The new MACIF monohull, which will be taking part in the next Vendée Globe with François Gabart at the helm was launched on Tuesday in Port-la-Forêt. After a construction phase lasting nine months, the latest IMOCA boat underwent her 180° righting test to ensure that it is possible for one man to right the boat by himself. Then, it was time to step her mast, to adjust the rigging and carry out the class measurement checks. She will begin her first sea trials this week. We met up with her young skipper François Gabart.
François Gabart and Sébastien Col (co-skipper for the double-handed transatlantic race) will be attempting to get to grips with the boat before the compulsory qualifier for the Transat Jacques Vabre. François Gabart, the skipper of Macif, “This feels good. It’s reassuring to see the boat with her mast and she will soon be ready to sail. The construction phase was very interesting, but now we’re now going to be working the boat and will have to get a lot of sailing in. This has however involved a lot of work between the CDK team, the staff at Mer Agitée and the MACIF team, and it comes to around 40,000 man hours of work.”
301: the number of the boat
François Gabart: “When I was young, I had 2 Optimists. The first was number 101 and the second 301. At the time our team already had the backing of the Macif. In the Barcelona World Race, I was on Michel Desjoyeaux’s number 101. So there were two reasons for choosing 301…”
Nine months to build
Denis Juhel was in charge of the construction phase: “Nine months is a decent length of time. This was the time frame we set ourselves and we were within a few days of the schedule. We could have taken longer, but you need to take decisions sometimes. The fact that we could take advantage of the experience gained from Foncia 2 was of course an advantage. Having said that, we weren’t making two identical boats. We took advantage of the lessons learnt in the Barcelona World Race to make a few changes. And then, there’s the fact that we need to adapt to the requirements of each skipper so that everything suits him. We’ve built a fine boat and it’s nice to see her going to such a top-class sailor.”
The programme for the 60-foot Macif:
- Aug 2011: Double-handed and solo training
- September - October 2011: back in the yard for adjustments – training.
- 30th October 2011: start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, Le Havre (France) – Puerto Limon (Costa Rica), double-handed with Sébastien Col.
- December 2011: Solo transatlantic race from St-Barth – Lorient, qualifier for the Vendée Globe
- 10th November 2012: Start of the Vendée Globe
