EXTRAORDINARY BOATS
SVR-Lazartigue is the newest Ultim trimaran, designed for current solo around the world record holder François Gabart. Gabart gave François Tregouet an exclusive tour of this extraordinary machine.
Launched in July after 150,000 hours of work, SVR-Lazartigue is the latest addition to the burgeoning Ultim 32/23 fleet. In addition to the complexity that’s inherent to these giant foilers, this rocketship design includes many unique innovations which are currently being extensively tested and fine-tuned. We were lucky enough to be able to explore some of them in detail with skipper François Gabart.
Having boarded the team’s support RIB as they headed out from the MerConcept pontoon at around croissant-time, we searched for the blue giant among the squalls. François Gabart and Tom Laperche, who will be his co-skipper in this autumn’s Transat Jacques Vabre, were returning to their base in Concarneau, Brittany, having just completed a 1,000-mile training loop in the company of three other Ultims: Sodebo, Banque Populaire and Gitana.
finally appeared as just a dot on the horizon. There was no need to throttle up to reach it though: it was closing in fast. When it drew level, even with one reef in the main and no
