PROFILE
FIRST TO FOIL A GIANT MULTIHULL AROUND THE WORLD, CHARLES CAUDRELIER HAS MOVED THE BAR IN OFFSHORE RACING. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT HOW HE G OT THERE
It would be a scene worthy of the most outrageous Hollywood action movie: a man, alone on an enormous flying trimaran, is hurtling across the ocean’s remotest reaches, when he plunges through the floor of the cockpit. He dangles, metres above the churning waves – with no way of calling for help – until he manages to haul himself back on board. Then he dusts himself off, and keeps racing.
Charles Caudrelier barely mentions it. “You had some wave damage?” I ask during our chat about the Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest, the solo around the world race in 100ft foiling Ultims.
“Oh, yes. Before Cape Horn, I caught some 7m waves and with the wind churning and the waves coming off a front for a few hours that was quite uncomfortable. Awave onto the back of the boat hit the deck, so I had a big hole in my boat. That was quite difficult, because you feel safe in your cockpit and then suddenly your cockpit is open and you can see water.
“I nearly fell in the water because I forgot that the hole was there. When I came back from doing a manoeuvre, I walked on the hole, because there was still one skin of carbon, but it was like a piece of paper. So I dropped in the hole up to my shoulders, and I managed to catch something and stay on board.
“At this moment I thought about all the hours I spent on the Volvo Ocean Race, outside, waves coming over the deck. And I say, okay, this is nothing compared to that. Your boat is 10m metres longer and you are inside the cockpit, you just have a hole. No worry, everything is going to be fine.”
It was fine. Caudrelier went on to win the Arkea Ultim Challenge, sailing around the world in 50 days. In doing so he set a litany of firsts: first to foil around the world on an Ultim; winner of the first solo around the world race in multihulls; and takes a unique place as having won both a solo around-the-world race and a crewed around-the-world race as skipper.
SOLO GOALS
Charles Caudrelier, now 50, was born in Paris but the family moved to Brittany so his father could pursue his twin passions of sailing and horses. “When I was two, he decided to leave Paris for another life, which was quite courageous, because his job and all his family were in Paris,” recalls Caudrelier.
The young Charles got involved in sports ranging from golf to fencing and windsurfing, but remembers a pivotal moment when he decided his future was in sailing.
“My
