In contrast to the giant ‘Ultime’ trimarans, and within the ‘Rhum’ category, which is without a doubt a bit too disparate, there exists another way of racing the Route du Rhum. That of the enthusiasts, who commission mythical boats, which they prepare carefully as if they were beautiful classics, not counting the hours, and often at their own expense. At the ‘Golden Oldies Trophy Atlantique’, we were lucky enough to embark with the person who many consider to be the ‘High Priest’ of this brotherhood, Mr Charlie Capelle. Welcome aboard the sister ship of Olympus, Mike Birch’s mythical trimaran which won the first Rhum.
Image
1
/
1
Publié le
16/12/2016
Par
François Trégouët
Numéro :
138
Parution :
Nov.
/
Dec.
2014
Anyone who takes the slightest interest in ocean racing in multihulls will inevitably have come across this image one day or another. A little yellow dragonfly, 12 meters long, which seems to be flying over the water, overtakes Michel Malinovski’s big black 21-metre monohull on the line, and wins the first Route du Rhum by 98 seconds. That was in 1978, and nothing would ever be the same again. A new era had opened up, the development of the multihull was launched, and the race time would be divided by three in the following thirty years. Not to mention the lives of thousands of leisure sailors…
