USE IT AGAIN, the circular economy trimaran.

A second life for this legendary boat, “in the big leagues”.

This trimaran is part of the « Ultim » category on the Route du Rhum, alongside the 7 fastest trimarans in the world, those of Thomas Coville (Sodebo), Francis Joyon (Idec), François Gabart (Macif), Armel Le Cléach (Banque Populaire), Charles Caudrelier (Banque Edmond de Rotschild), Yves Le Blévec (Actual), Arthur Levaillant (Better).

 

The trimaran has been renovated with a concern for the choice of materials, the transformation or recycling of obsolete equipment . The objective was to reuse as many existing parts as possible, to find other second-hand ones to transform to adapt them to this boat, and to find solutions to recycle those that could no longer be used.

We worked with a sailmaker to reuse sails recovered from a MOD70 in a professional team, and adapted them to our trimaran.

We have also adapted certain parts of fittings such as winches mechanisms, pulleys, etc.…

Reconditioned solar panels were installed on technical fabric from scraps of fabric used to make car airbags.

The cables that hold the mast are made of a fiber (called PBO), we found an industrialist in the Netherlands to whom we sent them, because he recycles this fiber to make gloves resistant to very high temperatures.

The maintenance and optimization of the trimaran constantly push us to find innovative solutions to make this project have as little impact as possible for the planet.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BOAT

Mast height: 30 m
Length : 23 meters (75 feet)
Width : 16 meters
Weight : 11 tons
Surface of the sails: 373 m2
Date de construction : 2003
Architects: Nigel Irens / Benoit Cabaret

The energy needed on board to operate the navigation instruments (autopilot, wind information, speed, cartography…) is entirely produced by the energy mix of wind, hydro and solar panels. This material is not new, it is made from parts reconditioned by suppliers.

 

The aim here is to show what can be achieved by following the concepts of the circular economy within the framework of such a project, at the highest level of offshore racing, to inspire companies and help them in their transition to this mode of economy.