The 35-foot Walter Greene trimaran that survived three wrecks
Acapella is a 35-foot (11.32 m overall) trimaran designed and built by Walter Greene in Yarmouth, Maine, in 1980. It is the third of a series of five Acapella trimarans built by Greene Marine between 1978 and 1982. The first of the series, renamed Olympus Photo, won the inaugural 1978 Route du Rhum under Mike Birch’s helm — Acapella is therefore a sister ship, not Birch’s own boat.
Six Route du Rhum entries on the same hull
First owner: Spencer Mertz. Charlie Capelle purchased the boat in 1985 and raced it six times in the Route du Rhum between 1982 and 2022:
- 1982 — first participation.
- 1998 — 2nd in Class III Multihulls under the name Chaussettes.
- 2006 — DNF, capsized 250 nautical miles from Cape Finisterre.
- 2010 — 5th in Rhum Class.
- 2014 — 7th in Rhum Class.
- 2022 — 9th in Rhum Multi in 21 days 7 hours 56 minutes 24 seconds, under the colors of La Chaîne de l'Espoir.
This includes three wins in the Drheam Cup Multi 2000 class (2016, 2018, 2020) and a 2018 Route du Rhum abandoned due to electronic failure.
Three wrecks, three rebuilds
The boat has weathered three documented incidents that could have ended its career:
- 1983 — collision with a wreck off Brittany, declared a wreck.
- 1999 — sank off Canada, drifted across the Atlantic, found in Galicia in 2000.
- 2006 — capsized 250 nautical miles from Cape Finisterre during the Route du Rhum.
Each time, Capelle relaunched it from his Technologie Marine yard in Saint-Philibert (56).
2013 Multiplast refit and BIP label
In 2013, a major refit at Multiplast in Vannes: hull stripped, structural review, resin treatment and painting, rigging and hardware replacement. New floats designed by Nigel Irens and a rotating carbon wing mast.
In 2014, the boat earned the Bateau d'Intérêt Patrimonial (BIP) label awarded by the Patrimoine Maritime et Fluvial association — renewed in 2022.
