New central hull for Foncia

Alain Gautier has decided to change the central hull on his trimaran for next season in order to save weight and to increase volume. Multiplast is building and assembling the new elements onto the existing structure.
Alain Gautier : To start with, I wanted to build Foncia at the Multiplast yard in view of their expertise and the fact that we have always got along well with Gilles Ollier and his team (Foncia s first masts were built there). But unfortunately the yard was busy building another 60 foot project. It was only natural for us to chose Multiplast for this big winter session in the shed. As the architects Van Peteghem and Lauriot Prévost are now on the same business estate, it’s very easy to work efficiently.
The new hull is being made in the mould which was used for Groupama II, the series  World Champion. We will be able to save about 350 kilos. She is made of prepreg carbon Nomex sandwich vacuum cured at 120° C. She is due to be launched in March 2005.