Martin Lange / Photo credit: LOIC VENANCE / AFP
On Sunday, in Brest, six sailors will take the start of the Arkea Ultim Challenge, the first solo round-the-world race aboard Ultims. These trimarans, nicknamed the “Formula 1 of the sea”, fly on water and are piloted exceptionally well. For the occasion, Europe 1 went there to meet the sailors.
A real adventure. In Brest, thousands of people flock every day, in the rain and the wind, to admire the Ultim, these “Formula 1 of the sea” which are to take the start on Sunday of a unique race around the world, the Arkea Ultim Challenge – Brest 2024. These giant trimarans which fly on the water are piloted by exceptional skippers that Europe 1 was able to meet.
“Extraordinary”
In the port of Brest, it is difficult not to see them. At 34 meters high, “almost the size of the Arc de Triomphe”, exaggerates one admirer, these six behemoths of the seas are ready to tackle an immense challenge, a solo race around the world. “It’s an odyssey and it’s the most extreme challenge we’ve ever faced in racing. There is a dimension of space conquest. There are twelve men who have been on the Moon and there are four who have completed this event”, rejoices Joseph Bizard, director of OC Sport Pen Duick and organizer of this globe tour.
Among these four, Thomas Coville. “Although I have done several, I realize today that I am going to do something completely out of the ordinary, which has never been done. Take a solo trip around the world, in flying mode. More about the event arrives and the more I realize that it was indeed unimaginable four years ago. And yet, we are going to do it”, recognizes the skipper. But among the participants, there are mainly novices like Charles Caudrelier, as impatient as he is stressed. “I don’t have the impression of being at the start of a race. There is a pioneering side and that’s what I like. We will forever be the first,” says the sailor. The objective is to travel the globe between 40 and 50 days.