally named, was built to a VPLP design of fibreglass and Kevlar by Jeanneau’s former JTA (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées) division.

iconic image of Arthaud at the finish of the 1990 Route du Rhum in Martinique. Photo: Thierry Martinez/ Sea&Co

These boats had an unprecedented power to weight ratio that, despite their enormous inherent stability, led to a number of capsizes. This came to a head in the stormy 2002 Route du Rhum in which five boats capsized and only three of the 18-strong fleet finished. As a result sponsors rapidly quit the class, which collapsed within three seasons.

Nevertheless, Pierre 1er went on to have an illustrious 20-year history of racing and record breaking. American billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett, who renamed the boat Lakota , became her second owner in 1993.

He picked up 5th place in the 1994 Route du Rhum, despite a lack of experience at the time, before taking line honours in the Transpac the following year. In a seven-year period he broke 12 world records with the boat, including Round Britain and Ireland and around the Isle of Wight.

Poupon reduced the size of the staysail for heavy weather work and added a furler. Huge asymmetrics are flown from the bowsprit. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Her next owner was Atlant Ocean Racing in Sweden, with the boat again breaking records under several different names. Andrew Pindar chartered her in 2001, when she was renamed Pindar Systems for Emma Richards to race in the Transat Jacques Vabre. She finished 9th, with Miki von Koskull, who had sailed with Richards on Tracy Edwards’ 1998 Royal Sun Alliance Jules Verne attempt, as co-skipper.

The boat picked up line honours in the 2003 Cape to Rio race, before heading east under the ownership of an experienced French multihull sailor from 2011-2021 who was based in Hong Kong and kept the boat in Subic Bay in the Philippines, using her primarily for fast cruising and ocean voyages.

Flo – Golden girl

Despite all the different owners and skippers, when I visited Flo in Saint Malo, just before the start of the 2022 Route du Rhum, it was striking just how original the boat remains. There’s a huge curved mainsheet traveller on the aft beam, while the giant winches in the small cockpit are physically much larger than today’s equivalents. And, despite the boat’s awesome power, there are no pedestal grinders.

Both amas have helm seats in a similar way to MOD70s, but without the foot pedal to dump the mainsheet in a hurry. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Equally, Flo still has both a central tiller in the cockpit and helm seats perched precariously at the aft end of each ama.

Below decks the boat is surprisingly small, with a vestigial galley, just one berth, plus a navstation tucked in the corner between the daggerboard case and the main bulkhead.

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The original striking gold colour scheme on the hulls and spars was reinstated earlier this year, when she was renamed Flo by Poupon, who skippered her in the 2022 race, 36 years after his 1986 victory.

Surprisingly, he told me very few changes were needed to prepare Flo for her latest transatlantic: “Almost nothing has changed, the electrical system and electronics are new, but the deck gear and layout are almost all original.”

Relatively minor alterations included lowering the head of the staysail and adding roller furling for it. “I prefer a smaller sail that’s easier to handle and has better shape for this purpose,” says Poupon. He also added a fourth reef to the mainsail, “which has a lot of surface area.”

Philippe Poupon, runner up to Florence Arthaud in the 1990 Route du Rhum, now skippers Flo. Photo: Jean-Louis Carli

Dramatic new role for Flo

What led to Poupon’s current involvement with Flo ? “Me and my wife [film maker Géraldine Danon] were very close to Florence Arthaud,” he told me. Indeed, in French media interviews he has even described her as “part of the family.” Poupon and Arthaud competed together as co-skippers on a later Fleury Michon in the 2000 Transat, and Arthaud also took part in a Figaro ll and Transat Jacques Vabre campaign with Poupon’s brother Luc in the mid-2000s.

“Géraldine started working on a script for a film about Florence two years ago,” continued Poupon. “We started to talk about what boat to use for the film and of course it had to be this one.”

The trimaran turned out to be easy to find, as Vendée Globe veteran-turned yacht broker Bernard Gallay was listing the boat for sale at the time. However, Poupon and Danon lacked both the €250,000 purchase price and the time to sail her back to France. Poupon says those problems were “… solved in a bar,” and the deal was completed in December 2021.

Controls for the wing mast. Daggerboard needs to be fully lowered to clear the boom in tacks and gybes. Photo: Rupert Holmes

The new owner, Philippe Brillault, took a crew that included Bernard Stamm as skipper out to deliver the boat back to France, via the Red Sea. The four-month trip was not without incident. New batteries were needed in Thailand, engine problems forced a stop in Sri Lanka, and having strayed too close to the coast of Yemen after departing Djibouti, the delivery crew was attacked by pirates.

“There were bullet tracks on the mast!” Fortunately they were able to escape and return to Djibouti, before proceeding with a military escort.

Poupon took over the boat in Cannes in July last year, where shooting for the film started. Flo took pride of place in the Vieux Port and anchored overnight off Île Sainte Marguerite, where Arthaud’s ashes were scattered after her 2015 death in a helicopter accident while filming a reality TV programme in Argentina.

Return to Rhum

The final leg took the boat to Michel Desjoyeaux’s Mer Agitée yard at Port La Forêt, where Flo had a short refit ahead of an opportunity for Poupon to complete the 1,200-mile solo qualifier needed for the 2022 Route du Rhum.

I visited him on board just before it was announced the race would be postponed by three days to avoid a dangerous sea state in 7.5m waves with a brutal 12 second period. How concerned was he at the prospect of sailing an old boat in such conditions?

“I have sailed a lot before on this type of boat and I am sailing more than six months a year on my own boat [a 66ft high latitude expedition yacht] so I will know what to do – maybe it will be to wait in Finisterre. I don’t have sponsors and I am not out to win overall, so I can decide for myself. I am here just to pay homage to Florence and for the movie.”

Poupon was also quick to point out that when he did the first race back in 1978 medium range weather forecasting didn’t exist and all that could be expected was a rough idea of what to expect the day after the start.

Flo’s small cockpit has most of the original winches and no grinder, despite the boat’s enormous power. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Poupon finished the race in 7th place in the 17-strong Rhum Multi class, crossing the line in 18 days and 19 hours, more than three and a half days slower than Arthaud’s 1990 time. Her Route du Rhum victory was just months after Tracy Edwards’ all-woman team on Maiden finished the Whitbread Round the World race 2nd in class, having won two legs, including the gruelling 7,260 mile Southern Ocean section. Back then there was real hope that professional sailing was changing from its entrenched position of male dominance. Yet three decades later only seven of the 138 Route du Rhum skippers were women.

It’s a concern Volvo Ocean Race winner and ex-race organiser Knut Frostad (now CEO of marine electronics and equipment conglomerate Navico Group) highlighted in his keynote speech at the most recent Yacht Racing Forum – not just for the sake of fairness, but also for the threat it represents to the sport in the longer term. Frostad warned: “Our industry will die in a generation if carry on as we are…”

Flo specifications

Design: VPLP Launch: 1989 LOA: 18.28m / 60ft 0in Beam: 15.10m / 49ft 6in Draught: 1.54m-2.88m / 5ft 1in-9ft 5in Displacement: 6,000kg / 13,230lb Upwind sail area: 230m2 / 2,475ft2

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Extraordinary boats: Flo an iconic trimaran

Flo, formerly Pierre 1er, is the iconic 60ft trimaran which Florence Arthaud sailed to win the 1990 Route du Rhum, now returned to its golden glory and racing again

There are many iconic raceboats, but few capture the feeling of an era as much as the 60ft trimaran in which Florence Arthaud won the 1990 Route du Rhum . She beat Philippe Poupon, winner of the previous edition, by eight hours to become the first woman to win a major offshore race, inspiring a new generation of young women to follow in her footsteps.

Arthaud had already broken the west to east transatlantic record earlier that year, taking a whopping 20% off Bruno Peyron’s existing time. She also became the first sailor to be awarded the title ‘Champion des Champions français de L’Équipe’. It was a remarkable turnaround for someone who, only four years before her first Route du Rhum, had been gravely injured in a car accident that left her in coma and hospitalised for six months.

The pace of change in yacht design in the 1980s was as breathtakingly fast as it is today. Although they’re separated by only 12 years, this boat could hardly be more different to Mike Birch ’s 39ft plywood Walter Green trimaran Olympus Photo in which he won the inaugural Route du Rhum in 1978. Birch’s boat, for example, had little more than half the beam of Arthaud’s.

The ORMA 60 trimarans that quickly came to dominate the scene from the mid-1980s were huge vessels by comparison, built of the most hi-tech materials available, while their creators pressed hard against the boundaries of design and engineering knowledge. Pierre 1er , as the boat was originally named, was built to a VPLP design of fibreglass and Kevlar by Jeanneau’s former JTA (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées) division.

iconic image of Arthaud at the finish of the 1990 Route du Rhum in Martinique. Photo: Thierry Martinez/ Sea&Co

These boats had an unprecedented power to weight ratio that, despite their enormous inherent stability, led to a number of capsizes. This came to a head in the stormy 2002 Route du Rhum in which five boats capsized and only three of the 18-strong fleet finished. As a result sponsors rapidly quit the class, which collapsed within three seasons.

Nevertheless, Pierre 1er went on to have an illustrious 20-year history of racing and record breaking. American billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett, who renamed the boat Lakota , became her second owner in 1993.

He picked up 5th place in the 1994 Route du Rhum, despite a lack of experience at the time, before taking line honours in the Transpac the following year. In a seven-year period he broke 12 world records with the boat, including Round Britain and Ireland and around the Isle of Wight.

Poupon reduced the size of the staysail for heavy weather work and added a furler. Huge asymmetrics are flown from the bowsprit. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Her next owner was Atlant Ocean Racing in Sweden, with the boat again breaking records under several different names. Andrew Pindar chartered her in 2001, when she was renamed Pindar Systems for Emma Richards to race in the Transat Jacques Vabre . She finished 9th, with Miki von Koskull, who had sailed with Richards on Tracy Edwards’ 1998 Royal Sun Alliance Jules Verne attempt, as co-skipper.

The boat picked up line honours in the 2003 Cape to Rio race, before heading east under the ownership of an experienced French multihull sailor from 2011-2021 who was based in Hong Kong and kept the boat in Subic Bay in the Philippines, using her primarily for fast cruising and ocean voyages.

Flo – Golden girl

Despite all the different owners and skippers, when I visited Flo in Saint Malo, just before the start of the 2022 Route du Rhum , it was striking just how original the boat remains. There’s a huge curved mainsheet traveller on the aft beam, while the giant winches in the small cockpit are physically much larger than today’s equivalents. And, despite the boat’s awesome power, there are no pedestal grinders.

Both amas have helm seats in a similar way to MOD70s, but without the foot pedal to dump the mainsheet in a hurry. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Equally, Flo still has both a central tiller in the cockpit and helm seats perched precariously at the aft end of each ama.

Below decks the boat is surprisingly small, with a vestigial galley, just one berth, plus a navstation tucked in the corner between the daggerboard case and the main bulkhead.

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The original striking gold colour scheme on the hulls and spars was reinstated earlier this year, when she was renamed Flo by Poupon, who skippered her in the 2022 race, 36 years after his 1986 victory.

Surprisingly, he told me very few changes were needed to prepare Flo for her latest transatlantic : “Almost nothing has changed, the electrical system and electronics are new, but the deck gear and layout are almost all original.”

Relatively minor alterations included lowering the head of the staysail and adding roller furling for it. “I prefer a smaller sail that’s easier to handle and has better shape for this purpose,” says Poupon. He also added a fourth reef to the mainsail, “which has a lot of surface area.”

Philippe Poupon, runner up to Florence Arthaud in the 1990 Route du Rhum, now skippers Flo. Photo: Jean-Louis Carli

Dramatic new role for Flo

What led to Poupon’s current involvement with Flo ? “Me and my wife [film maker Géraldine Danon] were very close to Florence Arthaud,” he told me. Indeed, in French media interviews he has even described her as “part of the family.” Poupon and Arthaud competed together as co-skippers on a later Fleury Michon in the 2000 Transat, and Arthaud also took part in a Figaro ll and Transat Jacques Vabre campaign with Poupon’s brother Luc in the mid-2000s.

“Géraldine started working on a script for a film about Florence two years ago,” continued Poupon. “We started to talk about what boat to use for the film and of course it had to be this one.”

The trimaran turned out to be easy to find, as Vendée Globe veteran-turned yacht broker Bernard Gallay was listing the boat for sale at the time. However, Poupon and Danon lacked both the €250,000 purchase price and the time to sail her back to France. Poupon says those problems were “… solved in a bar,” and the deal was completed in December 2021.

Controls for the wing mast. Daggerboard needs to be fully lowered to clear the boom in tacks and gybes. Photo: Rupert Holmes

The new owner, Philippe Brillault, took a crew that included Bernard Stamm as skipper out to deliver the boat back to France, via the Red Sea. The four-month trip was not without incident. New batteries were needed in Thailand, engine problems forced a stop in Sri Lanka, and having strayed too close to the coast of Yemen after departing Djibouti, the delivery crew was attacked by pirates.

“There were bullet tracks on the mast!” Fortunately they were able to escape and return to Djibouti, before proceeding with a military escort.

Poupon took over the boat in Cannes in July last year, where shooting for the film started. Flo took pride of place in the Vieux Port and anchored overnight off Île Sainte Marguerite, where Arthaud’s ashes were scattered after her 2015 death in a helicopter accident while filming a reality TV programme in Argentina.

Return to Rhum

The final leg took the boat to Michel Desjoyeaux’s Mer Agitée yard at Port La Forêt, where Flo had a short refit ahead of an opportunity for Poupon to complete the 1,200-mile solo qualifier needed for the 2022 Route du Rhum.

I visited him on board just before it was announced the race would be postponed by three days to avoid a dangerous sea state in 7.5m waves with a brutal 12 second period. How concerned was he at the prospect of sailing an old boat in such conditions?

“I have sailed a lot before on this type of boat and I am sailing more than six months a year on my own boat [a 66ft high latitude expedition yacht] so I will know what to do – maybe it will be to wait in Finisterre. I don’t have sponsors and I am not out to win overall, so I can decide for myself. I am here just to pay homage to Florence and for the movie.”

Poupon was also quick to point out that when he did the first race back in 1978 medium range weather forecasting didn’t exist and all that could be expected was a rough idea of what to expect the day after the start.

Flo’s small cockpit has most of the original winches and no grinder, despite the boat’s enormous power. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

Poupon finished the race in 7th place in the 17-strong Rhum Multi class, crossing the line in 18 days and 19 hours, more than three and a half days slower than Arthaud’s 1990 time. Her Route du Rhum victory was just months after Tracy Edwards ’ all-woman team on Maiden finished the Whitbread Round the World race 2nd in class, having won two legs, including the gruelling 7,260 mile Southern Ocean section. Back then there was real hope that professional sailing was changing from its entrenched position of male dominance. Yet three decades later only seven of the 138 Route du Rhum skippers were women.

It’s a concern Volvo Ocean Race winner and ex-race organiser Knut Frostad (now CEO of marine electronics and equipment conglomerate Navico Group) highlighted in his keynote speech at the most recent Yacht Racing Forum – not just for the sake of fairness, but also for the threat it represents to the sport in the longer term. Frostad warned: “Our industry will die in a generation if carry on as we are…”

Flo specifications

Design: VPLP Launch: 1989 LOA: 18.28m / 60ft 0in Beam: 15.10m / 49ft 6in Draught: 1.54m-2.88m / 5ft 1in-9ft 5in Displacement: 6,000kg / 13,230lb Upwind sail area: 230m2 / 2,475ft2

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