Sea, Sail & Surf newsRecord
New challenge aboard a 75’ trimaran for Ellen MacArthur
mercredi 2 avril 2003 –
-Ellen : "I have always loved the ocean, and always loved the sea. Strangely, though I have now learnt that I really enjoy sailing with others, there still remains a massive attraction for me to sail solo. Just months after the Vendée I was looking for the next solo event I could do, excited about finding that feeling again to be out on the ocean alone. The whole project, the whole ethos of the team had been to prepare a boat for a long ocean passage. The process of building Kingfisher for the Vendée was unbelievable - to design and build what was on paper an intricate machine, which in reality became a respected and trusted companion with which to travel thousands of miles. I am really looking forward to doing that part again. The whole building and construction element - rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty as we work full-on to make the drawing a physical reality - is really exciting. It’s pretty cool getting all the tools we need as well from B&Q !
In 2001, during a busy season’s racing on a 60 foot trimaran I realised that there was undoubtedly a different kind of sailing out there that I had not experienced. Multihull sailing was challenging, exhilarating and fast, and right on the edge...the boats are both graceful and powerful, almost more like flying than sailing.... I began to realise that they were going to play a big part in my future. The voyaging aspect of these projects has always inspired me, as has the attraction of essentially living basically submerged in, and surrounded by, nature. I am not phased by the fact that this next project is going to be racing against the clock, and not going to involve racing against other boats... I have always felt more comfortable at sea when there are no other boats on the horizon, and my thoughts right now are of flying along alone. I’ll most definitely be staying in touch with the competitive ORMA circuit, which we plan to enter in 2005 and 2006 - but for the next 2 years the focus is going to be solo and fast, backed as ever by a great team of sponsors and people.
For me, racing against the clock is as rewarding and there is always the continuous race - the race against yourself."
ABOUT THE BOAT : The new 75-foot trimaran is being designed by French based, British naval architect Nigel Irens in conjunction with the Offshore Challenges technical team. The giant three-hulled ’flying machine’ will be sailed single-handed by Ellen, and will be designed with a single focus - solo records. Without the constraints of class rules or grand prix racing, the boat has been conceived with trans-ocean passages in mind, and fully optimised, much like the the monohull KINGFISHER was, for solo sailing. The concept is built around trying to achieve high daily average speeds in a variety of conditions, coupled with safety and reliability, in equal measure.
CONSTRUCTION WILL START AT THE END OF APRIL in Australia. Constructing the new solo trimaran in the Southern Hemisphere will allow Ellen to use the return voyage to Europe as part of a vigorous training campaign and potentially set a solo record Record #sailingrecord at some point on the return.
NIGEL IRENS : "I have worked with and known Ellen for many years, designing a boat like this for her is an incredible, and exciting challenge...in particular having a blank sheet of paper without the restrictions of a rule (most classes of boat restrict how a boat may be designed or built) allows us to explore the best combination of performance, safety and reliability."
IN 2003 AND 2004 MACARTHUR WILL STILL RACE IN SOME OF THE ORMA MULTIHULL EVENTS as a co-skipper or crew, including the double-handed Transatlantic Jacques Vabre race in November with Alain Gautier. This forms part of the learning process on the way to the ORMA circuit in 2005.
CONSTRUCTION OF ORMA 60 MULTIHULL IS STILL PLANNED FOR 2005 : objective is to compete in the 2006 ORMA 60 Multihull circuit and reach the long-term goal of competing at the highest level in the solo trans-Atlantic Route du Rhum Route du Rhum #RouteDuRhum race in November 2006. Design of this trimaran will commence in early 2004...
Information & Image : Kingfisher Challenges
