02.03.2005
Geronimo retires from the Oryx Quest 2005
It was with a heavy heart that Olivier de Kersauson announced an end to his race around the world. His massive trimaran Geronimo has more structural problems which have forced the French skipper to retire from the Oryx Quest 2005. “For security reasons it is not possible to go on and we have to quit now,” he said simply in a satellite phone interview.
After a forced stop in Fremantle, Western Australia to repair damage to the forward crossbeam, de Kersauson and his team headed once more into rough waters south of Australia and had made excellent progress across the Great Australian Bight before discovering more delamination in the index crossbeam. “When we started to push the boat hard we began to hear the noise of the delamination in the index structure,” de Kersauson said. “It’s impossible for us to go on in those conditions and to go south around Cape Horn. It is very disappointing. We were recovering slowly in the race and it was interesting for us to be chasing the leaders, but it’s too dangerous to continue.” After taking shelter in calmer waters off Tasmania the team has decided to head for Sydney, Australia where a complete damage assessment will be carried out. The new delamination is in a different area from the repair that they did in Fremantle and there is definitely damage to the Nomex core which leads the team to believe that the damage may be extensive. It’s certainly too extensive for a quick repair and unfortunately Geronimo is now officially out of the race.
Geronimo’s retirement from the Oryx Quest 2005 is a disappointment not only to the race officials, but also to the thousands of sailors who logged on specifically to witness the head-to-head duel between the Geronimo, the only maxi-trimaran in the world, and the rest of the Oryx Quest fleet, all catamarans. Despite the race being short-lived, sailing fans were able to follow one of the greatest match races as Geronimo and Doha 2006 raced side by side the length of the Indian Ocean. In certain conditions the trimaran was faster; in other conditions the cat was the better boat and the outcome was far from decided when Geronimo collided with a submerged object west of Fremantle forcing them to head for land. De Kersauson is convinced that they hit something solid, perhaps a submerged log, and it was not simply the constant pounding that did the damage although they had been sailing in boat breaking conditions for several days before the collision. The cat versus tri debate will have to wait until another day when the mighty Geronimo, and one of the latest generation catamarans, square off again once more.
Geronimo’s retirement from the Oryx Quest 2005 is only a slight setback in what has been an amazing racing career. In 1995 the idea of creating a giant trimaran was set in motion by Olivier de Kersauson, and the original architectural drawings were done by de Kersauson and his team before they handed them over the highly accomplished naval architects, Mark Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost for refinement. Work was started on the boat in 1999 at the famed Multiplast yard in Vannes, France, but it was not until 22nd July, 2001, and almost 100,000 hours of work later, that the boat was launched. Olivier and his crew immediately set about putting the new trimaran through its paces covering 12,000 miles before finally deeming the boat ready for breaking records.
The team set off from France in 2002 in an attempt on the Jules Verne record, but the attempt was soon called off. On the 11th January, 2003 Geronimo set off once again and quickly began to show some record breaking pedigree. They set a new record time for reaching the Equator, the Cape of Good Hope, and from Ushant to Cape Horn, and the crew were well on their way to breaking the Jules Verne record when they ran into what de Kersauson later dubbed “the calm of the century.” Weeks of flat calm seas stopped the boat in the Bay of Biscay just miles from the finish while the French crew watched and waited while their record slipped away. It was an incredibly frustrating time for Olivier; so near yet so far, however de Kersauson is not one to worry about missed records. He knew by then that Geronimo had record breaking potential and set off again in 2004 for another attempt. Finally, on the 29th April 2004, the crew Geronimo returned to France triumphant. The Jules Verne record was theirs once again.
Much of last year was spent refitting the boat for the Oryx Quest 2005. A new canting mast was installed that allowed the mast to be tilted to windward when sailing upwind. The cant added instant power by moving the center of gravity of the mast to windward and provided a better aerodynamic surface to the wind. It’s unfortunate that the full potential of this innovative rig, and indeed this innovative boat, cannot be fully discovered until some other race, but there is one thing that can be counted on; Olivier will be back and next time he will have a score to settle.
Tracy Edwards, CEO of Quest International and long time friend of de Kersauson issue a brief statement after being informed of Olivier’s retirement from the race. "This is devastating news,” she said. “Olivier and the whole crew on Geronimo worked so hard to participate in this race; their bravery and determination was clear to us all when they set to sea again from Fremantle. I know how disappointed they must feel at not being able to finish but it is a blessing that nobody is hurt. We wish them all god speed to Sydney." We all wish Olivier de Kersauson and his crew a speedy repair to the boat and look forward to seeing them out on the racecourse soon. There are new audio recordings of Olivier in both English and French in the Gallery.
--- Brian Hancock brian.hancock@qisel.com
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