First sailing of the AC75

After a few hours of preparation, the latest addition to the AC75 class left its pontoon and headed for the Mediterranean.

The crew first hoisted a headsail, then the mainsail, before the beautiful blue-and-white albatross took off on its own, with pilots Quentin Delapierre and Kevin Peponnet, trimmers Matthieu Vandame and Jason Saunders and the cycling sailors in charge of supplying the energy to power the sails: Olivier Herlédant, François Pervis, Rémi Verhoeven and Germain Chardin.

A moment suspended in time, made possible by 9 months of collective hard work and the unfailing commitment of a talented technical team, who deserve a big tip of the hat.

The sailors, who had already gained some experience thanks to the simulator, which gave them a virtual understanding of the man-machine interface, quickly gained confidence and put in 4.5 hours of sailing.

A new milestone for the team, with 76 days to go before the start of the competition on the Barcelona race course.

A first sail that augurs well for future training sessions. Every hour on the water will be invaluable in mastering the flight of the boat - which, unlike the AC40, is not automated - as well as the fine-tuning required to make the knots needed to stay ahead of the competition. There's a long way to go, but the determination and desire are there. Allez les Bleus !

A moment to savor. Hot off the press

Quentin Delapierre, skipper and pilot of the AC75 Orient Express Racing Team:

“These are great team moments. The day before, with the management, I asked them to push to get going. These boats are complex machines. You have to get out of your comfort zone, even if you know that everything isn't perfect. We were right to do so. The boat knows how to fly. It knows how to tack while flying. The cyclists gave us good energy. It's a great stage for the whole team.”

Kevin Peponnet, pilot: “It flies, it flies! 40 - 42 knots without forcing. We checked off a lot of things. We took our time with the sails. Everything went well. We managed to fly on both tacks and even tack while flying. That was cool. The cyclists, for whom it was a big first, were all smiles. We've got a great tool in our hands. We still have a lot of things to do, but there's good potential.”

Matthieu Vandame, setter : “It was a long day, but it freed up the team. We had to launch our AC75 and get her underway. The team has put in an incredible amount of effort over the last few days. We were able to get it up and running and into the air. It looks very powerful and seems to be able to take off easily. You can feel that it has an incredible reserve.

We'd been advised to do LEQ with manual piloting systems, and that's served us well. Now we need to look for finesse and performance. We have to sail for hours. Tonight, we're super happy.”

Olivier Herlédant, sailor providing the energy to power the sails:

“I'm super excited about today and super knackered too. There's a big general whiplash because there was a weather window to make our first flight under sail today. We had a good end to the day, a perfect wind to get started, set the sails, tuck them in... and as a bonus, we did a tack in flight! Everyone's smiling. We're confident.”

Arthur Bois, 2D and 3D engineer : “A little emotion tonight. Too good! A few months ago in Vannes, it was time for the first folds of carbon, the first metal parts, and now we're witnessing the first flight. So cool. I'm very happy with the progress the team has made so far. But the work isn't over yet... it never stops! But right now, we're enjoying it...”

Céline Le Berre, mechatronics engineer : “I'm super happy! I'm very happy; it's great. The last few weeks have been very intense. We knew we had something good in our hands. We had to do all the calibrations correctly. Everything had to be just right, so that the sailors would have a fine tool in their hands. We've reached a good milestone today.