News Around the World
Charlie Dalin’s Apivia and close relative LinkedOut, both designed by Verdier, are considered the best all-round performers of the previous generation of Imoca designs. Since being first to finish in the 2020/21 Vendée Globe Dalin has continued to develop his boat, taking aboard pointers from two years of hard competition. Expect to see all the new Imocas moving towards some degree of the ‘tentative’ spatulated bow that was added to Apivia after launch, though many will go further with several full-on ‘fat noses’ due to launch in the next six months – including Sam Davies’s new Initiatives Coeur. After the last VG there was much scrutiny of the leg times of Armel Tripon’s Manuard scow L’Occitane; delayed early on with rig damage, she rejoined the race a week later and then ripped up the ocean while – significantly – giving her skipper a much smoother ride than most of his porpoising big-foil rivals
FRANCE ‘Super Apivia’ Maxime Sorel finished 10th in the 2020 Vendée Globe! To give himself the means to secure one of the first five places in the 2024 Vendée Globe Maxime has started the construction of a new boat, V&B Monbana, very similar to Apivia, the boat that was the first to cross the finish line of the last Vendée Globe. Her architect, Guillaume Verdier, has tailored this boat – the fastest of the 2020 generation – to meet some different performance criteria and specifications requested by her skipper. ‘We started from a boat [Apivia] that showed her reliability and
performance in the last Vendée Globe, but Maxime was strongly motivated to go further, to dare to change, to explore new ideas to optimise the design and to gain speed,’ said Guillaume. Build began in spring 2021 and is on schedule to launch this
summer. The hull is now out of the moulds and the MerConcept [François Gabart’s company] team responsible for the new project are now assembling all the pieces of this giant puzzle. ‘The job list at the start of this year was immense and slightly
concerning!’ says Maxime who, just back from an express ascent of Kilimanjaro, is already well into the detailed planning for his next round-the-world race. ‘We are currently working with Philippe Laot on the interior and
exterior ergonomics of the boat, especially the sleeping pod which will be made in bio-composite. I also have to test and calibrate the very complex electronic package all these boats now carry. ‘In parallel we have to agree on the first sail wardrobe for this
year’s Route du Rhum, but having already raced once around the world saves us a lot of time here.’ At the end of March the deck, the last major piece, will be grafted
onto the hull before finishing with fittings… and decoration. ‘We have a big task ahead painting our beautiful dragon image. It’s a real work of art!’ Guillaume Verdier: ‘Apivia is an all-round boat in every respect,
but she proved terribly uncomfortable in the Southern Seas. ‘These boats go fast up through the swell but then end up crashing
down violently into the hollows behind the waves. Life onboard is really difficult which obviously affects the performance of the sailor.
20 SEAHORSE ‘Our goal is to ensure that V&B goes better in the waves. Like
the spatula on the front of skis, a sailing spatula will make the descent more forgiving – hence we modified the shape of the bow to spatulate it in the scow fashion [a similar choice was made by Sam Manuard on the black L’Occitane en Provence]. The motion is thus less violent and the average speeds will be higher as a result – while the “wear and tear” on the skipper is reduced.’ Another notable change is the choice of foils. Maxime was
impressed by Verdier’s new appendages on 11th Hour Racing’s Team-Alaka’iwhich proved very effective in all conditions last year. ‘These are the best foils we have made so far,’ says Verdier. ‘Apivia’s first foils were effective at achieving maximum speeds, but for the
Vendée Globe and Fastnet we preferred more manageable append - ages that showed greater flight stability. Most of our Imoca devel- opment is now focused on moving towards higher average speeds.’
‘2022 is a solo year’ After a successful year racing double-handed with Paul Meilhat Apivia’s skipper Charlie Dalin is setting a course for solo sailing aboard his trusty 60-footer with its well-proven performance potential. And while the exercise is nothing new for this solo expert, this season brings surprises and discoveries with his first participation next November in the famous solo transat Route du Rhum. ‘After the Vendée Globe I was happy to take a break from solo
racing, but now I am now refreshed and looking forward to the solo competition with the Route du Rhum as my big goal,’ said the 37-year-old Imoca Globe Series Champion. Since the finish of the Transat Jacques Vabre, culminating in a
nice second place in Martinique, a lot of water has passed beneath the hull of Apivia, which sailed back to Concarneau last December. Since then a 15-week overhaul has been underway, also tucked away within the premises of MerConcept. ‘It has been a major project, but by now this is almost routine!
We’ve done a complete overhaul including disassembling and thor- oughly inspecting everything… mast, keel, rudders, foils, engine, hydraulics. We’ve checked the entire structure using ultrasound, plus done a few touch-ups of paint here and there,’ explains Charlie. Beyond that the skipper of Apivia does not minimise the scale
ALAMY/DPPI
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