The Monohull Groupama 4 leaves the MULTIPLAST boatyard

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After close to 11 months of build, Franck Cammas's monohull, built for the next Volvo Ocean Race, will arrive by road at the Groupama Sailing Team base in Lorient.

At 6:30 am on Saturday morning, the exceptional convoy will leave the boatyard, to rejoin the base of the sailing team in Lorient (arrival forecasted at 9h). This departure signifies the culmination of more than 40 000 hours of work for the 30 technicians in charge of the construction of this prototype.

Since December, the teams of Olivier Pavia and Fred Ehanno have been taking shifts 6 days per week to finish the first French Volvo 70 ever constructed.

This boat will carry with her the hopes of the whole boatyard in a race that has so far always been won by the British.

To the millimetre

For Jean-Baptiste Mouton, in charge of the build at Multiplast: "... the last weeks have of course been very intense, however, to have achieved last weekend's rule measurement with no problems, precise to the milimetre, has been a good recognition of the yards know-how ".

Pierre Tissier, in charge of the build for the Groupama Team side: "We have worked with Multiplast for several years, we know each other really well and communicate transparently, which is essential in building a reliable performance boat".

Now the technical teams still have to attach the appendages (keel, daggerboard, rudders), the rig (mast, boom), and the electronics. This will be done in collaboration with the sailing team, before the launch planned in the second week of May.

Groupama 4: specifications

Length: 21.50 m
Beam: 5.70 m
Draft: 4.50 m
Weight: 14 tonnes
Keel: canting keel
Materials: carbon honeycomb sandwich
Sail area upwind: 315 m²
Sail area downwind: 675 m²

Crew: 11

Naval architect: Juan Kouyoumdjian