Jean-Charles Corre & Antoine Derv // French Multihull Racers
#26. You might not recognize their names, but Jean-Charles & Antoine have been at the top of the multihull game for some time, and I had the chance to chat with them in Bermuda during the ARC Europe stopover. Both guys are French through and through (and I love their accents), and the French are nuts about multihulls. They were commercial mariners and fisherman, respectively, but got invited to join the crew of Geronimo, a 110-foot trimaran that was purpose built to break all the speed-sailing records in the early 2000's. They were both onboard for much of the campaign, including the Jules Verne Trophy (63 days nonstop around the world), the trans-Pacific California to Japan record, the round Australia record and on and on. We spoke aboard the one-off VPLP-designed cat Tosca that had just sailed the 650 miles from Portsmouth, VA to Bermuda in 3 days (!), with a top speed of 18 knots. And this is a cruising boat...Jean-Charles & Antoine couldn't have been nicer hosts - two days later, they invited Mia and I onboard for an evening of wine and cheese and great conversation. Jean-Charles also got me in touch with Mathias Maurios, the actual designer of Tosca who works for VPLP in Paris, so I'll be having him on the podcast soon! Thanks guys!