News Around the World
The AC75s looked a bit spidery and futuristic at first but they only needed to survive a couple of short laps on flat, sheltered water. At the ‘helm’ of his new VPLP-designed Ultim, with an aircraft canopy ready to be slammed shut at the first sign of moisture (is that automatically… ed), François Gabart looks like a man who took one look at the latest Cup technology, decided it is frankly all a bit lame and, especially given his boat only has to make it around the world singlehanded, decided instead to really push the envelope
and then we go back in the other direction heading to the northwest with a lot of gybes, then a second crossing of the Doldrums which should normally be done quickly. Usually you go all the way to the Doldrums and then it’s cooler. On the new course we will be running behind Fernando, with gybes and more gybes along the north coast of South America where we could easily be slowed up by sargassum algae! The race will be longer than before at 17-18 days but the battle is going to be intense… and I am delighted with that!
Antoine Mermod – Imoca Président With the new Imoca rule now in force, foils built after the Vendée Globe are subject to foil area restrictions for the first time. ‘If they fall within the framework defined by the new rule then
foils measured before the start of the Vendée Globe can still be used as now,’ says Antoine. ‘But if they exceed that then the amplitude of the rake of the foil is limited to 3° instead of 5° and the rake of the mast remains limited to 4° as before the Vendée Globe, compared with the 6° that is allowed today (as long as the foils comply with the new rule).’ Are the new foils less efficient than the old ones? It remains to be seen. Louis Burton on his new Bureau Vallée put on an impressive display
of flying fast and level using an experimental elevator on her rudder – in flat seas. ‘The problem is not flying a monohull in flat water in the Bay of Quiberon (as the boats of the Cup do very well!),’ says Antoine, ‘but to sail all the way around the world alone with 27 of the 33 starters at the finish, as during the last Vendée Globe. ‘Before we think about that everyone must be able to play with
the rudder elevator in safety and with reliability. We started talking about this topic two years ago. There was a lot of debate, studies were done… We agreed that it was going to happen one day but the question is when? Remember that not so long ago many observers were warning us that the foilers would not reach the end of a solo RWR… The rule on elevators will not be modified before the 2024 Vendée Globe.’
26 SEAHORSE
Ocean Fifty: a Brit is favourite! Seven 50ft trimarans of which five are candidates for the top step of the podium! It is more than satisfactory in this category. At the last TJV the Ocean Fifty – we still called them the Multi 50 – sailed the same course as the Imoca and the oldest 50 crossed the finish line at the top, driven by Gilles Lamiré and Antoine Carpentier. This time Erwan Leroux, class president, has one ambition for the class… and himself: ‘My wish is that the seven Ocean Fiftys at the start finish the race this time and, preferably, that my boat is in the lead!’ After having won almost everything in Multi50 between 2010
and 2018, Erwan switched to Ultim and Imoca for a couple of seasons. Now he is back with a powerful machine, Koezio, the ex- Planet Warrior, a spartan VPLP design launched by Persico at the end of 2020, originally for Fabrice Cahierc. Under the strict Multi50 box rule, and now equipped with one-
design foils, Erwan believes the speed differences of the boats are quite small. It is more the level of the crew and their knowledge of their machine – witness the back-to-back victories of the boat Leyton helmed by British yachtsman Sam Goodchild during this year’s Pro Sailing Tour. Crew expertise is even more decisive when it comes to surfing full throttle on the Atlantic in trade winds, often disturbed by squalls… when, as we saw in the last TJV, a mistake can quickly mean a capsize for these fast and light ocean greyhounds. Today Erwan believes that the team with the best control of their
machine is the duo Sam Goodchild/Aymeric Chapelier, followed by Quentin Vlamynck and Lalou Roucayrol aboard the recent Arkema 4, which we know is awesome in certain conditions. Erwan, with the excellent Figarist Xavier Macaire onboard Koezio,
puts himself slightly (and modestly) behind these headliners, on the same level as Primonial and Solidaires en Peloton, driven respectively by talented duos who know each other well, Sébastien Rogues/Matthieu Souben and Thibault Camus/Frédéric Duthil – all having raced together in the last edition of the TJV. Also returning to the Multi 50 fleet is Vendée Globe skipper Armel
THIERRY MARTINEZ
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
