An unrecoverable boat
Afterwards his capsizing on November 6 last on the Route du Rhum 2018, the Maxi Banque Populaire IX arrived in Vigo (Spain) after 10 days at sea in difficult conditions. Finally, let's say rather "the elements" of the trimaran since the latter has deteriorated considerably.
The vessel's location was made possible thanks to the Argos beacon placed inside the vessel and the tracking carried out by the Pleiades satellite with the assistance of the Airbus company. A ship arrived on site a few days after the capsizing under the guidance of Adrien Hardy, who was hired by the insurance company because of his expertise in the field, to try to bring the damaged parts of the boat ashore.
The insurer will now appraise the boat, but what is already certain is that it is irrecoverable, as Ronan Lucas, director of the Banque Populaire Team, explained:" Despite all our efforts, with the storm, the boat is completely dislocated and in its current state, its reconstruction is impossible. We are all very sad about this outcome when we think of all the people who have contributed to this fabulous project. We are at work to imagine the continuation of this magnificent story with Banque Populaire."
What future for Armel le Cléac'h and the bank of voile??
Banque Populaire and its team have been working for several days to study the different possibilities available to it. The sailing bank, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2019, has been sponsoring racing boats since 1989 and has been a partner of the French Sailing Federation since 2000. And from 1994, she will be very interested in multihulls since she will build for Francis Joyon a 60' Orma Trimaran named Banque Populaire I. During all these years, the sailing bank has been on all fronts: Figaro, IMOCA, trimaran or Olympic Games. It builds or buys boats as opportunities arise
It was in April 2011 that Armel le Cléac'h joined the Banque Populaire Team in IMOCA with the 2012 Route du Rhum in his sights. After a 2nd place, Banque Populaire bought Franck Cammas' former Groupama 3, named Maxi Solo Banque Populaire VII, and aboard which he set many records. It is also on this trimaran that Loïck Peyron will win the 2014 Route du Rhum ( Editor's note: Armel Cléac'h having injured himself and could not participate )
Finally, the skipper of Banque Populaire is relaunching his career in IMOCA with the construction of the Mono Banque Populaire VIII, equipped with foils. He will win the 2016 Vendée Globe on board before focusing on a new project in Ultimate
This is not the first time that Banque Populaire has lost a boat - Lalou Roucayrol capsized with Banque Populaire II, 60' ORMA trimaran and the latter disappeared in May 2000 for his first official race. Except that in 2018, the budgets are no longer the same. We are talking about 14 to 15 million euros for an Ultimate of the latest generation..
So what will Banque Populaire, which has always been involved in sponsoring voile?, decide? The construction of a new trimaran - but it takes at least 2 years of work - the purchase of an existing Ultimate - the new Macif will be launched in 2019 and therefore the old one should be put on sale, or the change of support?? The arrival of the Figaro Bénéteau 3 makes many skippers want to return to this boat, like Michel Desjoyeaux or Loïck Peyron... A class that Armel le Cléac'h knows since he won the 2nd stage of the Solitaire du Figaro in 2013...
And what about skipper?? His team told us last August "I think I know that he is completely recovered or at least not very affected since the story ended quite badly. (...) Of course, he now has a small parameter in him that allows him to determine certain limits that we didn't have before. I don't feel it had more impact on him than that, even though we certainly would have done very well without it." But after two capsizes, does he still want to "go back up" on a Ultime??
Two capsizes in seven months
Two capsizes in seven months will have destroyed the integrity of the Maxi Banque Populaire IX... The first took place on April 14, 2018 off the Moroccan coast with a reduced crew while the 2nd took place on 6 November in the middle of the Route du Rhum, 340 miles northeast of the Azores on a solo basis. If the first was related to a problem with the activation of the anti-slope system, the second was due to the failure of the port float
Had the first capsizing weakened the trimaran structurellement?? Are the construction choices of these ever more efficient Ultimates too much radicaux? (Editor's note: Edmond de Rotschild, from the "same" mould, has also been severely damaged on the Route du Rhum 2018)... Questions are coming from all sides and deep reflections will have to be carried out soon
Photo credits: @javimontenegro
