NEWSLETTER 2020-08

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Barreau Neuman Architectes

MULTIHULL

A new racing-cruising catamaran for Marc Guillemot

He raced twice in the Orma (1998 and 2002) division and three times in the Imoca class (2006, 2010 and 2014) and now Marc Guillemot will compete in his sixth Route du Rhum this time in 2022 the Rhum Multi category.

The project already has momentum as Guillemot is well advanced who is developing a 52-foot catamaran, dubbed the MG5. The floats for the boat are in build at Multiplast. The project was launched with the financial support of the management of Wellness Training,a Parisian company specializing in corporate fitness rooms which he has been linked for two years.

But the famed solo Transatlantic race from Saint Malo to Guadeloupe is not the primary reason for developing and building the boat. As Marc Guillemot confirms: "The idea is to make a high-performance cat that will perform safely at more than 20 knots whilst still affording relatively high comfort. And so it can also form a platform for daily business seminars. We would also like to charter it out for the starts or even follow races, like the Solitaire du Figaro, for example.”

The chosen architects are Christophe Barreau and Frédéric Neuman and Guillemot was careful in his choice of a builder, "As we could not trust the entire construction to one builder for budgetary reasons, part is being done in the SOG (Sailing Organization Guillemot) premises in Saint-Philibert. I hired a small team, with which we made the tooling of the beams and the deck support that we manufacture in house. But we have entrusted the build of floats to Multiplast. And I am delighted about that as we have a long history with this yard. In 1981 I helped in the build of the first Jet Services - for which Multiplast was set up in the first place - then I made a good part of my Orma La Trinitaine here too."

At the Vannes yard, Yann Penfornis, the managing director, is delighted to return to the construction of cruising catamarans: "We have done some in the past, larger ones, like the 82-foot Magic Cat. Today, as our business is increasingly manufacturing composite parts, it makes complete sense to respond to offers of this type. We would be very interested in the idea of building complete one off prototypes completely and in that respect we are in discussions with Christophe Barreau and Frédéric Neuman."

Barreau Neuman Architectes61

© Barreau - Neuman - Architectes

And so what will this MG5 look like? "It will be a 52-foot glass-epoxy (only the beams are carbon) 8.50 meters wide which will accommodate 10-12 people in the cockpit. The unique thing will be to be able to access the hulls without going through the deckhouse, which allows for a more streamlined boat."

Marc Guillemot adds an element of eco-responsible touch: "I recovered an Imoca mast, MOD70 rudders, all the electronics of a Figaro, bits and pieces that I have left of the Imoca Safran, surely used old sails, it allows us to have quality recycled material at an affordable price."

The floats will travel from Vannes to Saint-Philibert in December, assembly will begin in January for a launch in June 2021. So with participation in the Route du Rhum 2022 in the pipes. "With the leaders of Wellness Training, we said to ourselves that with such a boat like this it would be a good thing to do the Rhum and I wouldn't mind doing one again! ".

But with what goals? "I won't pretend to think I'd win in the Rhum Multi against much wider 50-foot trimarans like Olmix, which won in 2018, but it's a good way to race with the TS 52s launched recently, I think that we can even go a little faster because the boat is lighter (7.5 tons) and less freeboard, which gives it an interesting advantage."

A good option would be the best way for this MG5 to make more boats, the objective stated by Marc Guillemot: "Today, it is to be a proto, but if we make tools, it is to build more. Ideally building three or four would pay off the investment."

ONE DESIGN

Frédéric Le Peutrec: “In TF35, crew work and coordination will be the key of the game”

Since June there have been regular training sessions on Lake Geneva for the teams who have taken possession of their TF35, the new one-design foiling catamaran which succeeded the Decision 35. Frédéric Le Peutrec, helmsman of the Swiss team Zen Too, is enthusiastic about the performance of one of the eight boats which were made by Multiplast.

Can you tell us about the TF35?

This boat was born from the desire of the owners of the D35 to leave displacement mode and to develop a lake foiler. In the brief it also had to meet the requirement to be able to win the Bol d'Or in real time, hence quite radical choices allow it to perform well in light winds. The result is a 35-foot catamaran, with an air draft of 21.50 meters, equipped with rudders and large T-foils which provide the necessary power to get up and fly very early. That is to say from 13 knots apparent a speed that is reached downwind when there is 6-7 knots of wind and upwind in 8-9 knots. On board, there are six of us, as in the D35, with a maximum crew weight of 500 kilos. Another special feature is the rudder and foil servo system managed by an inertial flight unit.

What is it like at the helm of this machine?

It's absolutely awesome. In flat sea conditions, with the séchard, the small thermal wind at the end of the day on the Lake, it is a bit like if you were on an ice cart, the boat accelerates and creates a tight apparent wind. On the other hand, the top speed is limited due to the large appendages, large sail areas and big section mast. The drag induced by the aero and hydro does not allow you to exceed certain speeds. For now, we have reached 33 knots but we will probably go faster, but it is essentially a VMG boat because we do upwind-downwinds in the Grands Prix, it is the performance at these angles which was sought especially.

Loris von Siebenthal1 © Loris von Siebenthal

Is it a complicated boat to understand?

Not at all, it's quite accessible for those who have sailed a bit at a high level. It is a sailing boat on which, given its light weight (1.2 tons), crew coordination is extremely important between the helmsman and the trimmer, but also during maneuvers: you have to move in the same way as lightly and smoothly as possible, because a little thing can upset the balance and the slightest error results in a dramatic loss of speed. That's really cool, because it puts crew coordination back at the middle of the game.

The TF35 Tour, which was due to start this season, has been postponed for a year, how do you see the future?

At the moment there are seven teams, but more should join us, all are attracted by the foiler side which is both extreme in the sense that the TF35 takes off very early, but at the same time accessible. The idea is to have a spring circuit in Switzerland and then go sailing elsewhere in Europe, even in the world, we can also possibly imagine a winter season.

IN BRIEF

Multiplast will be well represented in the Vendée Globe 2020 with several boats built by the yard due to line up at the start: DMG Mori, new generation foiler for Kojiro Shiraishi, Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco (Boris Herrmann) and Prysmian Group (Giancarlo Pedote ), launched in 2015, La Fabrique (Alan Roura) and Groupe Apicil (Damien Seguin), 2007 generation boats. For this ninth edition, Multiplast has also manufactured three sets of foils for Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco, MACSF and Corum.
Multiplast this month finishes manufacturing a new centerboard for Magic Cat, an 82-foot cruising catamaran built in carbon in 1996, which had been sailing with its original centerboard ... for 24 years!
After two first examples already delivered (see our last newsletter), Multiplast is currently building a new fuselage for Alice, an electric aircraft developed by the Israeli company Eviation Aircraft. "We have just completed the tooling for moulds of a new geometry of. We start laying up on October 20 for delivery at the end of February", explains General Manager Yann Penfornis.
Multiplast has been a long-standing partner of the Vannes Photo Festival since its launch in 2003. This year, from October 9 to November 1, the event celebrates the 20th anniversary of the year 2000 in six exhibition venues.

NEW MARKETS

Multiplast diversifies into the medical world

Pursuing its policy of diversification, last summer Multiplast launched in the construction of isolated transport chambers in a protected environment for a Nantes company, ATA Medical, who specialise in particular in the manufacture of filtration systems for operating theaters. Dominique Dubois, CEO of the Carboman SA group, tells us more.

How did you come to work with ATA Medical?

I have known this company for a very long time, them having done the filtration for the Multiplast cleanroom which houses our carbon fiber layup robot in a very controlled atmosphere. For some time we had been looking to enter the medical market, the opportunity arose when they contacted us to ask us to build twenty isolated transport chambers for them in our protected environment.

What exactly is it?

These are kinds of adult incubators that are used to transport infectious patients or those people must be protected from the outside atmosphere. It comes in the form of boxes made of composite materials with a big plexiglass cover, equipped with gloves to treat the sick person through this bubble, and a whole ventilation system.

caisson medical

Is this a technological challenge for Multiplast?

The good thing for us is that we deliver ready-to-use equipment, that is to say that in addition to the unit that we build, from the customer we get the fans, filtration systems and ventilation regulation, the electrical control panel and we integrate it all into the product. Initially we delivered what we call the "black box", a structured, finished and painted composite part; there the customer asked us to go further, that is, to integrate all the systems. So we are doing new things for us: electrical wiring, installation of control panels and connections, and all the control part to make sure the ventilation is working. So this is indeed a challenge for us because if the manufacturing of the units itself is not very complicated, but taking responsibility for all the integration of the systems is. Until now, we have subcontracted the electrical part, now we do it internally, this is a first step for us in a new sector. But it allows us to continue our diversification approach on high-end products and to considerably increase our turnover in a period when we need it.