2024-01-08 16:30:21
And the wind calmed down, as if to greet the six pioneers who set off from Brest on Sunday January 7 in the middle of the day for a solo round-the-world trip on their giant trimarans. The skippers of the Arkea Ultim Challenge will soon be reminded of Éole’s deceptions, this unique race which, if all goes well, should occupy between forty and fifty of their next days.
And busy is the right word, as piloting these 32 m long and 23 m wide sailing monsters is demanding for a single man. “You have to imagine that on each side of the central hull there is a tennis court, then the floats and small carbon wings to fly above the wavesexplains Thomas Coville, at the helm of Sodebo 3. To pilot these machines, you need modesty and to tell yourself that you can’t do everything. We are also helped by the figures transmitted by more than 120 sensors on the boat, which are combined and analyzed to try to control as many things as possible. »
No room for error
Because it is of course a question of not making a mistake. “In a monohull, the boat can lie down on the water and stand up again, we are entitled to jokers. Not in Ultimate. If we turn the boat upside down, it has serious consequences. I know it, I lived it”explains Armel Le Cléac’h, the skipper of People’s Bank XI who came close to death during his capsize on the Route du Rhum 2018. “On these boats, everything is excessiveunderlines Anthony Marchand, the skipper ofActual Ultim 3. So if things go south, there’s not much you can do except watch it all break down. We must therefore constantly anticipate. »
Particularly wind changes. “This can happen all the more often as we can travel 800 nautical miles – 1,480 km – in 24 hours and therefore change weather systems several timesdetails Armel Le Cléac’h. Hence the importance of managing as precisely as possible with weather assistance. » Unlike the Vendée Globe reserved for monohulls, the Arkea Ultim Challenge allows routing, that is to say the definition of the optimal trajectory by a team on land, which studies the weather forecasts and currents.
Plan to act rather than react, because once launched the maneuvers leave little room for hesitation. “A tack takes around forty minutes, twice as long as on a monohullcontinues Armel Le Cléac’h. It’s long, and it’s also intense on the cardio side when you move with your arms, for example on the winch column to hoist a sail. » Each skipper trained in his own way, some with physical trainers, others without. But everyone knows that the success of this adventure lies above all in their ability to find several balances: between the need to go quickly while still preserving the boat, between the commitment required but also the essential rest.
Finding the right balance over time
“The challenge is finding the right rhythmsupports Charles Caudrelier, the pilot of the Maxi Edmond-de-Rothschild, and we don’t have much experience on this because we have never sailed for so long on these machines. But this is precisely where the game is exciting. » For Anthony Marchand, “The hardest thing on these boats is going to sleep. However, we must resolve it, because it is with fatigue that we can make mistakes. Then, you have to hold on to a tightrope over time, and be careful, even if the temptation is great, not to let yourself be fooled and imitate what others are doing. »
The seafaring in the trade winds, the little casual pleasures, sailors will no doubt have to put them away in the hold. “If we’re really working, I don’t think we’ll have time for much.bet Éric Péron, the skipper ofAdagiobefore leaving. I’m not sure that reading a good book is in the philosophy of the Ultimates. And in any case, I have trouble reading at sea.” Tom Laperche, who will defy the elements at barely 26 years old at the helm of SVR-Lazartiguesummarizes the program in his own way: “A lot of adrenaline and a huge listening to the boat. The noises and the visuals are fundamental. »
Because in the end, the sailor’s instinct remains the essential lifeline. “The more technological the era, the more paradoxically also weighs very heavily in the end a sensitivity, an animal intuition, which arrives at the end of a week of racingconcludes Thomas Coville, the most experienced of adventurers, having started five round-the-world trips in a multihull and three completed. We then know what action to make, in harmony with our machine. And I like that. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful response to artificial intelligence. »
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