Rotation is the key


The addition of a second degree of rotation to a new generation of Imoca foils, plus a better understanding of the management of foil deflections, have, says Juan K, permitted once offwind-only designs to be purposed now to perform well across the full spectrum of course formats


We are going through one of those inter- esting and game-changing moments in our sport when something relevant is taking place that can influence and shape the way we go yacht racing in the future. This is


44 SEAHORSE


happening in the Imoca fleet, a class that until now has been very much French driven and pivoted around singlehanded events, mainly the Vendée Globe, which as a consequence has produced very specific types of sailboats. But there is nothing in the class rule that


prevents a quite different version of an Imoca being conceived, something a lot more performance-oriented when more than a single person is aboard to manage the boat. This avenue of innovation has been made more relevant by the decision of the Ocean Race to use this class in the future. The class was quick to update its rules accordingly and there is now a whole new section dedicated to crewed rather than singlehanded sailing. Based on this premise, I believe there is now no reason why an Imoca could not


even be conceived to be efficient sailing windward-leeward courses fully crewed. However, in this context, judging the


capacity of an Imoca to perform in these different scenarios based on their present performance is unfair, since all of the current boats were conceived for a quite different purpose. In this sense, the Ocean Race Imocas will be very different beasts from their singlehanded brothers. And it is in this context that I believe Imocas can become a great platform for owners who want to sail at a high level in real time and without the disappointments (sometimes termed excuses) of rating systems. That this is possible is all down to the


evolution of the class. Foils were allowed in the previous version of the Imoca rule but their movement was limited to only one degree of freedom, which had to be


FRANCOIS VAN MALLEGHEM/DPPI


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  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122