Route du Rhum - A trimaran for two

by Franck Cammas, Groupama Sailing Team on 11 Nov 2014 'In 2006, when we began working on the design of Groupama 3 with Vincent Lauriot-Prévost and Groupama sailing team's design office, it certainly wasn't at the forefront of our minds that, some nine years later, the trimaran would win the Route du Rhum for the second consecutive time.

At the time, up against the gigantic proportions of the catamaran Orange skippered by Bruno Peyron, reigning champion of the Jules Verne Trophy, I opted for a `small' 30-metre trimaran onto which we would be able to transpose the know-how developed on the exceptional Groupama 2 and with which we would dominate all the crewed races.

Following the line of thinking that 'small is beautiful' enabled us to shatter all the records, even if we had to have several cracks at the whip at times, as with the Jules Verne Trophy in particular.

With the record programme complete in 2010 and the Volvo Ocean Race in preparation, we made the most of the change of rule in the Route du Rhum, which was opening its doors to the Ultimes, to transform Groupama 3 and create a boat for solo configuration.

Our main aim was to make a lighter boat by dismantling all the fit-out necessary to accommodate a ten-man crew for 50 days around the world. We also needed a boat that could be manoeuvred by a single man by designing a rig, which limits the sail changes as much as possible.

In these two domains, we've excelled. At the start of the Rhum 2010, albeit coloured by light downwind conditions, we were already the quickest.

Four years on, the same is true. The Banque Populaire team has demonstrated this, despite the accident suffered by Armel Le Cléach and his replacement at a moment's notice by Loïck Peyron.

Congratulations to them and thank you to the architects, to my design office and finally to Groupama for having allowed me to develop such a fine boat. Because a winning boat is always Groupama website