The Imocas have been around for a long time, but you’d never guess it given the contrast between new designs. The introduction of foils demanded a reset around 2018, immediately followed by a big rethink when the first scow (Sam Manuard’s previous L’Occitane) appeared at the start of the 2020 Vendée Globe. Manuard’s scow was late and fraught with technical troubles, but she immediately looked fast and in particular able to achieve high averages more easily than her ‘skiff’ predecessors. The very distinct shape of the Finot-Koch design Arkéa (top) is veed forward then back into tulip sections, finishing with a flat aft run that is narrower than usual in order to reduce drag when the bow pitches upward. Macif is Verdier’s latest design which incorporates every ounce of what Charlie Dalin learned onboard Apivia; another strong all-rounder but with improved performance downwind and in big seas. Charal 2 (right) is Manuard’s pièce de resistance in optimising his first scow shape, making for a narrower boat overall and now with a complex and ambitious combined rudder/elevator arrangement – something over which the jury is still deliberating. However, Charal 2 has proved the exceptional upwind performer, matching her opponents for speed but with the ability to sail visibly higher… narrow boats do that. For the Planet is Thomas Ruyant’s 2019 LinkedOut (Verdier); outpaced by Apivia in the VG, the team continued sail development and by the 2022 Route du Rhum she was probably the faster of the two boats – with her biggest obvious advantage when sailing downwind
huge gennaker of 270m2 to a J1 of 120m2 .
That gap looks very big but it is only a 10° story. Now we see that the speed polars of the latest foiled Imoca are similar to those of the Orma 60ft trimarans! SH: So no more spinnakers? AK: We didn’t take one on the 2019 LinkedOut during the TJV. Ironically our two new 2023 foilers did carry them in the TJV but didn’t use them. However, the new foilers are much heavier than the previous boats, so it is good to have more sail area running in 10kt. The skippers are anxious to remain competitive in these conditions… With up to 10-14kt of wind and flat seas using a kite is great to improve the VMG. SH: So the latest Imocas are heavier? AK: The PRB of Vincent Riou in 2010 (a
54 SEAHORSE
daggerboard Imoca) was 7.3-7.4 tonnes. Verdier’s Gitana 16 at the start of the 2016 Vendée was 7.8 tonnes. By contrast the more complex 2020 foilers like LinkedOut, Charal and Apivia came in around 8.5 tonnes and 2021 designs 11th Hour, Bio- thermand Holcimat over 9 tonnes. Even so the boats have never been so
fast. The ‘real’ new boats (our own People and Arkéa, plus Macif, Charal 2 and Malizia) are ahead of the former Linked- Out; and in her current version optimised by TR Racing she is now a step above the previous design generation to which the 2021/22 ‘new’ boats (Initiatives-Coeur, Dubreuil Group (ex-11th Hour), Maître Coq and Holcim PRB) belong. These designs are developments of the
previous 2019 generation – while the ‘real’ new boats I highlighted are the result of completely new thinking. SH: So let’s talk about the hull design… AK: Our boat is narrow at the back with quite sharply defined tight curves – similar to the hulls of big multihulls like Gitana 17. It allows the boat to move more freely with changes in trim. In particular, because we have more rocker the boat can pitch up without so much extra drag at the stern. The aft shapes in turn drive the scow-type front shapes, similar to Charal 2. Actually Sam’s (Manuard) new Charal
and our boats are quite close in their global proportions, but the distribution of the volume below the bilge on our boat gives her the ability to be in contact in the
GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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