News Around the World
Having frequently crewed for other skippers in the Imoca class, this year will be the first time that Yoann Richomme has had a new design of his own to campaign. Seen here after taking his second consecutive Route du Rhum victory in the Class40, Richomme’s debut as a full-time Imoca racer is going to be very closely scrutinised by his new competitors. As will the performance of his new Finot/Koch-designed Paprec Arkéa – which marks the re-entry into the class of Finot-Conq after an absence of many years following their remarkable string of four consecutive Vendée Globe victories between 1993 and 2005. A close sister to Paprec Arkéa for TJV and Route du Rhum Imoca winner Thomas Ruyant is also currently nearing completion – both boats being built at Multiplast in Vannes
arrangements had been put in place beforehand. With 558 miles covered in 24 hours, the 60-footer, skippered
by Franck Cammas and crewed by Kevin Bloch, Nicolas Andrieu and Valentin Le Floc’h, achieved quite a performance off the Canary Islands, as it amounts to holding an average of 23.25kt over 24 hours. The distance exceeded the official Imoca record set (solo) by Alex Thomson on his Verdier-VPLP design Hugo Boss in 2018 who covered 539.71nm. The absolute record for a monohull was set by the 100ft
Comanche in 2015 with 618nm sailed in 24 hours. The exceptional performance of Charal 2 – which was not racing
– shows nevertheless the tremendous potential of the new Manuard design of Jérémie Beyou (which came third in the Route du Rhum) launched at the beginning of last summer. Charal’s performance engineer Nicolas Andrieu who was onboard
said: ‘After waiting for seven days sailing upwind against the trade winds we finally managed to hang on the front of a low to bear off towards Portugal in 20kt. And then, watch out… change of mood! ‘The boat regularly teases 30kt of speed with top speed recorded
at 34kt. The waves that pass over the deck burst on the roof with extreme violence. Everything becomes difficult onboard as the move- ments of the boat are truly “jerky”. But what a pleasure to feel this boat accelerate under the gusts: everything starts to shake, then nothing… For a few seconds it is in full flight mode before falling more or less abruptly and starting again.’
Jules Verne Trophy Held by Francis Joyon since 2017 in 40d 23h aboard his conven- tional 100ft trimaran (the VPLP design that won three Route du Rhums in a row), the Jules Verne Trophy still arouses envy but for the past five years no contender has succeeded in dethroning the skipper of Idec Sport. This winter there are again two crews, aboard Sails of Change
(Team Spindrift) and Edmond de Rothschild, trying to be the fastest sailors around the globe and at the beginning of January they were already standing by in Brest waiting for an ideal weather window.
20 SEAHORSE Since 2015 the Spindrift team has been trying to win the famous
trophy – and for this new attempt Yann Guichard and his wife Dona Bertarelli are accompanied by a crew of nine and assisted by the famous routeur Jean-Yves Bernot. Their boat, Sails of Change, is a maxi-trimaran 37m long and
23m wide. At her first launching in 2008, she was called Banque Populaire V and was about 40m long. She held the Jules Verne Trophy from 2012 (with Loïck Peyron as skipper) to 2017. Before that the largest ocean trimaran ever built had made a
crossing of the North Atlantic (New York-Cap Lizard, 2,921nm) in 3d 15h 25m 48s at an average speed of 33.41kt. It was 2 August 2009 and 13 years later her record still stands. During the crossing BP V set another speed record that is still unbeaten with 908.2nm travelled in 24 hours at an average speed of more than 37kt. The skipper was Pascal Bidégorry. Renamed Spindrift 2 in 2013, the much modified VPLP design
has since launched numerous assaults on the JV Trophy but always without success. The closest they came was in early 2019; Yann Guichard and his crew reached the Equator very quickly with a one- day virtual lead over Francis Joyon’s round-the-world record. Spindrift 2 is still ahead rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and
maintains her lead south of the Kerguelen Islands after 15 days of sailing, thanks to favourable weather conditions that allow her to maintain high speeds (4,812.1nm travelled from the 11th to the 16th day, or 802 miles/day!), and also at a course closer to the orthodromic shortest distance. But on the 17th day of this promising attempt Yann Guichard announced that a technical problem with a rudder forced them to abandon their challenge and head for Australia. In 2020 and then again a few months later in 2021 the 32m
foiling Ultim Edmond de Rothschild tried to become the fastest sail- ing yacht around the world. Both these attempts ended in retirement. However, as soon as he’d won the 2022 Route du Rhum Charles Caudrelier was ‘racing’ his maxi-trimaran back to Lorient to prepare for another attempt at the Jules Verne record. From 2019 to 2021 the duo of skippers Cammas-Caudrelier won almost everything; five out of six two-handed or crewed victories!
PILPRE ARNAUD
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