Some are not yet out of the yard, while others are already sailing. Some are circling Spain, while others are getting ready for the SNSM Record. Time to take a look at the boats in the IMOCA Class with five months to go to the Route du Rhum… and two and a half years before the next Vendée Globe.
Brand new or updated during their winter refits, the Vendée Globe boats are starting to reappear here and there. Of the three new VPLP-Verdier designed boats, only Michel Desjoyeaux’s new Foncia is not yet finished: she is due to be launched in August, if everything goes to plan, as the schedule set up by the twice winner of the Vendée Globe is very tight. Michel will only have two months to get to know his new boat before the Route du Rhum, quickly followed by the Barcelona World Race, where he will be alongside the very talented, young sailor, François Gabart.
The same move from one race to the next is planned by Jean-Pierre Dick, whose new refined Virbac-Paprec 3 (also designed by VPLP-Verdier) was launched on 18th May in Auckland, after a construction lasting nine months at Cookson Boats, in New Zealand. JP will also be competing in both the Route du Rhum and Barcelona World Race, with a prestigious co-skipper: Loïck Peyron. Between now and then, he will be delivering the boat, sailing her halfway around the world, which he believes is an excellent way to get to grips with his machine.
From the Round Spain sailing race to the SNSM Record
Vincent Riou’s new PRB, another VPLP-Verdier designed boat, was the first of the new generation to be built. Th first to be launched and logically, the first to sail, when she competed in the Douarnenez Grand Prix last month. PRB is currently battling it out in the race around Spain with the boat that inspired her and whose moulds she used: Marc Guillemot’s Safran. This first crewed race around Spain, reserved for IMOCA class boats, the Vuelta a Espana a Vela has so far been a fight at the front between PRB and Safran, who are currently equal first place. It should be stressed that Safran underwent a major overhaul this winter and has lost some more weight. So, she is in theory still just as competitive.
This Round Spain race also offers us the opportunity to rediscover six other 60-foot boats: Estrella Damm sailed by Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes, W Hotels-Nova Bocana with Antonio Piris and Pachi Rivero, Movistar sailed by the excellent 49er champions, Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernãndez, Francisco Palacio and Juan Merediz’s Central Lechera Asturiana, as well as Pakea, skippered by Cali Sanmartì and Jaume Mumbru. The women, Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella are also taking part, and they will be popping up again as the first all-female duo in the next Barcelona World Race.
Meanwhile in France, the now traditional SNSM Record will see no fewer than five Vendée Globe boats taking part: Roland Jourdain’s former and new Veolia (ex-BT), Armel Le Cléac’h’s Brit Air, Arnaud Boissières’s Akena Verandas (ex-PRB) and Marc Thiercelin’s DCNS.
Finally, Bernard Stamm will be busy aboard a Figaro and on his Class 40 in the Route du Rhum, as work begins on his new 60-foot boat based on designs by the Franco-Argentinean Juan Kouyoumdjuan, at the Décision yard in Switzerland. An original way of doing things, which is arousing a lot of interest, but we are going to have to wait a while to find out more. The boat is due to be launched in February 2011 and her first official race will be the Round Europe race next year.
