Six Route du Rhum on the same trimaran, from 1982 to 2022
Charlie Capelle was born in 1955 in Bouchain in the Nord department and grew up inMirecourt (Vosges). Far from the sea, therefore. He has been running theTechnologie Marine shipyard in Saint-Philibert (56) for about thirty years, specializing in carbon/epoxy composite construction. On the water, he races withAcapella, a 35-foot (11.32 m) yellow trimaran that he has entered six times in the Route du Rhum between 1982 and 2022.
Acapella, a 1980 Walter Greene trimaran
The boat was designed and built byWalter Greene in Yarmouth, Maine, in 1980. It is the third of a series of five Acapella trimarans. The first unit of the series, renamedOlympus Photo, won the inaugural 1978 Route du Rhum under the helm of Mike Birch — Capelle is not racing on Birch’s boat, but on a sistership of the same series. Acapella has been labeledBateau d'Intérêt Patrimonial (BIP) since 2014.
Saved three times, rebuilt three times
Acapella has experienced three documented incidents where the boat should have ended up scrapped:
- 1983 — collision with a wreck off Brittany, declared a wreck.
- 1999 — sinking off Canada, transatlantic drift, found in Galicia in 2000.
- 2006 — capsize 250 nautical miles from Cape Finisterre during the Route du Rhum.
Each time, Capelle put it back in the water. Six Route du Rhum entries on the same hull, 40 years after its launch: this is not luck, but a deliberate decision.
Achievements
- Route du Rhum 2022 — 9th Rhum Multi in 21 days 7 hours 56 minutes 24 seconds, under the colors of La Chaîne de l'Espoir.
- Drheam Cup Multi Class 2000 — winner in 2016, 2018, and 2020.
- Route du Rhum 2014 — 7th in Rhum Class.
- Route du Rhum 2010 — 5th in Rhum Class.
- Route du Rhum 1998 — 2nd in Multihull Class III on Chaussettes.
- Route du Rhum 1982 — first participation.
- DNFs: 2006 (capsize) and 2018 (electronic failure).
Official website: acapellaocean.com.
