Above/left: there had been other previous open designs, but the original Groupe Finot 60-footer story began with a first Vendée Globe victory courtesy of Alain Gautier on the ketch-rigged Bagages Superior. It would not be long after the win before two masts were replaced by a sloop rig; the experiment of using smaller sails for a solo skipper had gone well enough but it was not repeated by the designers. Finot 60s would win the next three VG editions in 1996, 2000 and 2004… the last two remarkably with the same boat
various reasons he chose to continue with Guillaume Verdier for his design. There- fore, my only real contribution was on the sailplan and then on the design of the new appendages when later we changed foils. During the Vendée Globe (2020/2021)
Thomas contacted me while sailing in the Indian Ocean. He was already thinking about the next Imoca and told me that we would do it together! For my part I had kept in contact with Pascal Conq (of the firm Finot/Conq) ever since my internship there 20 years earlier and when I raced the 2002 Rhum on one of their old 60-footers (Fila). On their side, they were very motivated
to reconnect with the Imoca class after a long absence. They had already done a lot of CFD work for their planned return and it seemed important to me to integrate people into Thomas’s new design team who are really expert in the CFD field. The back- bone of the group is David de Prémorel (now boss of Finot/Conq) whose original speciality is structures. Soon Gsea Design (engineering design) also joined our group. SH: And Yoann Richomme (skipper of Arkéa, the second Finot-Koch Imoca)? AK: We had already had discussions with the embryonic ‘new’ Arkéa Paprec team. They admitted they were attracted by our design group approach which was also supported by their new ‘recruit’, Yoann,
who of course has an exceptional record in ocean racing. Yoann particularly liked our approach of studying ‘the good and the bad’ of the previous generation with equal attention. We presented him with the early look of ‘our’ concept, not yet perfect, but it told a story of how we were thinking. SH:What is your role within the group? AK: I am not alone! I have my own team, AKOcéan, which has brilliant people. Bobby Kleinschmit is in charge of VPP and hull drawings; Bobby is currently the principal naval architect at Emirates Team New Zealand… Then there is Gwénolé Bernard, responsible for the mainsail control system at Luna Rossa. Here he is in charge of the design and systems of the foils and rudders. Finally there is Thomas Dalmas who manages the data analysis and also simulator development. My role is to co-ordinate this team! My
particular areas of expertise are hull, appendages and VPP. I usually work in a pairing with David de Prémorel. Pascal Conq is the one-man ‘wise committee’, helping us a lot with making final deci- sions. It works very well between us, to the point that we are already collaborating again with the Finot-Conq Group on a new 38m cruising catamaran. SH: So what are the differences between Yoann Richomme’s Arkéa Paprec and
Thomas Ruyant’s For People? AK: Both boats have the same hull and very similar foils. The main differences are the deck and deck plan: open cockpit for Thomas or completely closed for Yoann. Another difference is the sailplan where each team carefully protects its secrets! From my collaboration with Thomas
for the last VG we worked on a specific sailplan which has evolved to being quite different from our competitors’. Thomas has special small flat-head non-overlap- ping gennakers which he flies with the J2 and J3. His J2 and J3 are very short in the luff to maximise efficiency flown as stay- sails inside the gennakers in triple-headed mode – as we first saw on the Volvo 65s. Once this is set up and working well he
then trims the main on its own to manage heel angle, also playing with the foils of course. This has been the trademark style of Thomas for two years now… and the 2023 TJV was the third Transat he has won with this configuration. The number of sails is limited to eight in
Imoca. That’s enough! Personally I would gladly remove (laughs) two of them because these boats behave more and more like mul- tihulls which are now using just three sails forward. If there is a hole in the wardrobe you can luff 10°; it does not matter. In Orma 60 tris we went straight from a
SEAHORSE 53
PHILIPPE PLISSON
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