Engines of Achievement

The pioneering spirit, thirst for discovery, and surpassing oneself are at the heart of our DNA, whether through sports, design, engineering, or entrepreneurship. Each of us brings a different perspective depending on his experience, and we believe that confronting ideas is at the root of progress. Collective intelligence is one of the foundations of humankind: Man is a species whose survival has, from the beginning, depended on its ability to collaborate towards a common goal. Individual performance is therefore amplified within a team, and by combining a multitude of approaches, we can create unexpected solutions.

Environmental and human awareness

Moreover, it is inconceivable today to work without environmental and human awareness, both in processes and results. Our achievements must, therefore, create value for companies - this is essential - but also for humanity as a whole.

All this is possible only if we demonstrate excellence, and Alex's risk-taking, which is inherent in his sporting achievement, adds to the stakes.  

For our first performance, we are working on a speed craft that will allow us to shatter the world sailing speed record. The bar is set: 150 kph!  

Proof of concept

We now know what the speed craft we will use to break the record is going to look like and we've launched a proof of concept. We have to go through these steps - which may seem elementary - because we're about to do something unique that has never been done before. 

It will be a multi-body craft. In other words: unlike a catamaran or a sailboat, it will be a vehicle made up of several parts that are not fixed together. It is a concept that had been imagined at the beginning of the 20th century in a very rudimentary way, a bit like Leonardo da Vinci imagined the helicopter. In the course of our research, we also solved many of the problems we were faced with, such as reducing friction, withstanding high mechanical stress, etc.

Inventing new approaches

Our research has already produced results that illustrate Syroco's potential, in large part because the tools we need to give life to our ideas just do not exist. For example, our research has already made it possible to question fundamental paradigms in naval architecture. Our speed craft is made up of a wing (the sail), a nacelle, and foils (load-bearing planes that allow a boat to "fly" on the water), all connected by lines (thin ropes). Until now, the role of foils had always been to allow a boat to rise above the water (catamarans, in particular, massively use this technology); but we are going to use them to anchor our craft in the water. And as is often the case, each solution brings its share of new challenges: when we change something in a craft's structure, we have to adapt everything else, which pushes us to invent new approaches.

Olivier Taillard, co-founder & CTO of Syroco
#ForwardAndBeyond