Line Honours go to blue hulled Maxi Edmond De Rothschild crewed by Franck Cammas and Charles Candrelier whose 15.5 tonne 32 metre trimaran competing in the open multihull class finished at 20.24 BST arriving in Cherbourg-en -Contentin at sunset to rapturous applause for such a magnificent achievement.
Designed by naval architect Guillaume Verdier and his team in collaboration with the Gitana design office, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild will be part Archimedean boat (submerged hull), part flying craft. She is offshore racing’s first maxi-multihull designed to fly in the open ocean.
The precursor of a new generation of giants of the seas, this boat features innovative, purposeful planing hulls beneath the waterline, which are a far cry from those used on the current fleet of oceanic multihulls.
Everything about the forms of the floats and the central hull shouts flight. She is equipped with the very latest architectural and technical advances in terms of appendages, with T-foil rudders and L-shaped foils measuring over 5.4m in height.
With everything geared towards flight, a great deal of care has gone into the aerodynamics of the platform. The forms of the beams in particular testify to this, as does the integration of the living space/ cockpit between the two beams.
The extraordinary 32m long Ultime Maxi Edmond de Rothschild showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet in the 49th Rolex Fastnet Race arriving this evening (Monday 9 August) at 20:24:54 BST, setting a new record for the race’s new longer 695 mile course to Cherbourg of 1 days 9 hours 15 minutes and 54 seconds.
As the huge blue and white trimaran arrived in Cherbourg’s Port Chantereyne, the marina was packed with cheering fans of the team and of its famous crew of six led by co-skippers Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier. Also on board were David Boileau, Erwan Israel, Morgan Lagraviere and Yann Riou.
Co-skipper Franck Cammas © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
