This spring, Arkéa confirmed that it will sponsor the world's first Super Trimaran Solo Globe Race, which will be modeled after the quadrennial Vendée, which runs the Antarctic ball route, with a total of 7 Ultim-class trimarans competing. The match has been confirmed to be held as scheduled. Although details of the race – called the "Arkéa Ultim Challenge" – have not yet been announced, according to the press conference, at least five senior sailors have confirmed their participation, including the Sobdebo piloted by Thomas Coville, the Banque Populaire XI piloted by Aarmel Le Cléac'h, and the Maxi piloted by Charles Caudrelier Edmond de Rothschild. Not surprisingly, this race in 2023 has been the dream of the French sailing elite for many years. These sailors are basically the top elites in the ocean race, and two of the five confirmed boats are the double champions of the Vendée Globe, two single-player global record holders, and two Volvo Ocean Race winners.
The race will start and end in Brest, France, and the fleet is expected to take 40 to 50 days to complete the route of about 24,000 nautical miles. The route departs from France, heads south from the Atlantic Ocean into the Southern Ocean, then bypasses the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Reuven, Cape Horn, and then heads north from the South Atlantic back to France.
The current world multihuller circumnavigation record is 42 days and 16 hours, and it was set by Gabart in 2017 when he piloted the Macif. This year's Ultim Round the World is expected to sail for 40 to 50 days, because the players are against each other, so they will not pick the best record-breaking weather window.
The Ultim 32/33 class is an amazing sailing machine, and this time it finally had the opportunity to show off its excellent speed performance at the Solo Globe. Although this is not the first circumnavigation of the Ultim 32/33 class of sailing, it is indeed the first round-the-world race in which the yachts of this class have competed against each other, rather than a race against time. There is no doubt that this will add some drama to the race, and the sailors will also take the performance of the boat to the limit.