TJV: The fisherman and his sailboat
This is great storytelling with a strategic goal in mind; support the corinthian Open 50 trimaran class. Read the words from Mary Ambler.
TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE 2005: Crepes Whaou! arrives first boat across the line and winner of Multihull Class 2 on her maiden voyage
The Father-son pair Franck-Yves and Kevin Escoffier onboard their 2005 Van Peteghem / Prévost Open 50 multihull crossed the finish line of the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre first in the whole fleet and winner of the Multihull Open 50 class at 20:13:59 GMT (17:13:59 local time) gliding along on one hull at 13 knots on starboard tack in the golden sunset light off Salvador followed by a flurry of spectator boats in their wake. They have also set the reference time for the Multihull Class 2 division of 12 days, 6hrs as only Mollymawk in 2003 has completed the race but in 27 days 15 hrs 58 minutes and outside the rankings.
Franck-Yves Escoffier spoke about his pride at being the first across the line ahead of both Open 60 classes: "I announced at the start that this is the boat’s first transat, and it was built to attract people to race in this class. It’s a fun boat, beautiful to look at, and at an affordable price…our aim was to show off the boat, show it can go quickly, hopefully keep up with the Open 60’s, and now our dream is coming true!"
"For Kevin and I to win it’s a really important moment, there was quite an intense feeling for us when we crossed the line. I have three sons and I’ve always wanted to do things with them and my wife as without her we wouldn’t be here. On this Transat, we sailed the boat to 95% of her potential only in the last 4 days. We were more like at 80% and we built up to a crescendo at the end, Kevin and I aren’t pro’s, our life is spent fishing and we adore that, it’s through my job as a fisherman that I can spend all my time on the water. Don’t forget that if we hadn’t had to stop for 6 hours (3hrs 30mins for the mainsail track, 2hrs 30 mins for the daggerboard leak) we would have arrived a lot earlier! It’s a great story, the fishermen who decided to enter a yacht race…
"The Open 50 multihull, a class of the future? I’m not trying to trump the Open 60 class, as they are incredible boats without which we would never have built Crêpes Whaou ! as there are so many lessons learned from Open 60 design which we have benefited from. I’m a sailor from the old school and I wanted to take the best from the Open 60 design and avoid what I don’t like in these boats for transatlantic voyages. So, yes, the Open 50 design will have a good future, as not everyone can pass from a Figaro to an Open 60 trimaran. The moulds belong to Crêpes Whaou ! and the CDK boatyard, but they are available and were built to construct 7 or 8 boats from them. I’d like to see that happen, then there’d be a great class for competition."
The new Open 50 trimaran Crêpes Whaou !, launched this year in April 2005 has proven her winning potential on her maiden transatlantic race. This Mark van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost design is the first boat built according to the new rules for the 50ft class brought out last winter. These regulations include a certain number of constraints, including the number of appendages (4 max), no bow sprit, no swing masts allowed and certain construction materials. With only one damage on the mainsail track, which meant that the boat had to be sailed with one reef in the mainsail for several days after the Canaries. The other problem outside their control was the collision with a mammal at the Cape Verde Islands which resulted in a small leak through a crack in the daggerboard casing. Amazingly, the second Open 50 multihull, Gifi (Demachy / Langlois) is 1,800m behind off the Cape Verdes.
After winning the Route du Rhum in Open 50 Multihull class with his old boat, Franck-Yves Escoffier and his son Kevin worked on the plans and followed the construction at CDK Composites boat yard closely.
Crepes Whaou! Race Stats
Arrival Date: Friday 18th November 2005 at 20:13:59 GMT Elapsed time: 12 days 6 hrs 13 minutes 59 seconds Average speed on the theoretical route, 4,340 miles: 14.75 knots Actual distance covered on the water : 4,738 miles Average boat speed over ground (4,738 miles) : 16.10 knots
TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE 2005: Crepes Whaou! arrives first boat across the line and winner of Multihull Class 2 on her maiden voyage
The Father-son pair Franck-Yves and Kevin Escoffier onboard their 2005 Van Peteghem / Prévost Open 50 multihull crossed the finish line of the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre first in the whole fleet and winner of the Multihull Open 50 class at 20:13:59 GMT (17:13:59 local time) gliding along on one hull at 13 knots on starboard tack in the golden sunset light off Salvador followed by a flurry of spectator boats in their wake. They have also set the reference time for the Multihull Class 2 division of 12 days, 6hrs as only Mollymawk in 2003 has completed the race but in 27 days 15 hrs 58 minutes and outside the rankings.
Franck-Yves Escoffier spoke about his pride at being the first across the line ahead of both Open 60 classes: "I announced at the start that this is the boat’s first transat, and it was built to attract people to race in this class. It’s a fun boat, beautiful to look at, and at an affordable price…our aim was to show off the boat, show it can go quickly, hopefully keep up with the Open 60’s, and now our dream is coming true!"
"For Kevin and I to win it’s a really important moment, there was quite an intense feeling for us when we crossed the line. I have three sons and I’ve always wanted to do things with them and my wife as without her we wouldn’t be here. On this Transat, we sailed the boat to 95% of her potential only in the last 4 days. We were more like at 80% and we built up to a crescendo at the end, Kevin and I aren’t pro’s, our life is spent fishing and we adore that, it’s through my job as a fisherman that I can spend all my time on the water. Don’t forget that if we hadn’t had to stop for 6 hours (3hrs 30mins for the mainsail track, 2hrs 30 mins for the daggerboard leak) we would have arrived a lot earlier! It’s a great story, the fishermen who decided to enter a yacht race…
"The Open 50 multihull, a class of the future? I’m not trying to trump the Open 60 class, as they are incredible boats without which we would never have built Crêpes Whaou ! as there are so many lessons learned from Open 60 design which we have benefited from. I’m a sailor from the old school and I wanted to take the best from the Open 60 design and avoid what I don’t like in these boats for transatlantic voyages. So, yes, the Open 50 design will have a good future, as not everyone can pass from a Figaro to an Open 60 trimaran. The moulds belong to Crêpes Whaou ! and the CDK boatyard, but they are available and were built to construct 7 or 8 boats from them. I’d like to see that happen, then there’d be a great class for competition."
The new Open 50 trimaran Crêpes Whaou !, launched this year in April 2005 has proven her winning potential on her maiden transatlantic race. This Mark van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost design is the first boat built according to the new rules for the 50ft class brought out last winter. These regulations include a certain number of constraints, including the number of appendages (4 max), no bow sprit, no swing masts allowed and certain construction materials. With only one damage on the mainsail track, which meant that the boat had to be sailed with one reef in the mainsail for several days after the Canaries. The other problem outside their control was the collision with a mammal at the Cape Verde Islands which resulted in a small leak through a crack in the daggerboard casing. Amazingly, the second Open 50 multihull, Gifi (Demachy / Langlois) is 1,800m behind off the Cape Verdes.
After winning the Route du Rhum in Open 50 Multihull class with his old boat, Franck-Yves Escoffier and his son Kevin worked on the plans and followed the construction at CDK Composites boat yard closely.
Crepes Whaou! Race Stats
Arrival Date: Friday 18th November 2005 at 20:13:59 GMT Elapsed time: 12 days 6 hrs 13 minutes 59 seconds Average speed on the theoretical route, 4,340 miles: 14.75 knots Actual distance covered on the water : 4,738 miles Average boat speed over ground (4,738 miles) : 16.10 knots
posted by Jon Amtrup at 8:06 am
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