A Multihull in Their Midsts - Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race starts 17 October

Sept. 26, 2013 - PRLog -- Joining Raphael for the Race are Hong Kong-based Pierre Arnaud Le Magnan from the Getafix days (one of Raphael’s previous boats, an X99) and Olivier Decamps.

Renaud Bañuls, the boat’s architect and former crew on the Orma 60 Groupama with Franck Cammas, will also be sailing along with Philippe Touet, the sailmaker from Incidences, and Bruno Laurent, formerly Boat Captain of BMW Oracle trimaran and Groupama 4, the Volvo Ocean Race winner.

Raphael is hoping that his childhood friend, Thomas Coville, who happened to be the Technical Advisor for the MC²60 can join, however he is supposed to start the standby for his 4th solo round the world record attempt on 15 October on his 105ft Sodebo trimaran.

When we asked Raphael who he thought his biggest competition was going to be he said “Looks like we are the only multihull so the competition is going to be everyone in a game of cat and mouse.”

Raphael is looking forward to arriving “before some of the big names in the monohulls to show that a cruising catamaran designed for speed with four cabins, three heads, gen set, air-conditioning and all the comfort you need to go cruising in the Philippines and Thailand can go as fast as some stripped out racing monohull even though a pure downwind race is not ideal for a catamaran.”

MACH²  is the demo boat for the MC²60 and you can see images of her and find out more details about the boat at http://www.mc2catamarans.com/index.php/english-pages/models/mc-60/.

About the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race

First conceived in 1996 when it was run at Lunar New Year, this 656nm Category 1 offshore race is now a biennial fixture in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sailing calendar. A constituent event of RHKYC’s popular China Coast Race Week, the race makes the most of October’s prevailing north east monsoon to give competitors a thrilling, predominantly downwind race from Hong Kong to Nha Trang on Vietnam’s eastern seaboard. The 2013 edition will see a sixteen-strong fleet chasing the current race record of 42h 45m 41s, which was set in 2004 by Grant Wharington’s Skandia.

Official Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Race website at: http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/hkvietnamrace.aspx

Follow the Race on the Club’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/rhkyc

Armchair sailors can also track the race via Yellowbrick tracking at: http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/hkvyellowbrick.aspx