DIXIT “Building a sailboat in recyclable thermoplastic composite is a world first.” Lalou Roucayrol on track for recyclability with ELIUM RESIN® Skipper Lalou Roucayrol and his Lalou Multi racing team have been involved in the Elium resin story from the beginning. With the creation of the Arkema 3 prototype,® a monohull whose hull and deck are entirely made from Elium and the new® Arkema 4 multi-50, a true floating laboratory that also draws on the strengths of this resin, he gives us his expert view of a material that could revolutionize sailing. “Within the Lalou Multi team, we work with Arkema It all began with Arkema 3, a mini 6.50 built in 2016 with engineers from the Lacq research center. They help us to a view to being used in transatlantic racing. Apart from the design, build and improve our racing boat models. Our mast and appendages like the keel, rudder and foils, the collaboration goes beyond sponsoring the team, and it is entire boat was made using Elium resin, including the hull® a privilege as a professional skipper to be able to interactand the deck. This was the very first prototype sailboat made with the people who make the materials. It is within this using this material, and the challenges were considerable: framework that we have been trialing Elium resin since® would the parts be as solid as the thermoset resin composites production began in 2014. In the space of six years, we currently on the market? Would sailing performance be have clearly identified the very attractive prospects of usingthe same? This journey into the unknown was even more this material in sailing. exciting given that Elium resin promised something new® compared to thermoset resins such as epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester, namely recyclability. Because when you think about the end of life of thermoset composite boats—they are non-recyclable and end up being crushed, taken to landfill or recovered in the form of solid recovered fuels . Our many trials have proved conclusive. Arkema 3 has demonstrated equivalent mechanical performance to our epoxy models, the top end of thermoset resins. Elium resin® even offers a slight advantage: it is slightly more resilient to the impact of waves, chunks of wood, etc., and returns to its original shape without losing its mechanical qualities in terms of energy recovery. Once performance is established, the boat’s end of life needs to be taken into consideration, and Elium resin stands out as revolutionary for the sailing® industry and even shipping vessels. 34