New IDEC launched
This boat is going to go around the world in a BIG hurry.
Its been almost two years since Francis Joyons Idec trimaran ended up on the rocks in south Brittany. The mighty skipper had just broken the solo Atlantic record and the 24-hr record as well, but this one has been bettered since, was on his way home, fell asleep and well you know those darn rocks cant help but creep up on you can they?So anyway, after everything had calmed down, Joyon and his sponsor decided to go ahead and build another giant tri, to take a shot at Ellen “Miss World” MacArthurs RTW benchmark time - a title taken from Franciss hands, not an easy task and probably Ellens most spectacular achievement.
Joyon turned to Nigel Irens for this new beast, an architect he knew well since he was the man who designed his Banque Populaire Orma tri, with which he later won the 2000 Ostar under another name - he had been kicked out by Banque Pop the year before, but managed to keep the boat. But so much for ancient history, Nigel Irens is now teamed up with Benoît Cabaret, and the two men worked on the second coming of IDEC, while also spending hours at the drawing board for Thomas Covilles soon to be launched Sodebo same solo records program.
And there you have it, IDEC 2 touched the water on June 19 in Lorient. 100 of sheer power, and the promise of a few wild nights in the South. Here are a few explanations concerning the overall philosophy of the machine info gathered while the build was in process…“The length of the floats is limited for structural reasons, explains Nigel Irens, because we cannot go further than a certain dimension in front and aft of the crossbeams, it’s the same between the two beams. As far as the central hull is concerned, the limitation is less critical, which explains why we’ve been able to go a bit further.” In fact, to understand the concept behind IDEC 2’s structure, one has to look at it this way: consider that the actual boat size is that of its floats, and that the designers have lengthened the central bow, allowing for greater safety downwind less nose-dive risks. As far as width is concerned, the figure is rather conservative at 16,50 metres, exactly like on Ellen MacArthur’s B&Q, which is a shorter boat. “Ellen was struggling to keep up with her trimaran’s power, Benoît Cabaret explains, so it did not seem necessary for us to go further”. Yet Francis’s sheer physical strength will allow him to make the most out of the available horsepower, he should be much more at ease that Ellen was… “So IDEC 2 will be a narrow boat, meaning we can keep the weight rather low, at 11 tons race-ready”, says Benoît while Francis adds “the gain is considerable, since compared to the previous boat, we’ve been able to save 4 tonnes”
Specifications
• LOA: 29,70 m 100 ft
• Float length: 24,5 m 80 ft
• Width: 16,5 m 54 ft
• Weight: 11 tonnes
• Upwind sail area: 350 sq.m. 3770 sq. ft
• Mast height: 32 m 105 ft
Shortly after I posted this I saw that today the big Sodebo has been launched just up the coast from here, is that a funny looking nose on the main hull or what?
Filed by Popeye at June 20th, 2007 under Sailing