Suspended from a crane like a dragonfly, Franck Cammas’s new 2.9 million Euro, Van Peteghem/Lauriot-Prévost-designed 60ft trimaran Groupama 2 was finally, after 13 months under construction, lowered into the water yesterday. She will now be towed over 30 miles to Lorient and put in dry dock to enable Cammas and team to complete the build.

Cammas hopes that Groupama 2 will be ready for sea trials in May but has decided to sail his original Groupama in The Transat which starts from Plymouth, UK, on 31 May.

Commenting on the launch of his new boat, which he was unable to attend, Cammas said: ‘It’s the first time that I am not around for the launch of one of my boats. It is strange, but I know I can count on my team. As I wait to receive the first photos in the post, I think of the work done since the first stages of the boat’s conception almost two years ago, the number of people who have participated in it’s realisation, and of those who have supported us, in particular, Groupama. It’s fabulous; I remember also in 1988, the date when my first trimaran was put into the water and how far we have come since then. I only have one hope: that we achieve as good results with Groupama 2 as we did with the first Groupama.”