Jérémie Beyou and Christopher Pratt, Beyou’s co-skipper on Charal in the Transat Jacques Vabre, took sponsors and guests along for the ride during the Défi Azimut in Lorient but still won comfortably. Beyou and Charal go into the TJV as favourites, impressive considering how many new Imocas have launched since Charal went afloat 12 months ago. But adding that extra degree of rotation to the foils allowed by the latest Imoca rule has made these boats much more complex to develop for a full range of wind and sea conditions and they consequently require a lot more time to optimise – not to mention to achieve reliability. Beyou’s VPLP design features finer, more rounded sections than most of its rivals – note how the transom rises relatively steeply away from the centreline to reduce wetted surface and promote a clean lift-off. Charal won’t fare well in the event of a foil failure
The main lesson learnt after the 600nm two-handed long race
of the Défi Azimut is the difficulty the foilers have performing con- sistently at their best, especially the new boats. Vincent Riou recently declared: ‘Our Imocas now equal the speeds of the Orma 60 tri- marans from the beginning of the century – but they have become like a big factory with so many systems to adjust simultaneously. ‘Now we are semi-flying boats with multiple wing configurations…
The guy who does not want to intellectualise his sport can rapidly become very miserable on these machines.’
Hugo Boss is designed to win the Vendée For VPLP Design the new Hugo Boss – the firm’s second 2020- generation Imoca after Charal – is a landmark project. Officially unveiled on Thursday 19 September in London, 2016 Vendée Globe runner-up Alex Thomson’s new machine is designed with one goal: to win the next VG. Vincent Lauriot Prévost said: ‘Alex has a very personal and radical
vision of what an Imoca should be.’ The specifications were quite clear: priority was given to lightness – the boat weighs 7.6 tons – including the foils and their mechanisms. ‘But to go so light we have given away some power this time,’ admits Vincent. Most importantly, this time both the French design team and the
structural engineers at Gurit were given enough time to complete their studies! ‘It was a real luxury,’ said Quentin Lucet from VPLP, in charge of the project. ‘We usually work under so much pressure to always be ready for the next race. Then Alex asked us how much time we needed!!!’ It was this freedom and the climate of trust established with
Thomson’s own design team – Peter Hobson, Andy Claughton, Neal Macdonald and Jesse Nemark – that enabled the creation of such a highly innovative boat. The philosophy is the same as for Charal: a more slender hull optimised for minimum drag, but Hugo Boss is even less powerful and even lighter. Alex’s foils, targeted at running and reaching, are also less versatile than those of Jérémie Beyou. Both skippers were asked if they wanted to compromise to stay com- petitive if they break a foil in the VG, both said no… maximum attack! During the build programme the VPLP team admit they had
another nice surprise when they first visited Jason Carrington’s shipyard in England where this new Hugo Boss was built: ‘Jason is a goldsmith, a passionate craftsman who puts a lot of emotions into his work,’ explains Quentin Lucet. ‘He built a jewel and didn’t compromise. He was able to redo the lay-up of the liferaft attach- ments the day before the launch because it is not clean enough for him. It’s a step up from everything I’ve seen so far!’
The scows arrive in Class40 The Route du Rhum and the Transat Jacques Vabre are the two great oceanic rendezvous, each carrying a high scoring coefficient (four) in the annual Class40 Championship. Until recently the single - handed Rhum was always the favourite for Class40 competitors but the strong participation (27 boats) at the start of the TJV indicates a renewed interest in the ‘four-handed’ exercise. ‘Since I’ve been in charge,’ says Gildas Gauthier, race organiser
for the TJV, ‘it’s the first time we’ve had so many Class40s and driven by such a mix of French and foreign pros and amateurs.’ There are of course the leaders of the series but also many crews who chose this long autumn transat for fulfilment of their passion. And this time there is the icing on the cake of the two new Class40s, the scow Crédit Mutuel designed by David Raison and
the even more dramatic Mach40.4, La Banque du Léman, designed by Sam Manuard and showing a spoon bow inspired by the Minis with the big nose that is so feared sailing down the Atlantic. This year the Mach40.3 Aïna, Enfance et Avenir has won almost
everything. Her skipper Aymeric Chappellier is the logical favourite for the TJV because he has a fast and reliable all-round design. This is his third Jacques Vabre and he is motivated by memories of the victory that he lost a few miles before the finish two years ago. Chappellier is accompanied by the excellent Pierre Leboucher,
two-times 470 world champion who represented France at the London Olympic Games in 2012 and finished ninth in the last edition of the Solitaire Urgo Le Figaro. Aymeric thinks that the new ‘spoon scows’ have not had enough preparation, especially the Manuard- designed Banque de Léman which only launched in La Trinité sur Mer one month before the departure of the Jacques Vabre… As with the Imocas, the game in Class40 will become critical at
the exit of the Doldrums. ‘If we restart in the trade winds with a 50nm margin it will be OK,’ comments Aymeric, knowing the scows will be faster reaching than his Mach40.3. ‘But if we do not…’ It was a similar story two years ago when the Brit Phil Sharp,
leading the fleet on his Mach40.2 Imerys, was passed by the two more powerful Mach40.3 on the final sprint. In the interesting Multi 50 class there are only three entries for
the TJV. Their ambition is to cross the finishing line first in front of the Imocas – slim chance, though, as the foiling Imocas are going faster and faster.
The ultimate proof This season’s Ultim programme was due to begin with Brest Oceans, a solo world tour on these giant trimarans starting from Brest on 29 December 2019. However, after a disastrous Route du Rhum for the Ultims last year, the class organisers wisely decided at the beginning of the year to replace Brest Oceans with Brest Atlantique, a double-handed race around the two atlantic oceans covering a distance equivalent to a half-turn around the world. This time it is expected that the foiling machines will demonstrate their ability to cross the ocean without any more big troubles. On paper MaxiEdmond de Rothschild (Franck Cammas/Charles
Caudrelier) and Macif (François Gabart/Gwénolé Gahinet) are the fastest boats. The new Sodebo Ultim 3 (Thomas Coville/Jean-Luc Nélias) is a step behind because at present she has no elevator on the centreboard which helps her rivals to fly earlier and then to keep more stability while flying. Actual Leader (Yves Le Blévec/Alex Pella), the previous Sodebo,
is a more conservative trimaran. Her foils can only move up and down and cannot be raked, and her rudders can be canted but their elevators are fixed. But she is a well-proven boat, more simple to handle, and should play a significant part in such a long race that brings a large variety of weather conditions. The level of the competitors is rather high. The eight sailors taking
part between them boast 11 victories in the Transat Jacques Vabre, five in the Ocean Race, four in the Route du Rhum, two in the Solitaire du Figaro and the Mini-Transat… and one victory each in the Vendée Globe, Transat AG2R and Transat Anglais. Also five of them hold or have already won the Jules Verne Trophy
and two of them have already set the world-tour record solo. We can only regret the absence of Francis Joyon who this year is challenging several ocean records in Asia on his Idec Sport. Patrice Carpentier
NEW ZEALAND Back in the 1930s Charles Paine Burgess, son of Edward Burgess and brother of Starling – both celebrated America’s Cup designers – damned contemporary America’s Cup yachts for their failure to ‘bear the slightest resemblance to any useful craft in the world’. Then he quickly qualified his condemnation by confessing that, notwithstanding their uselessness, he had ‘an absorbing interest in the problems set by those extraordinary craft. They have,’ he declared, ‘the fascination of sin.’ With four of the new AC75s now launched, fans around the world
are closely studying the solutions the different design teams have produced, fully absorbed in poring over every detail for their virtues
SEAHORSE 23
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