D
Day - 85
On
October 1st racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup begins, the winner goes
through to the America’s
Cup 2003. Before leaving for New Zealand on July 24th, LE DEFI AREVA
is drawing some preliminary conclusions about FRA-69 (launched on
May17th) and is getting ready to launch FRA-79, a boat which has been
put together in a rather out of the ordinary way.
Initial
conclusions about FRA-69. Since
early June, the entire LE DEFI AREVA team has been working extremely hard to
tune FRA-69, its new ACC boat. Today, after difficult initials trials the
assessment is very positive and the team is as enthusiastic as ever.
« We had a fair number of
technical difficulties during the first initial sailing trials with FRA-69.
These difficulties were due to the fact that each element of the boat is a
prototype and that finding the right balance is quite a complicated affair. We
weren’t expecting to run into quite so many pitfalls. With the help of
suppliers, team members used their imagination to come up with the best
solutions. Over the last fortnight, FRA-69 has been showing us what a fine boat
she is. We can feel her enormous potential and she improves each new day. We
have reached an initial milestone in the boat’s development. What we have to do
now is use the right methods and options to intelligently develop her potential
as best we can.” Luc
Gellusseau, LE DEFI AREVA Technical Director.
FRA-79
is not a 100% new ACC boat. There
are three new generation elements - the hull and deck, built in FRA-69’s moulds,
and the appendages. By contrast, spars (mast, boom and poles), many of the
sails, deck gear hardware, hydraulics and all of her mechanical systems date
back to FRA-46 (ex-6e Sens), the French semi-finalist in the
America’s Cup 2000. Tomorrow, FRA-79’s hull will be leaving the Multiplast yard
in Vannes for LE DEFI AREVA’s base in Lorient.
Once her classic appendages have been fitted and she has been fully assembled,
FRA-79 will sail against FRA-69 before leaving for
Auckland.
« For
budgetary reasons, we decided not to build two new boats and to have just one
new generation hull. However, we did decide to have two new hulls, with the aim
of looking ahead and preparing for the next
America’s
Cup. We did, never the less, have one ambitious solution available to us,
coupling the new hull to existing elements from FRA-46 to obtain a second boat
with performance capabilities very close to those of FRA-69 and to take her to
Auckland for the America’s Cup 2003. In order to do so, we had to validate two
criteria beforehand, namely, the financial coherence of this particular option
and the ability of the team and our organisational structure to make the most
out of a second boat very quickly. As things now stand, LE DEFI AREVA financial
resources have expanded with the arrival of new partners such as Devoteam,
Genesys and Murphy & Nye, this enabling the project to run smoothly. As far
as the team is concerned, it has demonstrated through both the individual skills
of each member and the work accomplished collectively over the last year, that
it is capable of developing and fine-tuning both boats. So, the decision has
been made, FRA-79 will be going to Auckland
with FRA-69. » (Luc
Gellusseau).
FRA 79’s triple
mission.
Serve as an excellent
reference alongside FRA-69 to prepare the sailing team and develop the boats in
the best possible conditions.
Perpetuate LE DEFI AREVA.
The aim is to prepare for the America’s Cup 2006
with sail training sessions on two boats as well as ensure continuity of the
technological programme and retain the dynamics of the project as a whole.
Strength LE DEFI AREVA in
competition. By having greatly reduced the costs of getting the project up and
running, the French will have two boats capable of competing in Auckland, an
important safety factor in the event of equipment failure, whilst retaining the
possibility of choosing between two competitive racing yachts offering two
different configurations.
«
Even if FRA-79 is not an entirely new generataion-2003 ACC boat, she does comply
fully with the America’s
Cup measurement Rule. Although the hulls are similar, the design approach
remains different in each case. Sailing with two boats and the different
development options will lead us to favour one of the two Cup boats for the
racing configuration. Nothing is set in stone; we are keeping our options wide
open. » Pierre
Mas, LE DEFI AREVA Sports Director
On July
24th, the cargo vessel « Speybank » will be leaving
Lorient with three ACC
boats on board: one New
Zealand boat, NZL 32 (Black Magic)
completing her one-year mission as training partner for LE DEFI AREVA, and two
French boats, FRA-69 and FRA-79. Masts, sails, support vessels and everything
the team needs in the day-to-day running of the project will also be on board
for the 32-day long Auckland-bound voyage.
For
further information on LE DEFI AREVA go to www.ledefi.com
Pictures
DPPI
Agency
Contacts
Christophe Baudry
Tel
: + 33 (0)6 63 84 60 31
LE DEFI AREVA
Base pour l'America's Cup
BSM
Keroman
56100 Lorient
Tel : + 33 (0)2 97 88 35 96
Fax : + 33 (0)2 97 88
35 99