Newsletter 05-2024

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AMERICA'S CUP

Samuel Napoleoni: "The building of the AC75 was a real catalyst for skills"

After ten months of intense work the build of the AC75 for the French challenger Orient Express Racing Team was completed at the end of March at Multiplast. How did the facility deliver this major project? What were the major challenges to overcome? A with Samuel Napoleoni, manager of this project at Multiplast.

The hull of the French AC75 was delivered on time?

Yes, we even delivered the boat a week early! In detail, we received the hull design plans with the sign off for execution on May 11, 2023, and the composite work was completed on March 22, 2024. The schedule was very ambitious: 46,000 hours of work in ten months. For comparison, for an Imoca, it takes 36,000 hours spread over 14 months (moulds included in both cases). It was therefore necessary to plan more hours in less time. We believed in it, but we knew we couldn't give up. Ultimately, the challenge was fulfilled thanks to the big commitment of the teams who were very busy. Everyone understood what was at stake and a great initiative was created. Everything went well from start to finish. There were obviously small problems now and then, but everyone played their part perfectly.

How many people were mobilized at the peak of construction?

Up to 55 people worked in parallel in the workshop. At the design office level, there were up to ten people involved at the same time, which is completely unprecedented! The peak of an Imoca construction mobilizes a maximum of five people.

How was the collaboration with the Orient Express Racing Team, which was based there?

Good! The French challenge guys, supervised by Antoine Carraz, were there every day, and they followed absolutely every stage of the construction. Everything was smooth and transparent. We worked as an open book, literally and figuratively, and shared all decisions. The Multiplast and Orient Express Racing Team teams really merged. This work together made things much easier and made it possible to meet deadlines.

What were the main challenges faced during construction?

The main issue was planning. At the beginning, when we see on the roadmap 50 people working in parallel in the workshop and 10 in the design office, it may seem impressive. Everything had to be coordinated and communicated to make as many people work as efficiently as possible, without wasting time. Bringing together so many people on the same project allows everyone to progress, both the most experienced and the youngest. This build was a real catalyst for skills. The other big challenge was technical with the use of very high-tech materials, such as aluminium honeycomb, inherently more complicated to implement than the Nomex used on our other competition boats. Fortunately, our experience with aeronautical parts using this material has made things much easier for us.

 


© polaRYSE

EN BREF

• OFFSHORE RACING. The 2024 edition of The Transat CIC is a truly unforgettable edition for Multiplast, as the yard built the Imocas of the winner, Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), arrived Monday at 8:23 p.m. (CET) after an express crossing of 8 days 6 hours 53 minutes and 32 seconds, and of the second placed Boris Herrmann (Malizia-Seaexplorer), who broke the line 2 hours and 20 minutes later, but also the hull and deck of V and B-Monbana-Mayenne (Maxime Sorel), who took fifth place. The icing on the cake, Lazare (Tanguy Le Turquais), also built by Multiplast (former DCNS), has won the unofficial ranking of daggerboard boats (he finished 11th overall). All the teams are happy with these particularly promising performances in view of the 2024 Vendée Globe. Until then, the Imoca fleet sets off on May 29 for a new solo transatlantic race, the New York Vendée-Les Sables.

• IMOCA. The start of the 2024 Vendée Globe will be on November 10, but the next one is already being prepared as Multiplast have already received a build slot reservation for a new Imoca, construction of which will begin in the fall. Two other building slots are available for deliveries in early 2026.

• PROTOTYPE. Jack Setton ordered a 60-foot fast power craft from Multiplast, designed by the Mauric design office. This is the sixth boat built by the yard for this loyal customer. The hull was manufactured in Great Britain, the assembly, structures, fittings and systems are carried out in Vannes.
  
  
• INDUSTRY. Multiplast was tasked by Thales with the modification of two helicopter flight simulators built by the site in the 2000s. The objective is to update them in light of the evolution of image projectors. The assembly, in Lucerne, Switzerland, required a team of four people for two months. Deliveries will take place in June and October.
  
  
•  LOW-CARBON MARITIME TRANSPORT. Multiplast has just completed a second section of 40 meter mast for Chantiers de l’Atlantique. These elements, once assembled with other parts delivered by the consortium (SMM, Avel Robotics, CDK and Lorima), will equip the luxurious Silenseas sailing ships on behalf of Orient Express, a brand of the Accor group. The teams are also responsible for the construction of all the rigid composite sails for the SolidSail project (1,000 m² per mainsail spread over 11 panels, the largest of which measure 22 meters wide and 6 high).
  
  
• SPACE. At the end of the year, Multiplast will deliver the fifth fairing of a satellite launcher on behalf of a European space player.
  
  
• OFFSHORE RACING. Idec Sport, the legendary trimaran, triple winner of the Route du Rhum (2010 with Franck Cammas, 2014 with Loïck Peyron, 2018 with Francis Joyon), is currently undergoing a complete refit on the Multiplast site (where it was built in 2006) by The Famous Project. Alexia Barrier, à la tête de ce projet, envisage de s’attaquer fin 2025 avec un équipage 100% féminin au Trophée Jules Verne sur ce bateau qui sera remis à l’eau le 31 mai.
  
  
• AEROSPACE. Multiplast has just completed five bellmouths (air inlet parts for aircraft engines for testing on test benches), on behalf of the company Safran Aero Boosters, a subsidiary of Safran.

© Wilmotte & Associés

IN THE CARBOMAN GROUP

A new dome built by Multiplast

Multiplast was selected to create the dome of a planetarium in the town of Valberg (South French Alps). Manager of this project for Multiplast, Louis Vaquier talks details.

Can you explain to us what this project involves?

We responded to a public contract for a Departmental House of Environment and Observation which includes the creation of an observation planetarium, as part of a project carried out by the Alpes-Maritimes department and the intermunicipality of Valberg. We were selected in December 2022 to create the crown of the work, we are working on this project with the same architects as the ones with whom we had already collaborated on the domes of the Orthodox cathedral of Paris, namely the firm Wilmotte & Partners. It is the same type of work, built with 16 petals assembled together, but on larger dimensions than for the cathedral, since they are petals of 12 meters by 4, for a diameter of a little less than 20 meters and a height of 10 meters.

Where are you with manufacturing?

Today, the tools are well advanced and we will actually begin the production of the petals in June. One of the important aspects of this file is the regulatory aspect, in the sense that we are not in building standards, where rules of the art define each type of work. On this project, as we are on something non-standardized, we must instruct what we call an Atex, i.e. a technical assessment of experimentation, from the Scientific and Technical Building Center. It’s a kind of +++ building permit, if I had to simplify. In terms of materials, we use polyester/glass, with a recycled PET foam core material. There are currently four of us at the design office on the file. Personally I concentrate on the administrative aspect of the public market, it is quite time-consuming but I come from the world of real estate and construction, and these are things that I had already had to deal with. For the construction of the pieces, five operators will be full-time in order to be ready for the installation of the work scheduled for April-May 2025

Are there any particular aspects linked to the specificity of this work?

Yes, the first is that we will transport the pices by helicopter, because they are too big to pass through the last tunnels leading to the site! We also necessarily have climatic constraints because the site is at an altitude of 1,600 meters, which generates fairly significant snow loads. So we had to size the composite based on that. Generally, between the worlds of composite and that of building, we are not on the same shape tolerances: in the first, we need to be within tolerances of the order of a millimetre while the centimetre is more common in building. So we have to make these two worlds coincide and be very precise with the structural work on which we rely to be sure that the assembly goes well when we will place our petals.

© James Tomlinson / RORC

ONE DESIGN

Promising debut for the Sun Fast 30 One Design

After a test program carried out in the second half of 2023, the Sun Fast 30 One Design, a monotype signed VPLP Design whose project management was entrusted to Multiplast, has entered a new phase since the spring. The first boats were delivered to their owners and are sailing in England and France. The new C30 Class has identified two major events this year, the Drheam-Cup, in July, and the double-handed world offshore championship, in September, in Lorient.

By the end of the year, around forty Sun Fast 30 One Designs will have left the yard, built on the Jeanneau site in Cheviré. There are around ten boats sailing to date, notably in Great Britain where the four boats rented by Cap Regatta were chosen to support the selections organized at the end of March in Cowes as part of the Griffin Project.

This project, which attracted 300 applications, aims to train young people in offshore sailing which, according to Louis Vaquier, general secretary of the Class C30 and responsible for the Sun Fast 30 OD program at Multiplast, “really matches the DNA of the boat”. 20 young people aged 18 to 30 were chosen following the selections to form The Griffin Squad which will line up aboard two Sun Fast 30 ODs in several events of the RORC Championship season. The 20 lucky ones were entitled to a first training weekend at the beginning of April during which they were supervised by some British sailing stars such as Dee Caffari, Ian Walker and Shirley Robertson!

In charge, with his company FourthCape, of organizing the selections and training on behalf of the RORC, Charles Darbyshire was also able to get a first idea of the potential of the one-design: "The Griffin sailors sailed upwind in 30 knots from Portsmouth to Cowes, with two reefs in the mainsail and a reefed J3, that was a conservative rig, respecting the newness, the boats - and the boats performed well, with 5 crew. The boats are fun to sail downwind, their large sail area and light displacement combine to provide high teen boat speeds (record over the six days of sailing was 18.1 kts).”

On the other side of the Channel, a number of SF30 ODs have also started sailing, notably around Lorient. Jean Passini President of the Class C30, has acquired one of the first models, co-owned with Dominique Dubeau - the duo finished second in the last Transquadra. “We thought about this project during our Transquadra, we wanted to change boat and we were extremely tempted by the one-design adventure, a world I didn't know, because I come from the IRC. We also liked the sobriety of the boat.”

First impressions? “The boat is really promising. It's very light, rather reactive, comfortable downwind and reaching thanks to its generous shape, it's a fun boat that could, for example, appeal to sailors from the Mini Class.” From 2025 onwards, the class aims to offer owners and potential charter sailors - Cap Regatta provides three fleets in Cowes, Lorient and Marseille - a race circuit with specific classifications for SF30 ODs. This will already be the case in July for the fifth edition of the Drheam-Cup (Cherbourg-La Trinité-sur-Mer), where around ten one-designs are expected.

“This will be the real first meeting of the class,” explains Louis Vaquier, “typically the kind of event for which the boat was developed. We want to show that the one-design gamble is on the way to being won and that the Sun Fast 30 OD performs well.” The second major event of the season in September will be the double-handed world offshore championship in Lorient, France, as World Sailing has chosen the Sun Fast 30 OD as its support boat for the next three years. Twenty duos will take part, prompting Louis Vaquier to say, “This will be a great showcase for the boat's international development.” In 2025, this world championship will pass through Cowes before, perhaps, conquering America in 2026.

VOS CONTACTS PRESSE

MULTIPLAST : Yann Penfornis This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / +33 (0)6 12 05 86 97

"If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough"