With Charlie Dalin finishing first in this year´s edition of Vendée Globe and Yoann Richomme just a few dozen miles away from coming in second, it´s IMOCA-fever all over the place. So good to see them all celebrating! And this party will go on until the last is home safely, which makes it even better. A new record is here: 64 days to race around the globe, what a fantastic effort! In Germany we have this nice little saying that, loosely translated, goes like this: „After the race is before the race“. I don´t know if something like this exists in your language too, but it describes very nicely that there is no time to rest: With 2024/25s edition of Vendée Globe drawing to an end slowly with the arrival of the rest of the fleet, the next edition is already on the horizon. And teams are already working hard to win this one.
One of those teams is Les P´Tits Doudous. Based in La Trinité sur Mer, not far away from Vannes, just between Lorient to ist North and Saint Nazaire in the South. These guys have missed the current edition of the Vendée Globe but are full throttle towards the next one. Their IMOCA 60 is currently under construction and will be finished mid this year, when everything goes according to plan. But, hear up: It´s not just one another ordinary foiling super-racer, as their skipper, Armel Tripon, explains to me in an interview I was able to do with him a few days ago. Exciting times for Armel and his crew … but let´s start at the beginning.
Talking to IMOCA-skipper Armel Tripon about his LES P´TITS DOUDOUS
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „Armel, at first, big news today wit Charlie finishing. I´m sure you are following the Vendée Globe race as well. Who is your favorite skipper, which one got your most support? And: Do you regret not being part of this year´s edition of Vendée Globe?“
Armel Tripon: „Of course I do follow all the skippers and boats. I have an especially close eye on those in front. Since it is the sister ship of my new boat, I also look very closely how Boris Hermann is performing. And then I follow Sam Goodchild who in my eyes has a fantastic race. For this edition I would say that the overal level of all participants is good. Charlie, the well-deserved winner, did an amazing job! If I regret not taking part? No, not really: I am patient, focused and we all do what is there to do to be best prepared for 2028.“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „I called you to do this interview because I saw the finished hull of your brand new IMOCA on facebook. As it was being transported out of the shed from the shipyard. What a great feeling this must be! So tell me please, when was the decision made to make a new boat? And most of all, how come that you guys decided to use recycled carbon fibers?“
Armel Tripon: „The idea was born at the end of my last Vendée Globe race, back in April 2021. I had finished 11th. At that time we´ve had one of the first Scow-bow influenced boats, by the way. The story of my new one is pretty exciting: It was the Airbus company together with the City of Nantes who contacted me. They asked if I could imagine a boat of which some parts had been made from recycle carbon fibers. I thought about it and it became more and more interesting. So we sat together and came up with a proposal that was even more ambitious. So, it all started like this.“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „What´s the idea behind using recycled materials anyway?“
Armel Tripon: „Well, when you are a sailor, when you go around the world, I feel that it is almost a duty that you also want to protect your playground. And that playgound is the ocean, right? So, building race boats that have a negative impact on the environment is an absolute contradiction to me. We were keen to improve this. And also, we were keen to see how far we could go with the idea of using recycle fibers.“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „What does it mean, „recycled material“? Where is it from and what are the properties of those fibers? Are those fibers maybe made of an old, „shreddered“ IMOCA racing boat, or otherwise refined? Where are they from?“
Armel Tripon: laughs „No, no, not an old IMOCA, although it´s a nice idea. The fibers used to build LES P´TITS DOUDOUS come from Airbus Industries. These are „declassified“ production batches. One could say, outdated fibers passed their best-before date. Airbus sorted those out as these are no longer valid to be used in airplane production. But since these fibers are still retaining their mechanical qualities and material properties, well, instead of them being thrown into the garbage we give them a second life. You can say that those fibers, although not having had the chance to fly through the air, they can do it now: With the foiling IMOCA!“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „That´s interesting! It also has a philosophical quality to it! How is the process of making the fibers ready for re-usage in a new boat like?“
Armel Tripon: „Well, a lot of mechanical tests had been done to make sure that the fibers would react to certain stresses. We had to make sure that the „expiration“ was not a blockage for our project. Although an IMOCA is not a plane, the forces on such a boat during an all-out race can also be gigantic. After we had been validating with these tests that all was good, our team draped them with the shell mould, after that in the bridge mould and we simply „baked“ them. The result is very satisfactory, as you can see. And of course, the whole production process is the same as it is for any other carbon boat. We are respecting the IMOCA rules and the the constraints within the set.“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „Can you specify how much material has been saved or spared by going for recycled fibers?“
Armel Tripon: „Oh yes, sure! It´s a lot indeed. Some 69 per cent of the boat is made with recycled material. We were able to save over two tons of expired fiber! In that way, the carbon footprint of LES P´TIT DOUDOUS has been cut into one half! This is amazing!“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „Your boat had been designed by VPLP and – at least construction-wise – is the sister ship of Boris Herrmann´s MALIZIA: Will the boat be able to withstand the same stresses and challenges of the oceans just as his? Is there a special testing scheme to make sure that the boat lives up to safety standards and can race aournd the world in four years?“
Armel Tripon: „Definitely! The boat is in line with all of the architects’ expectations on allowable loads. This has been checked and re-checked all over the place. Moreover, VPLP has designed an extremely solid and structured boat to meet the requirements of today’s offshore racing. For example, she can take more than 50 tons of water-pressure per square meter on the ship´s bottom of the hull! This is an unbelievable and collosal number!“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „Apart from the recycled fibers, does the boat have any other progressive technologies involved, like hybrid or all-electric propulsion, hydro or solar power generation and such?“
Armel Tripon: „Within the rule-set of the class, we do all we can to include the latest technology. So, if you mention the electric energy aboard, we are on well-known and classic equipment like solar panels, wind turbine or hydrogenerator. Sailing around the world under those hard conditions like the ones of the Vendée Globe calls for reliability first and foremost. And for redundancy of course, to win those races.“
NO FRILLS SAILING.com | Lars Reisberg: „So, tell me, what is the timing for the boat? When can we expect to see pictures of the first watering, test sails and so forth? When – if everything goes as planned – will you be able to race P´TITS DOUDOUS for the first time?“
Armel Tripon: „We are within our planned schedule, all goes according to plan. We will have the launch in May. I can hopefully attend the first real races by the end of June or July 2025. That will be the doublehanded Transat Café L´Or-race in October which goes from Le Havre to the Caribbean island of Martinique. Then there will be the famous Route du Rhum next year. I am very confident: We have four years now to prepare, to train, to improve and iron out all teething troubles to be ready for the next Vendée Globe in 2028. It is a chance!“
Thanks so much, Armel, for giving us this intimate insight into the production of your boat! Arme Tripon is a skilled racing skipper: He finished ´21 edition of Vendée Globe in 11th place, the ´14 edition of Route du Rhum in 4th and won this race 2018 on a Multi 50. His palmarés is pretty impressive! I will keep on tracking LES P´TITS DOUDOUS and maybe check her out in person this year myself.
Pictures © Copyright by Jean Louis Carli with kind permission
IMOCA 60-articles you might find interesting to check out:
Carbon fibers simply don´t like slamming
Sebastien Simon´s IMOCA-racer in Les Sables at the pontoon
VPLP about About the evolution of IMOCA foils