Ultim Adagio: logbook of the race’s old sea dog

Guillaume, 0/0/2024 – Replays on the link below are in French

Skippered by Eric Péron, Adagio is the oldest of the six boats that set sail from Brest for the Arkea Ultim Challenge, the first round-the-world race dedicated to Ultims. With Xavier Guilbaud, naval architect at VPLP Design, who designed her, we retraced the history of this ship, which bears witness to the evolution of trimarans and their adaptation to today’s technological standards.

At the origins of Adagio was Géronimo

More than 20 years old and wearing all his gear. it’s is the oldest of the 6 Ultims currently racing around the world in the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest. Adagio has already been on the circuit for several years, and several skippers have succeeded each other at his helm, until today, with Éric Péron. But before the hotel company’s name was emblazoned on his mainsail, he went by several different names.

Originally launched in 2001 under the name Géronimo, he was the result of a collaboration between the naval architects at VPLP Design and Olivier de Kersauson to design a trimaran capable of beating the Jules Verne Trophy record. This feat was finally achieved by the skipper on April 29, 2004, in 63 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds. “At the time, Géronimo was a large vessel, but relatively simple in design,” notes Xavier Guilbaud, naval architect and partner at VPLP Design. It was a fairly classic trimaran, extrapolated from the off-mast trimarans of the time. However, it was simpler in terms of its appendages. It had only a centerboard and a rudder in the central hull and nothing in the floats. This design choice was linked to Olivier de Kersauson’s desire and sailing style, with everything gliding on the central hull and the floats supported.”

With the record set on the Jules Verne, Géronimo sailed the seas and set new records (Tour of Australia in 2005 and Sydney-Tahiti in 2005, San Francisco-Yokohama in 2006), in partnership with Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young. After adding the record crossing between Yokohama and San Francisco to his list of achievements in 2006, he was repatriated to Brest at the end of the sponsorship contract. The start of a long period of six years without touching water…

The move to Ultim class with Sodebo

Géronimo was put up for sale in 2011. At the end of 2012, Thomas Coville was in search of a new vessel. “Following the Route du Rhum 2010 won by Franck Cammas on Groupama 3, many were interested in the vessel. Unfortunately for Thomas, Banque Populaire passed him by to buy her. So he thought of Géronimo for his project.”

The current skipper of Sodebo Ultim’ 3 then contacted VPLP Design to see how he could refit the boat and bring it into the Ultim class. At the time, the platform was relatively healthy,” emphasizes Xavier Guilbaud. In terms of size, she was quite similar to Groupama 3. With a few updates, it was possible to turn it into a high-performance vessel. As Géronimo was designed for crewed racing, we had to lighten his up and bring his up to date.”

A testimony to the collaboration of the Breton microcosm at every stage of a program

When Géronimo underwent his main refit in 2012 to become Sodebo Ultim, she drew on the full range of Breton expertise in competitive sailing. “We took charge of the vessel’s new design. Historically, we have worked with GSEA Design, based in Lorient, for the structural part of the boat. Multiplast, which had already worked on the manufacture of Géronimo, was again involved for this evolution. The mast was manufactured by Lorima in Lorient. Part of the Breton ecosystem was involved in this project, as if we were building a new ship.”

A new mast, a redesigned central hull, cut-out floats with a new section of about 8m in front of the fore-arm, “shallower and less voluminous bows to allow the floats to enter the waves and not bounce back” are just some of the many modifications undergone by the vessel at the Multiplast shipyard in Vannes.

With a “rather limited budget at the time”, the decision was made to opt for the recovery of parts to be implemented on the future Sodebo. This was the case for the foils, for example. “Typically, these are the foils from the Oracle trimaran that won the America’s Cup in 2010, which Thomas managed to buy back. They’re quite long and quite powerful. We’ve only added tips upwards to allow the foils to develop a little more lift. Otherwise, we’ve redesigned the foil wells and the structure around these geometries.”

The vessel sets sail for the first time in competition in this configuration on the Route du Rhum 2014. A short-lived adventure that would be brought to a screeching halt following a collision with a cargo ship on the first night of the race. Two years later, Thomas Coville added his name to the list of record-breaking round-the-world yachtsmen. He became the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe in less than 50 days, in 49 days 3 hours 4 minutes and 28 seconds. Far ahead of his predecessor, Francis Joyon (57 days 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds).

Notable differences from the latest-generation Ultims, but still a convincing platform

Since it was first brought up to date for Thomas Coville, Géronimo has seen a succession of skippers and sponsors. From Actual Leader (Yves Le Blevec) to Adagio (Éric Péron), via Mieux (Arthur Le Vaillant), it has provided concrete proof that a ship can have several youthful seconds, thanks in particular to carbon technology. “History shows that carbon is a structure that holds up well over time. Another ship, older than Géronimo, proved this. Formule Tag, now skippered by Victorien Erussard and converted into a hydrogen-powered vessel, was built in 1983 in carbon and honeycomb.”

Géronimo has taken part in numerous racing programs since she was first launched. Today present on the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest as Adagio, it suffers from the comparison with flying boats. “it has a different hull shape to the others. Today, when we design a hull, we do it around the foils and appendages. We’re looking for tighter, squarer and less round shapes to get more power. The arms are also very different. Especially if you compare it with SVR-Lazartigue, for example.“

Adagio is one of the many floating proofs that retrofitting vessels is one of the best ways of reconciling competitive sailing with environmental issues, and that a twenty-year-old boat can still perform well and be entered in a round-the-world race. “Adagio is certainly slower than the other Ultims, not least because it’s an archimedean boat and therefore doesn’t fly,” says Xavier Guilbaud. But it can still maintain fairly high average speeds, in the order of 25 to 30 knots. Its robustness makes it ideal for a round-the-world program. And if, one day, his performance no longer allows his to race, then, with a few adjustments, it could be transformed into a work or cruising vessel…”

Photo credit : ©Ronan Gladu / Simeli prod