The Frenchman Charles Caudrelier is the winner of the first Ultim Challenge. Environmental groups criticize the regatta. Caudrelier says: “We sailors are not the main problem.”
Alone on board a huge racing yacht: The Ultim trimarans are 32 meters long and 23 meters wide.
Vincent Curutchet / Aléa / Gitana Team
Charles Caudrelier, you were at sea for just under two months and sailed solo around the world in the Ultim Challenge and won. How do you recover after a regatta like this?
I went on vacation with my family, we went sailing. The only problem I had was sleeping, which was complicated. During the Ultim Challenge I slept for a maximum of one hour at a time. I was kind of jet lagged when I got back. And the fatigue only set in after a few days, when the adrenaline of the race had worn off. Even now, three weeks after the Ultim Challenge, I’m still tired. And at the same time I feel a lot of energy, the euphoria of victory sustains me.
They were alone for two months, except for one stopover. How do you adjust to life on land and in society again?
This change has always been easy for me because I’ve done it so many times over the last 15 years. I know other sailors for whom returning is difficult. My family has also gotten used to me sometimes being at sea for weeks at a time. During the Ultim Challenge I was also constantly in contact with the team on land, and thanks to the internet on board I was also able to make phone calls to the family. For me it is more difficult to sail away than to come home.
What makes setting off difficult?
The first days and nights are difficult. I feel a lot of pressure and am aware that an entire team trusts me. And sometimes I get seasick.
Seasick – what?
I almost quit in 2000 after my first regatta, a crossing of the Atlantic, because of seasickness. Seasickness gets worse when you feel stressed. And I have a lot of stress in the first few days of a race. Fortunately, there are medications for this. After a week I have my sea legs and no more problems.
You travel alone for a long time, away from your family. Added to this are little sleep, natural hazards and other hardships. What keeps you drawn to the seas?
I love competition. I have always played sports, golf, tennis and fencing. I always wanted to win. And I like being in nature, I like adventure, and I’m fascinated by the technology in yachts. Ocean sailing is a combination of everything, so it’s perfect for me.
You won the Ocean Race as a crew member and skipper. This circumnavigation is sailed as a team, the Ultim Challenge is a solo regatta. What is the difference to sailing in a team?
I only had to worry about myself and not about the mood on board. That made it easier. If you have a technical problem, being alone obviously complicates the matter. Sailing with a crew is a nice experience because you share experiences. But it’s also complicated: one person doesn’t sleep well, the other doesn’t like the food, another crew member is in a bad mood and wants to go home. There is hardly anything more complicated than sailing with a team.
What was a typical day like during the Ultim Challenge?
There was no such thing, my daily routine depended on many factors, the weather, whether there were other ships in the area, whether I had to carry out maneuvers or solve a technical problem. I took every opportunity to sleep or eat, for a maximum of an hour at a time, sometimes just ten or twenty minutes. In areas without ship traffic and with stable weather and course, I also had time to watch a movie or read a book.
Speaking of food: there will hardly have been any table delights on board?
The food is complicated in my case. On the Ocean Race, I couldn’t see freeze-dried meals after a few days. If I don’t like something, I just don’t eat it. The hunger almost drove me crazy at the time and I had mental problems. We took this into account in the Ultim Challenge and placed a lot of emphasis on good food, even if we had extra weight in the boat. Several chefs, including a star chef, prepared vacuum-sealed meals for me. I’ve never eaten so well during a race.
During sleep breaks, the autopilot controlled the yacht. Did you find it difficult to trust technology?
I know top sailors who don’t do single-handed racing because they can’t hand over control to the autopilot. I have fewer problems with it. I always tell myself that I also trust the car mechanic to repair the brakes on my car correctly.
They won the Ocean Race, the Route du Rhum and now the Ultim Challenge. Are all of these victories equivalent?
There are different experiences, also because of the different types of boats. I compare the Ocean Race to a rally, Paris-Dakar for example. Sailing with the Ultim trimarans, on the other hand, feels more like Formula 1. I love the Ocean Race because the best sailors in the world take part. There are also Olympic champions among them. The level is incredibly high. As a little boy I always wanted to win the Route du Rhum, so I started sailing. I never dreamed that I would win the Ocean Race or a crazy race like the Ultim Challenge.
From the merchant ship to the maxi trimaran
krp. Charles Caudrelier, 50 years old, is one of the most successful offshore sailors in the world. The Frenchman triumphed twice in the Ocean Race, a circumnavigation for yachts with crews. He also won the Route du Rhum in 2022 and the Transat Jacques Vabre three times. He recently won the premiere of the Ultim Challenge for Team Gitana, which is financed by the Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild. This solo circumnavigation for giant trimarans is scheduled to take place again in 2027. Caudrelier initially sailed on merchant ships and has been a professional sailor since 2009. He lives with his family in Brittany.
What goals still remain?
Our team is building a new trimaran that will be ready next year. We want to succeed in the next Ultim Challenge in 2027. We want to win the Jules Verne Trophy with the new boat as early as winter 2025/26, which is awarded for setting the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe. The record is 40 days and 23 hours. My dream is to be the first sailor to stay under 40 days.
Does the Vendée Globe appeal to you?
No longer.
What changed your mind?
When I started, I wanted to sail around the world alone once in my life. At that time there was only the Vendée Globe. But with the Ultim Challenge and the new yachts, I have made this dream come true. I am 50 years old. The boats on the Vendée Globe are not very comfortable. I have never heard anyone say that it was fun to complete the Vendée Globe. And I want to sail for joy.
Only six trimarans took part in the Ultim Challenge. They won by a huge margin. Did you only win because you had the best and most expensive boat?
The first four boats were comparable in terms of performance. But it’s like in Formula 1: If you don’t have the best vehicle, you don’t win. I, too, am only the driver on my yacht. The victory was therefore a team effort. I couldn’t have built the boat myself. If the meteorologists or the team plotting the route make a mistake, I don’t win. The Ultim trimarans are technically highly complex. Before the regatta, I didn’t believe that a yacht would finish.
How is help from the mainland changing sailing?
Sailing solo is more versatile, you have to take care of everything yourself, the route, the weather, the maneuvers and the tactics. However, if you have a team on land, it’s more about optimizing the performance of the boat. My team constantly pushed me, told me to sail even faster and get the last bit of performance out of the yacht.
Is there an event that you will particularly remember from the Ultim Challenge?
As with every circumnavigation, the passage from Cape Horn was the highlight. This is the fourth time I have sailed this route. This time there was little wind and lots of sunshine. I sailed so close to the Cape, this image stuck in my mind.
Why is Cape Horn the highlight?
There you realize that you have completed the hardest part of the circumnavigation. Sailing in the South Pacific off Cape Horn. If you have a problem or even capsize between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, it will take days for help to arrive. The passage from Cape Horn feels like coming back to the world.
If the boat is damaged, Charles Caudrelier is on his own.
Youtube
Are you sometimes afraid?
I almost capsized once and my heart was pounding. Apart from that situation, the only thing I was worried about was losing the race.
For tactical reasons, they sailed much slower around Cape Horn than would have been possible with the boat. At times they were bobbing on the sea at just 5 knots. How difficult is it to stand on the brakes?
It wasn’t an easy decision, I had made it to Cape Horn and was already mentally on my way home. But I had a big lead and I wanted to use the time to repair various damage to the boat. And it was also a welcome break, otherwise I was always fully focused on the race. I spent a lot of time on deck, the nature was beautiful, the waves were high. And I recovered a little.
They had to stop shortly before the finish in the Azores due to technical problems and the weather. The Ultim Challenge was not advertised as a non-stop circumnavigation. Were you still annoyed that you didn’t make it without a break?
That was hard, I didn’t want to stop, I wanted to go home. And if I had won the Ultim Challenge non-stop, that would of course have been good for the ego and a nice story. But sometimes you have to be sensible.
Ultim trimarans fly on foils and reach speeds of up to 50 knots. How does that feel?
This is difficult to describe, even to experienced sailors. The best way to describe it is probably the difference between a normal passenger car and a Formula 1 car. It’s a magical feeling, the acceleration, the flying and the speed.
Are you bored with normal racing yachts after this experience?
No, because a Formula 1 driver also likes to drive a street car. But I can imagine that long distances on a conventional yacht will bore me now because I’m used to the pace of the Ultim class.
Ocean racing has recently come under fire for collisions with marine mammals. How do you respond to critics who want to ban regattas like the Ultim Challenge?
We have to protect nature and marine animals, that is clear to me. I also think that our sport serves as a role model. On the other hand, I think the criticism is exaggerated.
What do you mean?
I was a merchant ship captain before becoming a professional sailor. If you look at everything that’s out there on the world‘s oceans, we sailors aren’t the main problem. But of course, we have to change and improve the protection of marine animals.
What exactly are you doing to prevent collisions with whales?
We carry a device on the keel that scares away whales and other sea creatures with sound waves. We also try to avoid sea areas where we know whales could be present. But that is not always possible.
Construction and maintenance of Ultim yachts cost up to 40 million francs. Why does it make sense to build such racing machines and organize regattas with them?
One might also ask why we host the World Cup and the Olympic Games or climb Mount Everest. We can say as a society that we stop exercising because it is bad for the environment. For me, these huge trimarans are a dream come true. And when I see the many people and especially children at the start of a regatta, then it makes sense to me to be a sailor in order to awaken a fascination for our sport and the ocean among the spectators.
After 49 days, the winner Charles Caudrelier reached the finish in Brest.
Alexis Courcoux / Imago