Are 60ft trimarans unseaworthy?

The Daily Sail got the views of leading trimaran designer Nigel Irens

Pos	Boat name	Skipper	Condition
1	TechnoMarine	Steve Ravussin	Capsized
2	Banque Populaire	Lalou Roucayrol	Racing
3	Géant	Michel Desjoyeaux	Racing
4	Biscuits La Trinitaine - Ethypharm	Marc Guillemot	Racing
ABD	Bonduelle	Jean Le Cam	Beam damage
ABD	Banque Covefi	Bertrand deBroc	Skipper gives up solo sailing
ABD	Sergio Tacchini	Karine Fauconnier	Weather float broke - boat dismasted
ABD	Sopra Group	Philippe Monnet	Capsized - severe conditions
ABD	Bayer CropSciences	Frederic Le Peutrec	Preserving boat
ABD	Belgacom	Jean-Luc Nélias	Deck gear failure
ABD	Fujifilm	Loick Peyron	Weather float broke - boat dismasted
ABD	Groupama	Franck Cammas	Capsized - moderate conditions
ABD	Rexona Men	Yvan Bourgnon	Capsized - severe conditions
ABD	Sodebo	Thomas Coville	Structural problems with beam and float
ABD	TIM	Giovanni Soldini	Structural problems
ABD	Gitana X	Lionel Lemonchois	Top mast broken
ABD	Eure&Loir-Lorénove	Francis Joyon	Capsized - moderate conditions
ABD	Foncia	Alain Gautier	Structural problems with aft beam

Sunday before last eighteen 60ft trimarans set sail from St Malo in northern France to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean on the singlehanded Route du Rhum. In a fleet including the cream of the Open class monohulls, this was one of the most impressive gatherings of high speed ocean racing yachts ever assembled.

A week into the race and of those 18 only four - sorry three (another's just capsized) - trimarans are still out on the race course competing. So are the 60ft trimarans too flimsy? Have they become too optimised for round the cans grand prix and not for the rigours of the open ocean? Or is it just plain stupid to start a race across the north Atlantic in November?

The main reason for the carnage in the Route du Rhum was the severe weather during the first week when all the boats found themselves sailing into 40 knot headwinds and some unfortunate boats in the southeast quadrant of the depression experienced winds of 60-70 knots. These conditions were exceptional - the forecast charts only predicted winds of 35-45 knots - and are thought to be the strongest winds the 60ft tris have encountered in recent years. But then big conditions are not out of the ordinary when setting sail from northern Europe in November.

Trimaran designer Nigel Irens believes that the race organisers need to take a careful look at the weather for this time of year. "Basically it seems to me the thing turns around statistics - does this happen often? In terms of Route du Rhums - if you had weather like this once every 15 Route du Rhums that might be one thing, if you had it every three or four that might be another? So there needs to be some analysis done on that."

The last severe weather seen in a Route du Rhum was in 1986 when once again a majority of the fleet retired and Loic Caradec, skipper of the maxi-cat Royale was lost. So is two races in five too much? It was only just over a month ago that in much the same area of water many of the boats in Around Alone ran for cover to avoid being hit by the tailend of Hurricane Kyle.

It has been mooted in the French press that the Route du Rhum organisers should have postponed the start. But how far ahead should they have looked and what constitutes too much wind for a 60ft trimaran? In St Malo the trimaran skippers we spoke to seemed okay with the idea of taking their boats out in 40 knot winds.