The skipper from Nantes, Armel tripon, intends to take part in the Vendée Globe 2024 aboard a boat made of entirely recycled carbon. A first in the world of boating!Tripon marked the Vendée Globe 2020-2021 aboard a brand new boat (L’Occitane) by sharing his discovery of the solo round the world, at the end of which he finished 11th.
But as soon as he set foot on land, he learned that the sponsor was putting an end to the offshore racing adventure and selling the boat, which was immediately bought by navigator Louis Burton. Without a mount, Tripon quickly rebounded. “The Vendée Globe ended fairly quickly, and very quickly I turned the page, it was brutal,” underlines the sailor from Nantes. “I was super happy with this experience, it’s quite incredible. And I want to go back. To leave for 2024 with a project that is a little offbeat”.
A collaboration with Airbus
“We were able to meet Airbus, in Nantes. They also sought to develop other technological outlets than their planes. And with the Imoca class, we proposed to build a first boat from all the carbon at the end of its life, at the end of its validity date, at Airbus”, he explains. Airbus keeps carbon intended for aircraft construction in freezers and quantities of material not used after the expiry date are sent to landfill.
“It turns out that the aeronautical standards at Airbus are very restrictive, carbons are downgraded from a certain date, they go to destruction”, details Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, co-founder of VPLP, naval architecture firm. “All these materials are very similar to those used in boating where we don’t have the same constraints. We can make almost 100% of a boat with these materials. »
“A strong message”
Only a few concessions will have to be made, in particular with a slightly heavier structure, indicates the naval architect. He specifies that two to three tons of carbon are necessary for the construction of an Imoca (18.28 m monohull) and estimates that Airbus has “at least ten times more than that”.
“It opens up perspectives. It could be a pilot operation for wider use of downgraded materials for the general public and industry. It is also a strong message: you can race offshore at a maximum level of competitiveness by diverting materials intended for destruction,” notes Lauriot-Prévost. Such a project had never been considered before and Tripon hopes to bring it to fruition, even if it still has financing to find. “We are looking for two million euros a year,” he announces.
Start of construction in June
The raw material is not the most expensive in the construction of a boat. “It’s the labor that is expensive. For 12 months, you have 20 people minimum. In France it’s 50, 60 euros per hour and an Imoca it’s 30,000 hours, ”explains Tripon, who sees even further in the search for sustainable solutions. The fittings (deck equipment) will be made from recycled titanium from prostheses, thanks to the association Les p’tits doudousof which he is the godfather and under whose colors he sails.
“Before, everyone was throwing,” summarizes Tripon. “It was stupid, it’s a realization. I would like it to be just a start and for there to be a real nautical sector behind it”. The skipper hopes to launch the construction of his future boat in June – with already existing molds – for a launch in the summer of 2023.