MOD70 Christening

Posted Mar 29, 07:54 PM · 0 Comments

Lorient, the silicon-valley of sailing. I arrived here a little more than a week ago and have been knocking on lots of doors since, to get more experience with the technical side of maintaining boats. One of the highlights so far has been the christening of a new type of trimaran, the MOD70, on Friday…

MOD70 Christening

On Friday morning, the ‘Race for Water’ sailing team organised a forum on ocean racing as a platform for sustainability. With my almost non-existent french, I struggled to understand the talks, so I probably spent more energy studying the forum’s flyer.

However, even I noticed some of the untied ends during some of the talks, like the quantification of environmental effects of racing a boat like the MOD70.

Nevertheless, the cause of the ‘Race for Water’ team and the MOD70 programme is a noble goal: to educate the masses about water sustainability. At the same time, it is essentially a PR stunt.

And it is hard not get swayed—it seems that the big guns are brought out regularly in France. Lorient is littered with IMOCA60s, Figaros, Minis, Class 40s and Maxi trimarans.
Friday evening seemed to top it off nicely with the public christening of the MOD70 ‘Race for Water’, complete with light-show and music. The event—and it can only be described as such—was visited by hundreds of people, complete families with children and grandparents in tow.

Some images from the MOD70 christening:

The christening started at exactly 9 o’clock in the evening. In that case a countdown is mandatory, isn’t it?

A light-show was projected onto the Cite de la Voile, the local sailing museum. Unfortunately, one of the beamers failed towards the end.

The MOD70 before just before the crowds arrived.

Back on the water

Last Sunday, I headed out with Bruce Gailey on his Pogo 2 to test his Code 0. We wanted to sail around the Ile de Groix and managed to get exactly to the other side when the wind died. Convenient. Thankfully it filled in again after a while and we could make our way back.

In a little over a month the UK Mini Fastnet starts from Plymouth. I will be sailing this 565 nautical mile long double-handed race together with Andy Oliver on Prim Avel.

Andy Olliver during the NAB Tower Race on Prim Avel.

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