Brest (AFP)

Decidedly, the life of Ultim is not easy. After being ousted from the Transat Jacques Vabre and suffered major damage during the Route du Rhum, maxi-trimarans of this elitist class are prevented from taking the start Sunday of Brest Atlantiques.

"Unfortunately, we have to postpone this start," said Jacques Caraës, the director of this race concocted for these 32-meter-long sea giants, about "bad weather conditions" at a press briefing in Brest. .

The four boats moored for a few days along the Malbert wharf in Brest could however benefit on Tuesday from a "potential window" to take the start of this new double race that will take sailors off Cape Town (South Africa) before to go back to Rio (Brazil) to return to the tip of Brittany, a triangular course of 14,000 nautical miles.

"If we do not take this little niche we will still be blocked since another depression happens Thursday," said the race director. In this case, maxi-trimarans could not leave the week. What about more ...

"We can not get these boats out in too difficult conditions, we're not there to play the circus," said Jacques Caraës.

A strong gust of wind is expected from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, generating a very formed sea in the Bay of Biscay with pitches of 8 meters, according to the organizers.

- "do not put the boats in danger" -

"There are five boats in the world like these, we have four here, four absolutely fantastic prototypes, there is no question of making them take the slightest risk", insisted Emmanuel Bachellerie, general manager of Brest Ultim Sailing , organizer of the race whose postponement seems to have been unanimously among the sailors involved.

"In such a situation, we must say that we must not go," responded Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim 3). "We can not even get out of the Brest Gully in these conditions," noted Yves Le Blévec (Actual Leader), while Gwénolé Gahinet (Trimaran Macif, François Gabart) was optimistic about a "quick" start. "We are not going to stay there for a month," he predicted.

"Compared to the class, I think it's smarter not to go to put the boats in danger, we all have the Route du Rhum in mind," finally recalled Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Franck Cammas) .

During the last Route du Rhum, in November 2018, the Ultim suffered many damages, causing the postponement to 2023 of the Brest Oceans, the first round the world single-handed non-stop category, and whose departure was to be given initially in December.

Another disappointment of this category of boats which opened the way to the flying navigation, its eviction, in the absence of agreement with the organizers, of the Transat Jacques-Vabre, part last Sunday of Le Havre towards Salvador de Bahia (Brazil).

The Ultim class, consisting of maxi-multihulls 32 m long and 23 m wide and equipped with foils, these appendages to spin over the water, was created in January 2018. It is the result of a collective set up in December 2013 composed of 5 members, all in charge of the class: Actual Leader, Popular Bank (Armel Le Cléac'h), Gitana, Macif and Sodebo.

© 2019 AFP