How were the ULTIMs born?

“No one had imagined the concept from A to Z. It’s a story that ended up giving birth. That of a brilliant boat, of the technology of the Cup and also of men who want to move their playground around the world..." This is how Thomas Coville sums up the story of the ULTIM, which drives his life and that of a handful of exceptional skippers for almost 15 years.

The brilliant boat is Groupama 3, launched in 2006. At the time, the offshore racing trimarans were all 60 feet (the ORMA), and the large record-breaking multihulls which measured between 30 and 40 meters were more of a catamarans. A unique example in this landscape, Groupama 3 looks like an ORMA trimaran enlarged. Its size is oddly fixed at 31.50 meters. “The goal was to make a boat that was not too expensive, but as large as possible with the existing equipment”, says Stéphane Guilbaud, today general secretary of the ULTIM class and team manager at the time of Groupama. “We took the largest winch in the Harken catalog and it determined the surface area of the headsail that we could furl. That gave us the size of the boat! »

Groupama 3 sets the tempo and sets the framework

The skipper was then called Franck Cammas and after winning le TRophée Jules Vernes in 2010 (48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes and 52 seconds), he tackled la Route du Rhum which he won the same year “ It’s true that the sequence left its mark” says Franck in hindsight. “We had made a boat that was powerful in terms of its width but which remained light. The reference at the time was Orange 2 which weighed 30 tonnes. Groupama 3 weighed 15! »

The first lesson from Groupama 3 is to have shown that with equal power, a trimaran could be very light and much more versatile. Exit the catamarans! Its skipper also demonstrated that what was thought to be impossible - sailing a 100-foot trimaran designed for the crew solo - was not. Loïck Peyron and Francis Joyon will confirm during the 2014 and 2018 Route du Rhum, at the helm of this boat, that he was well born and that the man had astonishing capacities for adaptation... Groupama 3 is such evidence that it will be used to determine the framework of the ULTIMs rounded to 32 m x 23 m.

In 2013, la Coupe de l’America which took place in San Francisco was the second tipping point for what the ULTIMs would become. The idea of flying on water is certainly not new - Eric Tabarly had already toyed with it when he imagined Paul Ricard in 1979! - but this is the first time that boats capable of going upwind, downwind, turning and gybing without touching the water and at dizzying speeds, are putting on a show. It’s a paradigm shift and in the small world of ocean racing, there’s general excitement. Everyone starts flying. François Gabart tries his hand at Class A, these small ultra-light sports catamarans equipped with foils, Franck Cammas wins la Petite Coupe de l’America on a Class C flying boat before setting off to attack the "big" one...

Le vol, un changement de paradigme

But when launching offshore racing machines, a certain amount of caution is still required. Especially since it is no longer just a question of crossing the Atlantic but of going around the world. “From 2008, I knew that the playing field would be the planet. This is why with Christian Dumard, we proposed to Sodebo to build a record multihull” says Thomas Coville. Firstly, Irens-Cabaret, of which Francis Joyon built a quasi-sistership with which he once again beat the solo round-the-world record, was succeeded in 2013 by a much more powerful but still Archimedean machine. Thomas Coville dismantles Olivier de Kersauson's old Geronimo which he transforms into a trimaran at maximum ULTIM gauge. Renamed Adagio, it will also be at the start of the ARKEA ULTIM CHALLENGE - Brest in the hands of Eric Péron. For his part, François Gabart launches his trimaran Macif in 2015. He takes a step towards flight with foils and supporting planes under the rudders but the drift remains classic, without flap: _“The Cup has been there but we don’t didn't know if we would be able to make foils capable of withstanding the efforts for total flight" _says the winner of the Vendée Globe 2012. Nevertheless, on his VPLP plan, which ricochets from wave to wave more than it flies , he literally exploded the record for the non-stop solo round the world race called Trophée Saint-Exupéry, previously held by Thomas Coville. 42 days 16 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds, Macif's record established in 2017 remains the second best time still established today.

In the meantime, Gitana is testing supporting designs on the rudders of a MOD 70 which won the 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre. The late Benjamin de Rothschild's team had the intuition that a fully flying boat could complete a world tour. The study by Edmond de Rothschild was commissioned from Guillaume Verdier, the architect of Team New Zealand. The specifications are multi-program: Solo, crew, races, record… “We did not join the ULTIM Class which had just been born (in 2016 Editor’s note), but we made sure to put ourselves within the physical framework set by the regulations” says Cyril Dardashti the team manager. And to continue: “At first, we only showed photos of the boat and no videos. Commentators often said that they were fake! »

Edmond de Rothschild creates a new standard and the field expands

They are not. The Verdier plan led at the time by Sébastien Josse flies 100% on four supports: foil, float and central hull rudders and daggerboard equipped with a skate wing (carrying plane). The beginnings are chaotic (breakage of foils in the Route du Café 2019, broken float during la Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 2018), but Edmond de Rothschild imposes a new standard of performance. Banque Populaire moves on with first Banque Populaire IX which capsizes on la Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe 2018 then the current Banque Populaire XI. Thomas Coville launches his new Sodebo Ultim 3. And François Gabart completes the line-up with SVR - Lazartigue launched in 2021, entirely flying this time. There is no doubt that Edmond de Rothschild changed the situation.

Further, faster, isn’t that the history of ocean racing summed up? We must recognize that the acceleration over the past fifteen years has been somewhat dizzying. “The ULTIMs are the extension of everything we learned about ORMA trimarans and la coupe de l'America,” concludes Franck Cammas. It’s almost a natural outcome. The next step will undoubtedly be flying monohulls. Because the ULTIMs are perhaps not the final step! » History is in the making and the ARKEA ULTIM CHALLENGE – Brest will be one of its most significant chapters.