News Around the World
FRANCE Imoca fever With the round-the-world race just over, the Imoca community is already in turmoil. Quite simply almost everyone wants to get back into it, preferably with a faster boat, whether by upgrading their existing boat, buying a more recent secondhand boat or, for the wealthiest and most ambitious, having a new boat built. As a result, a whole host of 60-footers are for sale on the second (and more)-hand market – from old ‘dagger-boarders’, which are unlikely to find a buyer unless at a very low price, to the latest of the best foilers. Yoann Richomme’s Vendée Globe runner-up Paprec Arkéa is for
sale at offers over ⇔6m – while the price of a new Imoca ready for a round-the-world race is well over ⇔7m. With the increase in the number of boats taking part in the
VG – 40 for the 10th edition which has just finished – which is of course much more than just a race (hence its success), we can see that the proportion of secondhand boats has grown dramatically. According to Antoine Mermod, President of the Imoca class, ‘It has risen from 40% in the 2008 edition to 70% last year… ‘The lifespan of the boats has increased, as they are now more
solidly engineered and built and the class rules remain stable, which means the boats fall out of fashion less quickly. As a result the average age of Imoca boats at the start of the VG has risen from 5.5 to 10.5 years between 2008 and 2024… which is actually rather remarkable and tells the story of a very healthy class.’ It’s supply and demand that determines prices above all, but we
estimate that the depreciation on a new Imoca today is around 30% over four years. On the same statistical note, Antoine adds: ‘At the start of the last Vendée Globe five competitors were racing on the same boat as in the previous edition in 2020/2021. This means that among the other solo sailors some did not enter the 10th event and sold their boat, or else they traded up this time. ‘So between two Vendée Globes 15% of people continue with
the same boat and the rest trade up or stop altogether and sell their boat; 85% of the boats have changed hands one way or another
20 SEAHORSE
between the Vendée Globe 2020 and the VG 2024. This turnover is considerable!’ There are therefore a lot of nice offers on the secondhand market, but demand is not necessarily keeping pace as the economic climate is not favourable, and the next VG is in 2028, a long way off and uncertain for potential partners. This is the first challenge of the four-yearly VG: you have to qualify
by recording as many miles as possible, so you have to start your campaign as early as possible to also ensure optimum prepara- tion… all at the moment in the cycle when commercial visibility and so attraction are at their lowest.
Fully booked The two main Imoca manufacturers in France have a full order book for the next 20 months. CDK, where construction of the new Gitana Ultim is also continuing, has three 60ft monohulls to somehow produce. The first will be delivered in spring for Thomas Ruyant. The other two, for Boris Herrmann’s team and Banque Populaire (to launch early 2027), share the same hull design by Antoine Koch, once again working with the Finot/Conq design office – the same team who were responsible for Thomas’s Vulnerableand for Yoann’s Paprec Arkéa, the great performer of the last VG. American Cole Brauer, who has completed a non-stop solo round-
the-world race in a Class40, could be at the helm of the new Malizia for the next VG. Plus Banque Populaire, the historic sailing sponsor but absent from the 2024 VG because of the Crémer ‘affair’, returns with a new skipper, the young Loïs Berrehar, second in the Solitaire du Figaro 2024 and reserve for Charlie Dalin last year. The Figaro community remains the best ‘champion factory’ for the VG. In Vannes the Multiplast yard also has three boats in the pipeline:
a new Verdier design for the Japanese team DMG Mori and two other boats whose identity remains confidential at the time of writing. As a result there is a lot of speculation among the sailors (and sponsors) who have also expressed their intention to have a new boat. Yoann Richomme and Sébastien Simon, second and third in the last VG, are the two names at the top of the list, especially as
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