Vendée Globe

The PRB saga continues with the construction of a new IMOCA monohull. Work began a few months ago on the fifth PRB, which has been designed by Vincent Lauriot Prevost/ Guillaume Verdier. Her hull based on the mould of the 60-foot IMOCA, Safran is currently being built at the Larros Boatyard in Gujan Mestras under the direction of Thierry Eluère.

For seventeen years now, the Vendée based company PRB has been involved in the big adventure that is the Vendée Globe. It all began with Jean-Yves Hasselin’s aluminium PRB monohull back in the 92/93 Vendée Globe. Then there was the Finot-Conq designed PRB number two for Isabelle Autissier between 1996 and 1999. This was followed by the third 60-foot PRB that Michel Desjoyeaux and then Vincent Riou sailed to victory in the Vendée Globe in 2001 and 2005 and finally the fourth PRB designed by the American Bruce Farr team, which was skippered by Vincent Riou in the last Vendée Globe, and has since been sold to the Akena Vérandas company. To continue the PRB saga in the Vendée Globe, we can now look forward to a new PRB (number five) which is due to take part in the 2012-2013 race.

A construction using several sites
While the hull is based on Marc Guillemot’s Safran, the deck is an original design, as Vincent Riou believes this part of the boat must be adapted to his particular way of sailing. The construction of the mould and then the deck will be carried out partly by the PRB team, but the build will also involve the CDK Technologies yard in Port la Forêt for the baking and mast construction.
There is also a third construction site near Milan in Italy. Refraschini is a firm specialising in composites, having made parts for the VO70, Ericsson 3, the Imoca 60 Groupe Bel and Safran as well as the chassis for the F1 Ferrari. It is from its ovens that the internal structure of PRB will be manufactured. Finally, the keel will once again be made by the AMPM firm in la Mothe Achard. The final assembly will be caried out at the CDK yard in October, with a launch planed for the end of December. The construction will be coordinated by Grégoire Metz, who had the same role for the previous PRB , before becoming Managing Director of the IMOCA for a short time.

To conclude, as far as the race schedule is concerned, PRB will be lining up for the start of the 2010 Calais Round Britain Race, then the Route du Rhum, with of course, the main goal being the next edition of the Vendée Globe, which is due to start on 21st October 2012 in Les Sables d'Olonne.
 

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