Groupama 3 arrives in Brest to await Jules Verne start

Frank Cammas and a delivery crew of 5 (Thomas Coville among them) have positioned Groupama 3 in Brest to begin their wait for a suitable weather window before starting on their attempt to break the Jules Verne around-the-world record.

With the boat now in Brest, some final preparations are under way, including the removal of the engine and propellor-shaft as well as loading provisions (once the bilges have been cleaned).

The Jules Verne trophy is currently held by Bruno Peyron aboard Orange 2, with a time of 50 days 16 hours and 20 minutes, set in 2005. This is the second attempt at the Jules Verne trophy by Groupama 3 - she abandoned her last attempt after losing a float off New Zealand in February 2008. She became the first sailing boat to pass the 800 miles per day record with 857 miles in 24 hours on her recent North-Atlantic crossing.

Groupama 3 berthed at the new port of Le Château. Image © SEA&CO /Benoit Stichelbaut, used with permission.

The Discovery Route will have to wait as the French head for New York

Following several months of waiting for a suitable weather window which never arrived ("pas de fenetre météo favourable"), two of the world's most advanced trimarans have abandoned their attempts on the Discovery Route record for now - and both are headed to New York for an attempt on the North Atlantic record.

The crew of the 40m (131ft) Banque Populaire V under the leadership of Pascal Bidégorry have left their stand-by port of Cadiz in Spain and headed for New York via their regular home base of Lorient, expecting to be on stand-by for the record attempt by June 26th.

At the same time, Thomas Coville and a small crew are currently sailing Sodeb'O from La Trinité-sur-Mer to New York to stand-by for a solo attempt on the North Atlantic record.

The North Atlantic route takes sailors from New York to Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southern-most point in the UK. The current record holder is Groupama 3, sailed by Franck Cammas and a crew of 9. They made the crossing in 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes and 54 seconds - an average speed of 28.65 knots over the 2,925 mile course.

First Arabian 100 coming together in Salalah

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

Trimaran Cool has been following the exciting trimaran activities of Oman Sail for a while. Following their team's round-the-world voyage on Musandam (the former B&Q/Castorama), they are now working hard to create a new class of maxi-racing trimaran, the Arabian 100. Following construction of the first boat at Boatspeed in Australia and then shipping via India, the Oman Sail team are now assembling the un-named trimaran in Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman. The previously unreleased cell-phone shot above shows the progress made as of yesterday - she is really starting to look like a fast machine!

Some more details come from Oman Sail: The first Arabian 100, a new class of 105’ trimaran, has arrived in Mina Salalah for final assembly. Built by Boatspeed in Australia, the three hulls and connecting beams were shipped on deck to Salalah via India. On Saturday the 2nd of May, the parts were transferred to the only shed in Salalah that could accommodate what will be one of the biggest racing trimarans in the world. Salalah was chosen not only because of the facilities available, but also because the project that Oman Sail has undertaken spans the length of Oman’s coastline and includes all cities, towns and villages of Oman. The project is already a few days ahead of schedule with the beams and amas (the shorter outer hulls), having been connected.

Over the next three months the spars will arrive from Southern Spars in Auckland, New Zealand whilst the Harken deck gear and winches have already arrived from Italy. Before the trimaran is launched near the end of August, during the annual Khareef, for sea trials, a full set of North Sails will arrive from France. Originally designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, the Arabian 100 is a close sister ship to the very successful and very famous Sodeb’O campaigned by Thomas Coville. Sodeb’O has set many records around the world and her design was a perfect platform on which to develop a new class of racing trimarans that also offer optimal training platforms.

Here are the amas being unloaded in Salalah:

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

Here is what she will look like when complete:

Photo © Oman Sail, used with permission

The Nigel Irens design influences and her family likeness to sister-ship Sodeb'O is very apparent. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project... that's Trimaran Cool!

Attempts: Embouteillage de route Découverte?

(traffic jam on the Discovery Route?)

While Pascal Bidegorry and the crew of Banque Populaire V have been waiting in Cadiz for many weeks, Thomas Coville has only just arrived in La Trinite su mer during the last week or so, and is set to head off on a single-handed attempt at the Discovery Route. So its possible we may see two mega-trimarans racing the clock across the Atlantic when the weather looks good!

Check out Coville's Sodeb'O website for news of his imminent departure.

That's trimaran cool...