Mentioning the word ‘multihull’ in the late 1950s and 1960s was a sure way to be ridiculed by the conservative ocean racing establishment, but they’re not laughing now. By Kevin Green.
The ocean-conquering Ultim trimarans foiling their way across the Atlantic during the latest Route du Rhum owe their origins to several non-French pioneers, including a knockabout Aussie and a New Zealand-based designer. The latter is Englishman Derek Kelsall, who immigrated to New Zealand in the 1990s, while Australian Hedley Nicol developed several interesting designs in the 1960s.
Other pioneering international designers included Americans Arthur Piver, Dick Newick and Walter Greene and Englishman Nigel Irens.
This article was prompted by the recent deaths of Derek Kellsal (1934-Dec 11, 2022) and another trimaran pioneer, Canadian Mike Birch (1931- Oct 20, 2022). Birch single-handedly sailed his small yacht ahead of all-comers in the first Route du Rhum, including much fancied big monohulls. All these men firmly believed in the concept of three hulls being better than one, or even two – an ancient idea that indigenous Pacific Islanders understood well.
The basic physics of centring weight then adding outriggers to create a hugely stable, yet low-drag, vessel that could support a huge sail area whilst also having capability to sail to windward was the principle that drove Derek Kelsall onwards in the late 1950s. He knew that going to windward would be key to success in the British offshore racing scene, where the inaugural Round Britain Race was planned for 1966.
As a rehearsal, Kelsall had done the 1964 Single Handed TransAtlantic race (OSTAR), using Folatre, a 35-foot plywood Arthur Piver-designed trimaran, the first unballasted multihull to achieve this feat. Piver’s utilitarian designs of simple v-shaped hulls were hugely popular, with an estimated 1,000 hulls afloat by 1964. Infamy would later dog Piver, when his Victress design, in a modified format, was used by Donald Crowhurst in the 1968 Golden Globe race. The yacht, Teignmouth Electron, was found abandoned in the South Atlantic and Crowhurst was never found.
Cleverly, Kelsall’s own design further reduced drag by ensuring the windward outrigger, or ama as the ancient Polynesians named it, was clear of the water. His 42-foot Toria finished a day ahead of every other competitor, including many huge monohulls. Toria was Kelsall’s first design, the first significant foam sandwich yacht and the first multihull to win a major open offshore race. It was also unique in being designed, built and raced to victory by the designer. The rest is history, as they say, with many other trimaran designers following in Kelsall’s wake.
French domination
The current French domination of multihull racing came much later, apart from a 1972 win in the Single-Handed Transatlantic Race to Alain Colas on the former Penduick IV, a 60-foot aluminium trimaran built for Eric Tarbarly. Colas’ success spurred him to then circumnavigate, renaming the boat Manureva and modifying parts of her for what would be the first solo round the world race in a multihull. Paying homage to its Pacific origins, Manureva meant ‘bird of the journey’ in Tahitian.
Departing St Malo on September 8, 1973, for an easterly voyage, he called in at Sydney and rounded Cape Horn on February 3, 1974. On March 28, 1974, he returned to Saint Malo, beating Sir Francis Chichester’s 226-day solo round the world record in a monohull.
After that, arguably the watershed event was the inaugural 1978 Route du Rhum, which saw a relatively diminutive Greene-Newick trimaran beat all-comers, including the much fancied 63-foot monohull Kriter V. Achieved by the 36-foot Olympus Photo, skippered by Canadian Mike Birch, it effectively ended monohull supremacy in ocean racing.
The legendary Birch died peacefully in France in October 2022, aged 90. Throughout his long sailing career, he competed fiercely on the ORMA 60 trimaran circuit, twice finishing on the podium of the Route du Rhum, and competing solo in every edition of the race until he was 71. He was 9th in his final outing in 2002, finished 3rd in 1982 and 4th twice, in 1986 and 1990. Birch’s legacy lives on in the multiple copies of this successful original design. A sister ship, A Capella, one of a five-boat series of the design, was skippered by Charlie Capelle in the 2018 Rhum and featured a simple Anti Capsize System (ACS). A pin keeps the sheets in two large Harken cam cleats. If the system detects a capsize then the pin is removed.
Biscay Boats
La Trinité-sur-Mer on the Bay of Biscay is ground-zero for many ocean trimarans and the later Jules Verne-winning 100-foot-plus monsters such as Spindrift and IDEC. The port also hosts France’s largest regatta with 400-plus vessels, and one of the most enjoyable events I’ve raced in.
For those fortunate enough to get aboard one of these huge Ultims, the sense of power is astounding. Boarding the 105-foot Ultim Sodebo 3 alongside the world’s fastest ocean man, Thomas Coville, was a memorable experience for me in La Trinité just after its launch. Other magic moments have been racing MOD70 Beau Geste with Kiwi skipper Gavin Brady at Hamilton Island and a Sydney Harbour race on the ORMA60 Team Australia with owner Sean Langman. Reaching past the Opera House at 34 knots made a high-profile statement for trimarans on the harbour.
Back in the 70s, things were very different, as this fledgling design struggled for success, amid some bad failures, including the loss of 35-year-old Alain Colas and his alloy trimaran Manureva during the 1978 Route du Rhum. Colas was last heard from off the Azores when he radioed on November 16, 1978: “I’m in the eye of the storm. There is no more sky; everything is an amalgam of elements, there are mountains of water around me.”
Despite this terrible loss, more success soon came for trimarans. In 1980 another tri won the French 24 Hour Race, with the Nigel Irens/Newick style 40-foot Gordano Goose taking the honours. Playing catch-up didn’t take long for the ocean-ready French, including their women sailors, with the glamorous Florence Arthaud on the gold-painted VPLP designed Pierre 1er winning the 1990 Route du Rhum. Now renamed Flo in tribute to the late Arthaud, who tragically died in a helicopter accident, the big tri completed the most recent Route du Rhum which departed Saint Malo for Guadeloupe on November 9, 2022.
2022 Route De Rhum Trimarans
The 12th edition of the transatlantic Route du Rhum included 138 single-handed sailors who departed Saint Malo in the English Channel for the dash across to Guadeloupe in the northern Caribbean. Included in the six classes were three monohull and three multihull divisions. Leading the way were eight of the giant Ultim 32/23 trimarans which took only a week, followed by the Ocean Fifty Trimarans and the mixed fleet of Rhum Multihulls. This latter category included some classics, including the pioneering Happy which is a copy of the earlier Rhum winning boat and Flo, Florence Arthoud’s former Rhum winner. Strategies vary for the 3,542-mile course between Saint Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre, in the Caribbean. Some sailors choose a more northern and windier route, while others go south to reach the trade winds earlier. Stormy weather north this year prompted most sailors to go south, passing near Madeira and the Azores.
Line honours went to the Ultim Edmond de Rothschild which broke the race record set by the older IDEC, skipper Charles Caudrelier crossing the line this year in a mere six days. He kept his cool through a nervous final night, during which he spent long periods slowed to two or three knots as he negotiated calms in the lee of Guadeloupe’s volcanic Basse Terre island. An astounding achievement, as this was the first solo Ultim race for the 48-year-old Frenchman on the 2017 launched boat. An experienced monohull racer, he was twice winner of the crewed Volvo Ocean Race – first as crew in the 2011-12 race and then skipper in 2017-18.
Close behind was the newest and much fancied SVR Lazartigue with experienced solo Ultim racer François Gabart, current holder of the Jules Verne solo record, aboard. Next came former Jules Verne record holder Thomas Coville on Sodebo3. These are all fully foiling trimarans that use a T-keel to lift the hulls, in addition to their enormous ama foils. The non-foiling former race winner IDEC with Francis Joyon came in fourth. The mostly mid-range wind conditions favoured the foilers, whereas Joyon would have preferred either lighter or then heavier conditions for IDEC.
Three days later across the line was the first Ocean Fifty, Koesio, skippered by Erwan Le Roux. Sadly, British interest in this eight-boat fleet ended at the start line with Sam Goodchild being airlifted off Leyton after a winch malfunction badly hurt him. The Ocean Fifty (15.24m by 15.24m wide) are an older class that has undergone a revamp. Gilles Lamiré, one of the leading exponents of the class, observes, “These are very manageable, fast and well-proportioned boats, relatively easy to sail, with well-made fittings. Downwind, under gennaker, it’s fantastic. Our solo skippers are regularly exceeding 30 knots and often reach 40 knots.”
Since the launch of the Pro Sailing Tour two years ago, interest in the Ocean Fifty class has grown. The boats can be sailed fully crewed, double-handed or solo. One capsized this year, along with several of the catamarans.
