A RECORD-CHASING MACHINE

Sails of Change, formerly Spindrift 2, ex-banque Populaire V, may not be the newest kid on the block, but it remains an extraordinary vessel. It’s hard to get a sense of the true size of this leviathan until you see the boats it's moored alongside. In La Trinité-sur-mer Ellen Macarthur’s old 75ft B&Q was nearby, Joyon’s 105ft IDEC Sport on the next pontoon. Sails of Change towered over them all. It’s on another scale to anything before or since.

Designed by VPLP and launched in 2008, the 40m trimaran was built for one purpose only: to beat records. With its slender wave piercing bows it was easily capable of speeds of 45 knots downwind. In 2012 Loïck Peyron and 13 crew set a new Jules Verne record of 45 days, which stood for five years.

When the Spindrift campaign bought the boat, the 47m mast was reduced by 6m to enable Yann Guichard to race it singlehandedly in the 2014 Route du Rhum – a remarkable feat in itself (Guichard sails with a crew of 10 in record-chasing mode, six required to power the pedestals during manoeuvres alone).

However, the boat has had more radical surgery since its last attempt, with 3m sawn from the central hull. Guichard says this has multiple advantages, not least the weight and windage reduction of losing 7.5m2 of bow (the central hull has a freeboard of 2.5m). With its shortened mast, Guichard says the boat was fast – “In 2018 we hit 51 knots, but it was not the plan” – but often became unbalanced, requiring forceful steering to counter lee helm. The central hull also produced a lot of vibration as it plunged in and out of waves. Now he reports the handling is more stable and balanced.

Weighing in at more than 21 tonnes, foiling is not in the boat's future. She has two T-rudders for additional lift, rather than flight, and both rudders and the L-shaped hull boards rake, while the central daggerboard is straight. Like the new foiler designs though, hydraulic ‘shock absorbers’ are fitted to the underwater appendages in case of an impact.