Team Adventure. Diagnostic and remedy...

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10th August 2001 – 1130 GMT – Atlantic Record Attempt – Off Nova Scotia (Canada) Launched at more than 28 knots (52 kph) in a thick fog, the 32 m (105') maxi catamaran Team Adventure hit an unidentified floating object. The shock was extremely violent. No injuries among American Cam Lewis's crew, but the multihull was severely hit. Last week, Yann Penfornis of the Multiplast yard which built the boat, went to Vinalhaven, Maine (USA), the port where Team Adventure took refuge after the incident. 

Yann Penfornis
"...The very violent shock between Team Adventure and an unidentified but apparently

very aggressive object (driftwood, container, block of ice..." caused considerable damage to the maxi catamaran. The impact tore the port bow in the region of the crash box and at the waterline. The boat then bounced over the object and the port hull broke in two, just behind the attachment point of the forward beam. The 4-5 metre long piece of bow thus liberated then damaged the carbon attachment points of the forward beam that joins the two hulls and absorbs the traction of the main forestay. The object then hit the daggerboard that broke flush with the hull. The daggerboard casing was pushed in under the shock.

After analysis and expert assessment, the boat has been declared perfectly repairable, we are researching the best technical solutions to bring the maxi catamaran back up to scratch. She should be shipped by cargo to a yard in Southern Europe because Multiplast is too busy at the moment to take in Team Adventure. Nevertheless we will be ensuring a mission of advice and accompaniment with the chosen yard. The work to be carried out will be organised around:

1/ The supply of a port hull mould made by Multiplast, to replace a piece 10.25 m long
2/ The repair of the forward beam and the construction of a daggerboard casing (also in our workshops in Vannes)
3/ The replacement of the martingale and the shrouds in composite cable
4/ The overall check-up of the platform and the mast by ultrasound, even though on first sight nothing has moved.

Team Adventure should be sailing again in February 2002 and continue her pursuit of records. Beyond this significant accident that was perfectly mastered by the crew and the repairs that do not pose any major problems, we need to ask the question of what will become of this sailing at very high speeds in seas where the n° 1 enemy is becoming more and more invisible. Because hitting an object at over 30 knots for a boat weighing 20 tonnes is not the same thing as at 25 knots with a 10 tonne boat. Remember for instance that in 1988, the catamaran Jet Services V designed by Gilles Ollier and also built by Multiplast, beat the Atlantic crossing record in 7d 6h 30mn, despite a bow split open by a growler (a record that she again beat in 1990 and which she still holds in 6d 13h 03mn and 32s).