Justine Mettraux, supported by her sponsors for the 2024 edition, TeamWork and the Snef group, made official, on May 26, the launch of a new Vendée Globe campaign, with the key to building a Verdier design at CDK, scheduled for launch in spring 2027. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
On January 25, Justine Mettraux finished eighth in the Vendée Globe 2024-2025, after 76 days of racing aboard TeamWork-Team Snef (ex-Charal 1, VPLP design from 2018), becoming the fastest woman around the world. Initially, the contract with her two title sponsors, TeamWork and the Snef Group, was due to end at the end of the 2025 season, raced on the same boat, but the idea of starting a second campaign was quickly put on the table.
“Discussions began a few weeks after the finish. Satisfied with this first experience, my partners were keen to come back in 2028, and so was I”, says Swiss sailor. “The result of this 2024 edition was a determining factor in the decision to relaunch a new project,” confirms Philippe Rey-Gorrez, CEO of TeamWork, Justine’s sponsor since 2012, in Mini 6.50, Class40, Figaro and now Imoca. With Snef [who joined the project as a co-partner in early 2024, Editor’s note], there was a shared desire to extend the adventure, with a real ambition to progress. It seemed like a natural, logical next step.”
Before making this new project official, all that remained was to define its contours. One of the key issues was the choice of boat, given that the sailor and her partners wanted a more high-performance Imoca to help them move forward. “At the very beginning of the discussions, the option of buying a 2024 generation boat was considered,” reveals Justine Mettraux. But in the end, they sold out very quickly. In addition, many new foilers will be built (see our article), so that in 2028, it will be difficult to compete completely with an Imoca of the previous generation. In the last Vendée Globe, I already had a very good machine, but I could see that at certain times, I couldn’t go as fast as the latest boats. So the option of a new build was finally chosen.”
An original design by Verdier
Once this choice had been made, the team had to decide whether the future boat would be a sistership of an Imoca already launched, or a new design. “Here again, we looked at all the possibilities,” continues Justine Mettraux. Making a sistership was a possibility, but there were constraints in terms of deadlines, availability of architects, molds and shipyards. On reflection, we decided that we needed to have complete control over our project by doing our own design.”
As for the architect, while “several options were of course studied”, Guillaume Verdier was deemed “the most appropriate” by the latter, her team and partners: “He designed the last boats to win the Vendée Globe [since the 2012 edition, the winners have been Verdier or VPLP/Verdier designs, editor’s note], his Imoca boats are versatile and relatively easy to run,” stresses the sailor, who had the opportunity to sail a Verdier design, 11th Hour Racing, in The Ocean Race 2022-2023. Likewise, the choice of CDK was a natural one: “The hosting structure of our project, BeYou Racing, is used to working with CDK. The two Charal were built there, and the site is just 100 metres from our offices. This affinity and proximity will simplify the follow-up of the construction.”
A more ambitious project and a new boat necessarily imply a financial effort on the part of its partners. By how much? “For the project as a whole, it’s almost double the cost of the Vendée Globe 2024, since the budget increase is around 80%,“ confides Philippe Rey-Gorrez. This represents a major commitment, with 11 to 12 million euros to be shared out. The investments are really made in equal parts with the Snef group, there are also patrons and other partners, which makes it possible to reduce our budget envelope a little.”
BeYou Racing at the heart of the game
The desire for continuity also includes renewed confidence in BeYou Racing, Jérémie Beyou’s ocean racing team, with which Justine Mettraux already prepared the last Vendée Globe. “We’ll be overseeing the design and construction of the new Imoca, then the maintenance of the boat until the 2028 Vendée Globe,” confirms the fourth-placed competitor in the last Vendée Globe, who, with his skipper’s hat on will continue with Charal until at least the end of 2026. As the team director, I make sure I put the right people in the right places, so that the two projects, Charal and TeamWork-Team Snef, work together in harmony and transparency. Justine trusts us, and we’re going to put our know-how to work for her.”
Among the key players in the Swiss sailor’s project are Simone Gaeta, technical director, and Nicolas Andrieu, head of BeYou Racing’s design office. An integral part of Jérémie Beyou’s structure since April 2017, the latter, who managed the construction of the two Charal, explains, enthusiastically: “For us, this is a very exciting project. Designing and building two Imoca yachts has given us a lot of knowledge. We have the feeling that the planets can align to design the right boat.”
With this kind of support, Justine Mettraux believes she has “all the weapons to perform” in the Vendée Globe 2028, an optimism shared by Jérémie Beyou: “For Justine, this is a logical and well-deserved development. I’m convinced that with this new project, she’ll be able to achieve some great results. She’s been competitive in all the races she’s taken part in, not just the Vendée Globe. I’m delighted that she’s been rewarded in this way.”
No Route du Rhum
on the program
The schedule? “At the end of 2025, the architects will deliver a hull shape to the CDK shipyard, so that it can start manufacturing the tooling. Actual construction will begin in April 2026, with launch scheduled for spring 2027″, explains Nicolas Andrieu. On the sporting front, Justine Mettraux will be competing this year on her current VPLP design in the Course des Caps and the Fastnet, two crewed races, then the Défi Azimut and the Transat Café L’Or, double-handed races with Xavier Macaire. What about Macaire’s place in the project? Macaire, who has been accompanied by the Snef Group since 2017, did not wish to answer our questions about his plans for 2026 onwards, while the Snef Group could not be reached.
Justine Mettraux will also be taking part in The Ocean Race Europe this season, as a crew member on Boris Herrmann’s Malizia-Seaexplorer, while 2026 will be a lighter year, as the Route du Rhum is not on the program. “I’ll be able to concentrate on monitoring the construction of the new boat,” she comments. And it’s going to be good for me to have a cooler year, to breathe a little, because since 2021, I’ve been doing some very big seasons. And once Team Work-Team Snef is launched, the pace will become very intense again. We’ll have a year and a half to prepare optimally for the Vendée Globe. This timing is tight, but manageable, provided we put all the means in place to make sure things go well.”
For the record, defending Vendée Globe champion Charlie Dalin launched his Imoca Macif Santé Prévoyance in June 2023, a year and a half before the start.
Photo : Gauthier Lebec
