Preliminary Notice of Race for the 2021 Volvo Ocean Race – end of September 2018 Route de Rhum start, St Malo – 4 November 2018 Fully crewed version of the Imoca 60 rule – end of December 2018 2021 Volvo Ocean Race course details – end of June 2019 Vendée Globe start – November 2020 Fully crewed Imoca rules implemented – February 2021
We hope to announce all of this in the
cultural argument. The Spanish team, which is not Anglo-Saxon, was second in the most recent VOR and has been one of the most successful offshore teams over several editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. Xabi Fernández and some of his crew have already raced Imocas round the world in the Barcelona World Race. An Italian team, a Spanish team, a
Swedish team… they have all sorts of cultures onboard. It’s not the French against the rest of the world, it’s many teams with multiple nationalities aboard bringing their collective experiences towards tackling a round-the-world race. It is good to address this misconception. It is an old story and the world has moved on. SH: Technically there is a lot to be done to the Imoca rule for fully crewed sailing. We have a timeline running now, what else can you share with us? AM:We had a joint Imoca/VOR informa- tion meeting in Lorient in early August. It was in the middle of the holiday period and it was really interesting to see how many teams showed up and the kind of questions they asked. Some non-Imoca or VOR teams also came along to listen. I was really pleased to see that. Racing teams are genuinely interested in under- standing what is coming up and what future projects and options they may have. JS: I can confirm that. At this stage in the VOR cycle no teams are funded, but the interest is better than it has been for several editions and the platform is a lot more exciting. Our job is to create an event that is attractive and take away uncer- tainty as quickly as possible, so teams can plan, make proper budgets and engage with their partners early. Though it’s early days the feeling is good from all sides. SH: So Johan, if we understand correctly the VO65s will remain in the race, quotas will apply again and the crew numbers… JS: We haven’t yet decided the exact crew limitations but broadly speaking the ambition with the VO65 is to use them again as a junior class. There is a fleet of
eight boats that have certain qualities in terms of reliability and equality in perfor- mance, and instead of letting this fleet die we have decided to use the fleet for youth teams, similar to what was done with the Youth America’s Cup and the AC45s. To expand the base of offshore sailing is
fundamental. To attract more people to participate, and especially young people, is really important. Getting a spot on one of the top boats is only possible for a tiny handful of people. But to race alongside them on the same course is an incredible pathway to the top of the sport. Experience has to be gained somewhere.
It’s a way to stimulate growth in the younger generations in our sport, to show a sports career path. We will have a sepa- rate trophy for this class but the winner of the next Volvo Ocean Race will be sailing an Imoca 60. What we know is that onboard a VO65
there will be 10 crew with eight under a certain age and two over a certain age. Whether it’s under 25 or 28 at the junior end or over 45 or 50 at the senior end has not yet been decided. We don’t yet know about crew sizes and
gender and youth quotas in the Imoca 60 class. What we have seen is that the Imoca fleet has in the past done a lot of fully crewed racing even if it hasn’t been a big part of the scene in recent years. Some boats when they are on deliveries or com- peting in non-Imoca races sail with four or five onboard. So it will probably be around there but we haven’t finalised that yet. With regard to a gender quota, we
believe the best people to advise whether there should be a quota of women on every boat in the next race are the 25 women who raced in the most recent VOR. We want to know overall how their experience was this time and how they see things going forward with the new class. Actually, I think the Imoca class is much better suited to women sailors than the VO65. The boats are a lot lighter, so the loads are lower and physically it’s easier.
preliminary NOR at the end of September. AM: We are really proud in the Imoca class that we have several very competitive female skippers. Sam Davies and Isabelle Joschke finished first and second respec- tively in the most recent Imoca event; there will be three or four women skippers in the Imoca class in the Route du Rhum, that’s a sixth of the Imoca fleet. We believe it is really important for our
sport to have both genders actively involved… and not superficially. The last edition of the Vendée Globe for the first time in a long time saw no female skippers. But for the 2020 edition, with what I can see happening today on the Globe Series circuit, there are four active female cam- paigns. This is really positive, and ironi- cally I would say that maybe the women sailors onboard during the last VOR have made part of this possible. SH: Antoine, how can potential new teams learn more about the Imoca class? AM: There are a lot of two-handed races in our calendar, so first just contact the current teams to see if they want to collab- orate. A few teams are developing new boats for the next Vendée Globe. It may be interesting for people from VOR teams to come and collaborate with them techni- cally, learn about it, contribute their expe- rience and their know-how, and then later move on with their own project, or even merge and do something together with the same boat after the Vendée Globe. Then there are a few interesting secondhand boats on the market today – buy or charter one of those now and just start sailing. I think it is more than possible for an
organised team to do the 2020 Vendée Globe and then follow on with the 2021 Volvo Ocean Race. JS: Both sides must take a step towards each other, and by doing so a project may become more economically viable. There are plenty of areas where we are already very close – in the last edition of the VOR we had an ambitious sustainability pro- gramme, which was successful, and which we will develop further. Imoca sailors and teams are also massively into sustainability and so there we can do a lot of good things together from the beginning. Using the VO65s again is part of that.
In the Imoca class too it creates continuity. You build one boat and it can be used for many more events than before, not like the old VOR boats… use once and discard. q
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