maxi catamaran club med

CLUB MED LAUNCHED!

The maxi-catamaran Club Med (33.50 m) was launched on May 8 in front of the Multiplast yard in Vannes, France after a period of construction that lasted 12 months. Philippe Bourguignon, CEO of Club Méditerranée, officially launched this new giant of the seas that will be at the start of the crewed, non-stop race around the world, The Race, which will start on December 31, 2000.

Club Med is the biggest racing catamaran ever built in France. She will start her working up and development program in the next few days in La Trinité-sur-Mer, before heading for Spain at the beginning of June in order to qualify on her first transatlantic, between Cadiz and San Salvador, Bahamas. She will then head for New York in the beginning of July to attack the legendary West-East Atlantic crossing between New York and the Lizard. To win “The Race”!

During his introductory speech, Philippe Bourguignon defined Club Med’s objectives: “Club Med entered The Race with a triple challenge: to build the fastest boat, bring together a top level international crew, and finally to qualify for and win The Race. The first objective has been achieved thanks to the team of the Multiplast yard. The cosmopolitan and multicultural crew is now in place with no less than nine nationalities represented on board. All that remains is to announce the name of the second co-skipper who will be French and a multihull specialist. Finally, we will attempt to qualify as early as the month of June on the Atlantic and continue to train with the objective of winning The Race.” A challenge on the move! The Race is a unique opportunity for Club Med. First of all, because the values of Club Med are close to those of this extraordinary race: pioneering spirit, human adventure, and universality, but also because The Race is an event on a planetary scale. This boat will illustrate the spirit of reconquest and the new adventure of Club Med. It will symbolize its new lease on life and its capacity to innovate.

The construction of this new giant of the seas has just been completed after more than 60,000 man-hours of work. As planned, the crew has been recruited at the highest international level uniting 16 people from nine different nations (France, USA, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Spain, Austria and Canada). It is now up to this multicultural crew to qualify, then to beat the legendary Atlantic crossing record, before confronting the best crews in the world on December 31, 2000 in The Race.

Club Med wishes to renew with the spirit that symbolized the great sailing ships of the 18th century which set off to conquer the world on epic voyages of exploration showing off, with pride, their generous figureheads. This figurehead, which has been a little overlooked by “modern” 20th century vessels, is symbolized by a young girl swimmer, projecting values of regeneration, dear to Club Med. The aquatic image of this young woman will appear on the headsails of Club Med and also on the boat’s bows, so that just like a mermaid she will bob through each wave around the world. The overall decoration of the boat is naturally inspired by the turquoise color of the South Seas, complete with multicolored fish, symbolizing the theme of protection of the environment.

Designed around the world’s wind charts On the one hand, the design of a racing boat traditionally relies on statistics and data from preselected transoceanic routes and, on the other hand, on the know-how of the architects in the area of hull design, sail plan, performance polars, etc.

The advance of meteorological and strategic knowledge allow much finer studies linked with real situations that Club Med will meet on her voyage around the world. Using meteorological and oceanographic data, relative to the winds and state of the sea, meteorologist Jean-Yves Bernot has been able to collect pertinent information for optimizing the work carried out by Gille Ollier’s team. On determining the direction and strength of winds to be encountered, and their frequency, he has been able to isolate trends influencing the shape of sails and the body plan of the hulls. Once the parameters were compiled around these initial results, different designs were tested in classic weather situations.

On studying the performance and on reiterating the operation, the results converged towards an optimum design. Consequently, the analysis was able to highlight the critical points of the course, the optimum routes and the duration expected on each point of sailing, to help refine the first designs produced by the Multiplast architects. By dint of studies and consultation, the choice of design options was narrowed down with realistic criteria, supplying as a bonus precious information on strategies to be used during the race. The Race: a “no limits” race around the world. Born out of the passion and determination of French yachtsman Bruno Peyron, The Race is a yacht race around the world with crew, non-stop and without assistance. It will start from Barcelona on December 31, 2000, symbolizing the advent of the Third Millennium.

The course of The Race will circumnavigate the world via the three Capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn). The crews must previously qualify on the basis of the best times recorded on the Atlantic and/or Pacific crossings. The ambition of The Race is to assemble together the best mariners in the world, sailing on the biggest multihulls ever built. An extraordinary challenge combining the extreme quality of the sport with a strong human and cultural dimension.

With no constraints of size or rule in the design of the boats, the intention of The Race is to promote innovation and the spirit of freedom, thereby favoring creativity in the field of naval architecture.

One of the major objectives of The Race is to interest people from all horizons and all nations and enable them to dream. Also and for the first time, a system for the transmission of TV images will allow the race to be followed on television and the Internet. The event’s potential audience in the world is 6 billion TV viewers and 400 million Internet surfers.

The prize money allocated to the winners will be $2 million. The major partners of the event are to date: France Télécom, Disneyland Paris and La Mission 2000 en France. For more information, see their website: www.clubmed.com.

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Ocean Pearl

Ocean Pearl is a legendary 110ft / 33m maxi-catamaran, formerly known as Club Med, that was launched in 2000 by the Multiplast Yard in Vannes, France, those people behind the Magic Cat yacht and quite a few other speed machines.

At the time, she was the largest catamaran ever constructed in France. That accolade has now passed to the  Hemisphere catamaran , you know the superyacht, but if we are talking about Speed over Ground, I think we all know which boat would come out on top.

The objective? The Race, the first ever non-stop, no-rules, round the world race with a $2m prize. It started on December 31 2000 in Barcelona and was won by NZ skipper Grant Dalton for NZ and his team in 62 days, 6hrs, 56m and 33s. She’s a fully paid up member of our Classic Catamaran club. And some. …

As well as the Race, in 2000, 2001 and 2002, she broke the world speed record for crossing the Atlantic  from east to west – the first two under the name Club Med and the latter as Maiden II. It was this boat and other maxi cats like her that inspired Peter Johnstone to develop the Gunboat 62 – the first of a series of iconic performance multihull designs.

She’s currently for sale, see OceanPearl.co for details.

Ocean Pearl is completely made from carbon fibre. Developed by the team of designers of naval architect Giller Ollier, this cat can reach a mid 20s knot cruising speed. She has six cabins and can accommodate twelve, six crew members and six guests.

She’s for sale for just under $2.5m through Bernard Gallay @bgyb.bernardgallay if you fancy the fastest yacht in the bay! She’s had a complete refit with light and comfortable accommodation all carried out by the maxi yacht marina managed by Varador 2000 in the port of Mataró near Barcelona.

Why this cat is automatic… It’s systematic… It’s hydromatic…. Why it’s greased lightnin’!

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Club Med. 625 miles in 24 hours !!!

______________________________________________________________________

Less than 1 month after launching, the maxi-catamaran Club Med designed by the Gilles Ollier Design Team and built by Multiplast, has beaten the world record for the greatest distanced sailed in 24 hours. In qualification for The Race on the East / West Atlantic course between Cadiz (Spain) and San Salvador (Bahamas/Usa), Club Med is the first yacht to break the 600 miles in 24 hours barrier, exactly 625.7 miles (1158 km). On starboard tack, the giant multihull was sailing apparent wind abeam with full main (or single reef) and solent jib. The wind was oscillating between 23 and 27 knots. On deck, a minimum of 8 people on watch (out of 14 on board) was requisitioned, all with sheets in hand. Bruno Peyron and Grant Dalton

"...it was impressive despite the waves, to note the perfect balance of the boat, with her windward hull just eased out of the water, allowing us to further increase speed. For 24 hours, we pushed the boat to 90/95% of her possibilities and 100% for the last 8 hours. It's incredible to think that less than one month after launching, Club Med should be capable of beating the pure speed record. It's the best test of reliability that we could possibly do..." At 08.00 this morning, the two co-skippers separately called the Gilles Ollier Design Team to testify to their immense satisfaction for the good work achieved. Now the objective is to beat the record for this Atlantic crossing held by Jet Services V (Ollier design, Multiplast built) since 1988 and to qualify for The Race. Just for the reminder, last February, another Ollier/Multiplast catamaran Polpharma-Warta (Ex-Explorer) attempted this record and if it wasn't for a dismasting 500 miles from the finish, would have added it to their track record. But nevertheless the Polish catamaran managed to be first to qualify for The Race under jury rig.

MULTIPLAST S.A.S

Parc du Golfe        24 Allée Loïc Caradec        56000 VANNES        France

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New trophy named for first (real) circumnavigator

From the press release: The westabout course will start and finish in Andalucía, Spain. The 21st century re-run will establish a modern record time which will be open to challenge from racing sailors and adventurers from around the world. As required by the Elcano Oceanic Trophy rules the new challenge time must be established by a Spanish sailor. The ocean racer Alex Pella has accepted the challenge of replacing the record held by the Spanish Navy since 1522 with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of Andalucía, co-financed with European Funds, and Festina, the official record timekeeper.

Alex Pella will sail the legendary 33.5m maxi-catamaran Club Med , now renamed Victoria after Elcano ‘s ship, and with his crew will set the Elcano Oceanic Trophy benchmark time in early 2025 following a number of other record attempts, including a Round Spain/Vuelta España bid from Bilbao to Barcelona in September, and the Straits of Gibraltar record from Tanger to Algeciras later this year. In 2024 Pella’s team is planning a series of European and transatlantic records.

“The sailing circumnavigation to the west is the greatest oceanic adventure, and after just over 500 years we have the unique opportunity to enhance the value of this route by turning it into an international and CO2-neutral sporting challenge,” said Pella.

“The great thing is to be able to link this to the past, which is history, with a project for the present and the future. Leading the first attempt is an exciting responsibility”.

The Elcano Oceanic Trophy course will see Victoria head south through the Atlantic and around Cape Horn into the Pacific, then northwest over the top of Australia. Once across the Indian Ocean she will round the Cape of Good Hope and head home, via the Azores, to her starting point of Sanlucar de Barrameda at the entrance to the Guadalquivir River just north of Cadiz.

By Tim Queeney

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Elcano Oceanic Trophy presents new round the world sailing challenge starting from Andalucía, Spain

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Alex Pella to Challenge Elcano Oceanic Trophy Record in 2025

Andalucía, Spain - In a major coup for the world of sailing, renowned Spanish sailor Alex Pella has announced his intention to challenge the Elcano Oceanic Trophy record in early 2025.

The Elcano Oceanic Trophy is a new competitive round-the-world sailing challenge trophy inspired by the first-ever circumnavigation of the planet, which was achieved by Spanish sailor Juan Sebastian Elcano over 500 years ago.

The westabout course, which will start and finish in Andalucía, Spain, follows in the wake of Elcano, who completed the first circumnavigation in September 1522 after taking command of the expedition originally led by Ferdinand Magellan who died during the 1,082-day voyage.

The 21st century re-run will establish a modern record time that will be open to challenge from racing sailors and adventurers from around the world.

As required by the Elcano Oceanic Trophy rules, a Spanish sailor must establish the new challenge time, and Pella is the perfect candidate. He is one of the most experienced and successful sailors in the world, with a string of record-breaking achievements to his name, including becoming the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world from south to north.

Pella will sail the legendary 33.5m maxi-catamaran Club Med, now renamed Victoria after Elcano's ship. The yacht is a fitting choice for the challenge, as she is a record-breaker herself, having set the 24-hour world sailing record in 2005.

Pella and his crew will set the Elcano Oceanic Trophy benchmark time in early 2025 following a number of other record attempts, including a Round Spain / Vuelta España bid from Bilbao to Barcelona in September and the Straits of Gibraltar record from Tanger to Algeciras later this year. In 2024, Pella's team is planning a series of European and transatlantic records, which will be announced in due course.

"The sailing circumnavigation to the west is the greatest oceanic adventure, and after just over 500 years, we have the unique opportunity to enhance the value of this route by turning it into an international and CO2-neutral sporting challenge," said Pella.

"The great thing is to be able to link this to the past, which is history, with a project for the present and the future. Leading the first attempt is an exciting responsibility".

The Elcano Oceanic Trophy is a unique and ambitious challenge, and Pella's attempt to set the first record time is sure to be one of the most exciting and closely watched sailing events of 2025.

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Maiden II makes a splash

• March 26, 2002

The 110ft maxi-catamaran Maiden II was lowered into the water for the first time under her new name yesterday

The 110ft maxi-catamaran Maiden II was lowered into the water for the first time under her new name at the French yachting centre, La Ciotat yesterday. This red letter day marks the start of Tracy Edwards’ challenging three-year programme incorporating both the Jules Verne in 2003 and The Race in 2004.

The giant multihull was lifted from the dry dock and carried by a huge crane towards the water, finally landing with a small splash and a cheer from the crew. Afterwards the huge daggerboards and mast were craned on to the boat and the crew began to sort out the rigging.

The Ollier-designed catamaran, Maiden II was previously the world record-breaking yacht ‘Club Med’, and has spent her time in the fast developing French yachting centre, La Ciotat, since the finish of The Race, almost a year ago. It is from this enormous boat yard that one of the largest and fastest sailing vessels ever made, was prepared for her new life as Maiden II, under the watchful eye of Maiden II Challenge Project Manager, Howard Gibbons:

‘Today is a very important day for this exciting campaign and the team behind it. Fifteen people from seven different nations have worked extremely hard to get Maiden II on the water and to get her there on time! ‘The boat looks fantastic and has been meticulously prepared for the next three months of sailing – a crucial time for all involved.’

The international, all female crew have been based in La Ciotat since Edwards launched Maiden II Challenge at the end of February. A mixed delivery crew will now take the boat to the main training ground in Vilamoura, Portugal, where the crew will begin their training in earnest climaxing in an attempt on the Route of Discovery record from Cadiz to San Salvador in mid April.

Proposed Itinerary for Maiden II Challenge

• Training in Vilamoura
• Route of Discovery
• South Florida

July/ August

• St Katharine’s Dock
• Channel record
• Round Ireland record

September/October

• Jules Verne
• 24 hr record attempt
• New York – San Francisco
• Transpacific E to W, San Francisco – Yokohama
• Transpacific W to E,Yokohama – San Francisco