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Trimaran Groupama 3: Light is right
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| Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, one of the designers of Franck Cammas' trimaran, from within the architectural firm VPLP, explains
the approach which prevailed in the creation of Groupama 3.
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"The priority has been on designing a multihull, which can be manipulated by a crew of ten people and therefore
not enter into the nature of the length which was in force: Groupama 3 is not a maxi multihull! It's a trimaran, which
is also heavily inspired by Groupama 2, the 60 foot Orma: with the adoption of foils and the installation of three rudders,
with a wide, open cockpit and a proportionally moderate sail plan. As a result, we opted for a relatively small boat which
is rather light, progressive and very reactive. The deck plan enables the crew to manoeuvre faster in order to adjust
the sail area to changes in condition and hence permanently exploit the trimaran's potential.
As the record programme
included above all the Jules Verne Trophy, it was necessary to take into account the `Southern ocean' parameter: the foils
are far forward so that the boat is nose up, the freeboard is high to prevent the bow from burying, the height of the mast
limits the trim changes. The balance when sailing is considerably safer than on a 60 foot Orma... "
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Technical specifications
| | LOA/ Beam | 31.50
m / 22.50 m | | Weight (Jules Verne Trophy
conditions) | 18 tonnes | | Air
draft | 41 m | | Boom
length | 12 m | | Draft | 5.70
m | | | |
Sail area surface (Incidences
sails)
| | Mainsail | 356
m2 | | Solent | 201
m2 | | Gennaker | 472
m2 | | | |
Habitable surface (interior of central hull) : 13 m2 | | | | | Home port | Lorient | | Launch | June 2006 | | Race
number | 3 | | | | | Decoration Odouce - Jean-Baptiste Epron | | | | |
Crew: | 10 people | | | |
Architects and engineers having participated in the design | | Cabinet Van Peteghem - Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) | | design office in collaboration with Martin Fisher, HDS, | Mick Kermarec, Guillaume Verdier, Bernard Pointet,
| | Yann Roux and Team Groupama | | | |
Construction yards
| | Multiplast, for the platform,
daggerboard and rudder on the central hull | | Lorima, for the mast | | | AMCO, for the rudders and floats | | | Profil Composites, for the foils | |
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