"All right, meet me Thursday at 11:00 on the boat."
For 3 days, this little word from Yves le Blevec occupies my whole mind and relegates other thoughts to the rank of trivia. I'm having trouble drinking it, the Team Actual Leader welcomes me aboard the Ultim to run the Armen race .
So, for the past 3 days I have been studying in detail each photo of the ex Sodebo in order to try to unravel the mysteries of his deck plan and sail plan. It's inevitable, but I wouldn't want to appear too much of a jerk on this unusual giant.
For 3 days, I look at the evolution of the weather, I develop improbable scenarios... 310 mn of driving on a NW/SE axis between the breast pavement and the island of Yeu... 15 knots of speed moyenne?? Maybe 25 knots from moyenne?? Will we hang on to the 40 knots in pointe?? But in fact, what is this high doing in the middle of the course?? What if there was no vent?? And if the water is a mirror, does a breath of air? remain at an altitude of 32 m?
In fact, whatever the weather conditions, whatever my ignorance of Ultim manoeuvres, I have the extraordinary chance to be able to sail on this dream machine. So on Thursday morning at 10am, in advance as if to better understand my privilege, I walk the pontoon of La Trinité sur Mer among the onlookers who comment on the immoderation of the 3 Ultims moored before our eyes.
Sailors, among the best
I go to the pontoon and get on board to meet some of the team I already know. Sandrine Bertho - in particular in charge of land logistics - welcomed me on board and introduced me to the rest of the crew.
On board the Ultims, sailors' CVs are sometimes as long as their arms. However, Yves le Blevec has put together a crew of young talents and hardened runners.
Alongside the skipper, we find Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant (one of the most experienced sailors in ocean racing multihulls), Loïc Lingois (Boat Captain of Ultim Actual who has been officiating on ocean couriers since Peter I), Alex Pella (recent winner of the Route du Rhum, holder of the round the world record on IDEC), Davy Beaudard (32 years old one of the most successful skippers of the mini circuit he has been skimming for 15 years already), Kevin Bloch (22 years very promising skipper in mini and student ENSTA Specialty Naval Architecture, Hydrodynamics).
And to bring back iodized memories of ocean racing, Team Actual has also surrounded itself with a media man, Ronan Gladu, passionate about adventure and sliding. This heterogeneous crew is a great mix of talents.
An exceptional boat to sail the world's seas
There are only six Ultim in the world (Banque Populaire under construction). These racing machines are capable of completing a round-the-world trip in 42 days at an average speed of 27.2 n?uds?!
On land, their amazing dimensions make you dream and quickly disconcert so small you feel in front of these giants of the seas. A confirmed impression at sea... These boats are incredibly energy consuming and require impressive mental and physical strength..
For the time being, we're leaving the port
In the highly protected cockpit of the giant trimaran, the crew sits at the coffee grinder column. A crew member must be hoisted 5 m to connect the huge horn of the GV to the mast. Then we prepare the J1 so that we can send it when we are at sea.
Yves, who has just returned from the skippers' briefing, enters the course into the Adrena navigation software and takes the opportunity to launch a routing.
To leave the pontoon at La Trinité-sur-Mer with the Ultim, the 2 assistance semi-rigid boats are set in motion by the shore team. Let's be clear, the berth is huge, but in the end quite small compared to the size of the craft. Thus the semi-rigid boats are positioned under the trampolines and push or pull the bow or stern in permanent connection with the skipper's instructions thanks to the helmet equipped with microphones.
Under the amazed and impressed eye of the onlookers, we leave our harbour square and enter the channel. I know this channel well and it has never seemed so narrow to me.
25 minutes to raise the GV and unroll the J1
Although the start of the Ultims is scheduled after all the other series, we are nevertheless the first of the 3 Ultims on the water. It's time to get out of here. Two crew members settled around the coffee grinder column and began to turn their arms frantically.
After 5 minutes, I took a look at the mainsail, it was barely hoisted to the third of the mast. Looking crosswise at the crew members, they seem to give everything they have. I try the spine and realize the intensity of the effort, the arms sting, the back suffers, and the breath is short. Either my heart will explode or I'll give my sandwich back. We are raising the J1 with the same effort. Crew coordination, we prepare the furling line, the sheets on the winch, the arms on the coffee grinder column.
It is a good way to realize the disproportionate forces engaged between man and machine. Yves gives the top to unroll the J1 and tuck it in.
The Ultim Actual leader is starting to slide. On the trampoline the apparent wind increases quickly. That's it, we're sailing on an Ultim.
