The Imoca are 60-foot Open monohull yachts mainly intended to race in the Vendée Globe. Find here the latest news and investigations from Tip & Shaft on the subject.
Last Sunday the SAEM Vendée, the organisers of the Vendée Globe published the official list of the 37 candidates for the next edition of the famous non stop solo race around the which starts in one year’s time today, Friday. The list revealed one big surprise, Yann Eliès will sail on a new boat.
The Transat Jacques Vabre started on Sunday from Le Havre. After five days of racing by Friday, the leaders were Primonial (Sébastien Rogues/Matthieu Souben) in the Multi50s, Charal (Jérémie Beyou/Christopher Pratt) in the Imocas and Aïna Enfance & Avenir (Aymeric Chappellier/Pierre Leboucher) in Class40. Tip & Shaft looks at the weather strategies chosen by the sailors with three routers, Christian Dumard, Jean-Yves Bernot and Dominic Vittet.
Fifth overall twice in the Volvo Ocean Race, on Alvemedica in 2014-15 and on Vestas 11th Hour Racing in 2017-18, Charlie Enright, 35 (Rhode Island, USA) opens a new chapter in his sailing career when he competes in the two handed Transat Jacques Vabre race from Le Havre across the Atlantic to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Partnered by the hugely experienced Frenchman Pascal Bidégorry aboard the VPLP-Verdier designed former Hugo Boss on which British skipper Alex Thomson finished second on the last Vendée Globe. Tip & Shaft talked to Enright in Le Havre…..
After last week’s look at the Multi50 and Class40 on the Transat Jacques Vabre this week it is the 29 boat IMOCA class which comes under scrutiny at virtually one year before the start of the Vendée Globe.
Charlie Dalin is docked this week in his original home port, Le Havre, with the dream ticket, a new Verdier designed IMOCA Apivia ready to race their first big transoceanic race. Dalin was graduated from Southampton with a degree in naval architecture in 2006 and from 2015 he has been in the Skipper Macif programme until early in 2018 Apivia, a new Macif brand, announced their support for Dalin on a four year Vendée Globe programme. After finishing third on the 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre as co-skipper to Yann Eliès, Dalin pairs up again with Eliès for the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre. Tip & Shaft spoke to Charlie……
With a professional career which now stretches to nearly 15 years Christopher Pratt has known the highs and the lows. But Pratt, whose mother is from London, now feels life is on the ‘up’. He has worked with long time friend Jérémie Beyou on the IMOCA Charal since the first testing and training now with successive wins in the Défi Azimut and the Rolex Fastnet Race, Pratt is one half of a partnership which is considered favourites to win the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre. Tip & Shaft caught up with him.
Yves Auvinet who is the president of SAEM Vendée which organizes the Vendée Globe, announced last Wednesday that the list of skippers who can register for the next edition of the famous solo round the world race is to increase to 34 skippers (30 and 4 wild cards). Tip & Shaft tells you how this decision was made.
Guillaume Verdier’s work at the moment seems to span everything from the America’s Cup, where he continues to innovate as a key naval architect with Emirates Team New Zealand, to IMOCA where he has contributed foil design for Sam Davies and others, there are two freshly launched Vendée Globe boats for Thomas Ruyant and Charlie Dalin preparing to take on the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre, Ultimes where he has just added some updates to Gitana 17. He is designing for two Ocean Race teams. Verdier’s passion and drive is undiminished. Tip & Shaft spoke to Guillaume just after the first flights of the ETNZ AC 75.
The new Hugo Boss that everyone was so keen to see was launched in early August in Gosport before being officially presented and christened in London last Thursday. It was an opportunity for Tip & Shaft to talk to Quentin Lucet, who is in charge of the project at VPLP. For this interview, he was accompanied by Vincent Lauriot-Prévost.
Last week 11th Hour Racing confirmed their participation in The Ocean Race 2021-2022 with Charlie Enright and Mark Towill co-skippering the project. This actually makes the US team the first officially entered and funded team for this new iteration of the crewed race around the world. On the back of that news Tip & Shaft take stock of the other projects, IMOCAs and the VO65.
Now at just on one year after the launching of Charal, the first of the new-generation IMOCA to be built, in early August Jérémie Beyou won the Fastnet Race sailing with Christopher Pratt. This was his first win on the VPLP design. So, now at a little more than a month and a half before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the pinnacle event of the season, we meet up and take stock of past and future developments of his 60 footer, we talk about the newer boats and the development of his company BeYou Racing.
With two Ultimes currently in build (Macif and Banque Populaire) and four new Imoca (Charal, Arkéa Paprec and Apivia, already recently launched as well as the new Corum to come), the CDK Technologies yard is on the crest of a wave during this pre-Vendée Globe year. We pressed for the chance to speak with CDK’s managing director, a very discrete Philippe Facque.
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