Erwan Le Roux, 47, is both skipper of the trimaran Koesio and president of the Ocean Fifty class (ex-Multi50). Associated with the figarist Xavier Macaire, the duo led the first part of the race to the Canaries and finished, Tuesday 23 November in, very early in the morning, in second place in the Transat Jacques-Vabre, at Fort-de- France (Martinique), in the class of 15-meter trimarans.
Back on the rise of a class – whose operating budgets fluctuate between 400,000 and 600,000 euros per year, excluding the depreciation costs of the boat – with the Morbihannais, who has already won three times the Transat Jacques-Vabre (2009, 2013, 2015) and the Route du Rhum 2014.
The Ocean Fifty fleet is quite small (7), and yet you say that it is still likely to attract new sponsors?
Not to mention an eighth boat launched next year for the Route du Rhum. In fact, they are fast, spectacular, light, offshore and straightforward boats. Obviously solo, on a Route du Rhum for example, these are boats that can be scary. The stress of “getting off the road” is always present. But they are much less “fickle”, a false duo that is the double, than the Orma generation (18m multihulls which marked the 2000s).
In doubles, they are real cars, sometimes faster in light airs than the Ultimes, which must have established wind conditions to fly. The Multi 50 is first and foremost learning speed on a human-sized support. I would say that it is almost a boat… feminine because it requires a subtlety, a finesse in the settings.
In addition, it is not necessary to spend a lot of time on a weight bench to make it work, nor to have hyperdeveloped muscles. I put that in opposition with the athletic preparations required both in Imoca and especially in Ultime which are, there, necessary to send and lower a lot of “canvas”. Basically, she’s a wise, balanced, and above all very fast boat.
You evoke wisdom. Can we speak of financial wisdom offshore when budgets still tend to soar in Imoca (18 m monohulls especially with foils, these side appendages raising the hull above the water), not to mention some? Ultimate?
The idea that was ours was not to sacrifice everything for development but to simply have in mind to sail within our new Pro Sailing Tour circuit. [épreuves en équipage au large en baie] without spending time on site. These boats (some of which are 12 years old) are already equipped with foils, but C-shaped.
For reasons of cost control, the Ocean Fifty class did not wish to open the Pandora’s box of foils. Ours are one-design and our boats are fairly standardized. We have been guided by reason and by the principle of reality. Our sponsors, some of whom are sometimes regional, are economic players with whom we also navigate. Our objectives may seem prosaic: to sail, still sail and also take the start of the major ocean races on the calendar while ensuring a return on investment for our partners.
Are one-design foils a way to escape technological inflation?
When you do this job of ocean racer, you cannot be opposed to innovation, of course. But sometimes it’s good to just ask him questions. The problem with a hypertechnological sail is fabulous, but it is also imagining that it can take the risk of not resonating with the general public, except obviously in a niche of enthusiasts keen on innovation.
When Xavier [Macaire] took possession of the boat for the first few sailings, he had a slight apprehension linked to the speed and the side, let’s say a little rough, of these boats, especially solo. He told me after a few hours: “Basically, it’s not rocket science”. For a racer of his level, that’s for sure, it’s not rocket science [il rit]. Having such a figarist as a partner necessarily raises the level of performance a notch. Mine, like that of the whole fleet.
Your boat is recent (2020). But some, for example, were launched in 2009. So an “old” trimaran can still win *?
I’m convinced. I believe that modernity is to make boats last by improving them. I’m pretty wary when I see the construction frenzy among some Imoca class actors, for example. Society is more and more culturally attentive to a decarbonisation policy. And at the same time, our boats are concentrates… of carbon. I understand that this can offend the public because all this hits brutally with attempts to “green”. Building so much questions me. So much so that today, we sometimes talk about an old boat … three years old. I wonder if we are not walking on the head.
* interview carried out before departure