François Gabart on all fronts as trimaran MACIF season approaches

The MACIF Diam 24 trimaran © Alexis Courcoux / Macif

François Gabart returned enthusiastically to his base and team in Port-la-Forêt, in early January. While waiting for the refit to end, expected early March, the skipper resumed training at sea in the Bay of Forêt-Fouesnant, on board a Diam 24, to make sailing progress on three hulls and test the different appendage shapes for the MACIF trimaran. François' mind-set and approach is to break new ground as he sails on his M24, the code name given to this "customised" boat with foils: "We have worked on a Diam 24, adding two new floats, to create a very similar version to MACIF, all things being equal. The goal is not necessarily to fly in same airborne way as you would these days on a foiling Moth or flying phantoms, but really to use it as a testing ground for the trimaran." Two types of foils very different to each other and a second generation of rudders were tested on the first runs, providing valuable information to the technical team in search of improvements.

François also took the opportunity to familiarize himself more with flight on these test sails. "Beyond the developments we can make on MACIF thanks to these test runs, for me the M24 is a live training platform. It is important to spend time at sea during the winter, especially on a boat whose behaviour is as close as possible to the trimaran, because we set her up that way. It allows me to experiment a few things at the helm and with trimmings, and even to try things that I wouldn't dare to do on the big boat."

Still driven by the same unremitting desire to make progress, François invited skippers such as Yoann Richomme (Skipper Macif 2014) and Vincent Riou to join in these sailing sessions, expecting constructive discussions from them: "By doing this, we can give some thought to the problems of flight. We enjoyed many discussions with Vincent in 2014, when we were preparing for the Route du Rhum. He's a sailor I enjoy working with. He is interested and it is always rewarding to hear his feedback. And since we are not competing on this project, we can have endless discussions."

Checking, optimisation and new foil

After a nearly 12-day delivery from Brazil in November, the trimaran returned to the CDK Keroman boatyard in Lorient, and is now regularly visited by François who is following the MACIF winter refit. Three work areas have been defined: the first devoted to dismantling, checking and reassembling many items; the second two optimisations essentially connected with the cockpit and living area (cabin) ergonomics (notably with a much larger cap, a new seat and so on); the 3rd to the installation of the port side foil.

A year going solo on the programme!

Until the end of February, François will continue this same rhythm, alternating sailing, physical training, visits to the yard, meetings with his team and with Macif, but also studying the weather with his future race and records in mind. "This is actually part of my work at the moment. I study the different routing to familiarise myself with the courses and understand the key weather challenges." In early March the skipper will then go back to sailing the MACIF trimaran single-handed, with the aim of being ready for the prologue of The Transat, which will take place on 23 April in St Malo. "We will be in a fairly short preparation phase, like last year, before the Jacques-Vabre. I will still have quite a few things to learn because I have never sailed single-handed on this boat. You need to be both good, effective and to get to the essential to go to St Malo having prepared in the best conditions." We have programmed several days sailing on the ocean and discussions are underway with Yves Le Blévec (Actual) and Thomas Coville (Sodebo) to set up a joint training programme. After the prologue, François will set a course for Plymouth, where the start of the Transat, bound for New York, will take place, on 2 May. At the end of May, he will be on standby for the single-handed record of the North Atlantic crossing, currently held by Francis Joyon (5 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes and 10 seconds). The MACIF trimaran and the whole team will then be present in Brest for the Maritime Festival, from 13 to 19 July. François will attempt another record in September – the Mediterranean – which will conclude the year 2016!

François meets the Macif employees

François has also made use of the winter period, which is calmer in terms of sailing, to go and meet Macif employees and shareholders. At the end of January, he attended a presentation by the general management of the new #Macifutur strategic plan, before the members of the group's executive board. "It is intellectually interesting for me to understand Macif's strategic challenges in the years to come. This goes both ways, since, even though it is on smaller scale, I also present the way I work with my team. There are a great many similarities between our two worlds: honouring commitments, competitiveness, performance and challenge. I like doing this. I believe we can all progress this way and I am always delighted to meet the Macif employees, who follow me all year."

MACIF trimaran programme in 2016

• 23 April: The Bridge and Prologue of The Transat (St Malo)
• 2 May: Start of The Transat (Plymouth – New York)
• End May: North Atlantic Record
• 13–19 July: Breast Maritime Festival
• September: Mediterranean record

Provisional programme for the MACIF trimaran after this

• 2017: Round-the-world record attempt
• 2018: Route du Rhum

MACIF trimaran details

• Official name: MACIF
• Architects: VPLP
• Boatyards: CDK Technologies (project management), Multiplast (Central hull, mainsheet traveller)
• Launch date: 18 August 2015
• Length: 30.00m
• Beam: 21.00m
• Max. draught: 4.50m
• Number of centreboards: 3
• Air draft: 35m
• Sail area upwind: 430 m"
• Sail area downwind: 650 m"

www.macifcourseaularge.com