From Breton pontoons to Parisian courts.
The dispute between François Gabart and the Ultim Class knew, this Thursday, an important stage in view of the next Route du Rhum.
A mythical race in which the 39-year-old skipper remains at the door for the moment because of a boat denounced as non-compliant by his competitors, Thomas Coville (Sodebo), Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire), Charles Caudrelier ( Edmond de Rothschild) and Yves Le Blévec (Actual).
Faced with the urgency of the calendar - the start of the Transat is scheduled for November 6 - Gabart's sponsor, the Kresk group, has seized the Paris Court of Justice to be able to obtain the measurement certificate which will allow the maxi-trimaran SVR Lazartigue to cast off in Saint-Malo.
Justice should not decide on the merits of the conflict but on the form.
At the heart of the debates, a protocol signed on February 16 by the Gabart clan and the owners of the Ultim class which allowed the Charentais to participate in the Rhum if the International Sailing Federation (World Sailing) did not render its conclusions on the subject before March 4.
Kresk's lawyers pointed out that the latter communicated its interpretation, unfavorable to Gabart, on March 7.
La Classe Ultime, for its part, highlights the fact that the document is dated March 4 and that a first negative opinion had been published on the World Sailing website on February 23.
It had been removed from the site the next day after Gabart and the architectural firm VPLP, designer of the boat, had denounced the use of incomplete and non-compliant plans for this decision.
After the arguments of the two parties, the judgment was reserved for July 21 next.
Present in court on Thursday, the skipper has already indicated his intention to appeal in the event of an unfavorable judgment.
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Even before its launch, in July 2021, Gabart's new flying boat had raised questions and skepticism among his playmates. For the latter, the Charentais and VPLP have designed a boat that does not respect one of the international offshore racing rules OSR (Offshore Special Regulations).
Specifically point 3.11 stipulating that, for safety reasons, the sailor operating on the sheet winches, the winches used to stiffen the ropes, cannot be located under the deck of the boat.
For the Ultim class, this is the case on SVR Lazartigue whose cockpit, where the famous winches are located, is installed, according to her, below deck.
Backed by architectural plans, lawyers for Gabart's team argued in court that World Sailing had been '
cheated'
by the sending of a drawing "
with coarse lines
" by the Ultim Class.
For the designers of SVR Lazartigue, the cockpit is an integral part of the deck and respects the tonnage.
After claiming
the "inadmissibility
" of François Gabart's legal action for administrative reasons, the representatives of the Ultim class considered that the "
principles of safety and sporting fairness
" were "
flouted
".
They recall that as early as May 2019, a measurer had expressed reservations about "
the ability to have peripheral vision to maneuver safely
" after a site visit.
SVR Lazartigue would not provide "
360 degree vision
" like its competing boats (Sodebo, Edmond de Rothschild) whose photos were also presented to the judge for comparison.
In terms of sporting fairness, the layout denounced by the competition gives Gabart an undeniable advantage in aerodynamic terms.
On Sodebo or Edmond de Rothschild, the cockpit is located on the deck for less optimal air flow.
“
The biggest aerodynamic drag is the cockpit
,” Charles Caudrelier, skipper of Edmond de Rothschild, recently explained
.
And that of François is a big gain in the matter and also allows to center the weights and to lower the center of gravity.
But you have to be above the bridge to see ahead.
François does not have the same interpretation as us of this safety rule which applies to all boats.
So you need a referee.
And you have to respect the referee's decision
.
Before the conflict broke out, several experts had examined SVR Lazartigue and its plans without making any reservations.
Last fall, Gabart and his co-skipper Tom Laperche obtained a waiver to participate in the Transat Jacques Vabre (2nd).
In return, its competitors were waiting for the winner of the 2013 Vendée Globe to carry out the work for "
compliance
" with a view to the next races (Route du Rhum, Brest Oceans).
"
We built our boat in the most transparent way possible, the Ultim class measurer and the representative of the French sailing federation checked our boat during its construction and considered it compliant after, and again after additional expertise requested by the class itself.
Our competitors do not follow these expert reports, which we do not find fair
, ”explained Gabart to Figaro at the end of March.
The latter denounced “
a relentlessness to keep us away.”