Vendée Globe

"The construction of the new PRB will be complete by the end of the year," Vincent Riou confirmed today. Back in France after racing in the Rolex Fastnet Race with Arnaud Boissières, who will be taking up the reins of the former PRB, now called Akena Verandas, the skipper of PRB spoke about how his new project is progressing.

She is beginning to take shape in various places and things are certainly moving along, whether we are talking about at Thierry Eluère's yard for the hull, or at CDK Technologies where Vincent's eight-man team is busy working on the deck, and indeed in Italy where the internal structure and bulkheads are being made. From mid-September onwards the puzzle will be put together in Southern Brittany at Hubert Desjoyeaux's yard in Port La Forêt. The schedule, which has been planned down to the nearest millimetre will see her launched at the end of the year and she is due to sail for the first time early in 2010. The hull of the Guillaume Verdier/VPLP designed boat has been built from the mould used for Safran, but she has an original deck design and rigging, which includes outriggers similar to those found on the previous PRB. Vincent is expecting a lot from this new configuration and the work that has been done on the structure and is hoping to have in his hands a machine that is even faster than those that already exist. Only the decoration remains a mystery. Will she be orange once again or will there be a new design? "I don't even know myself," admitted the French skipper. "It will be Jean-Jacques Laurent, the owner of the boat based in Vendée, who will decide, and for the time being he is on holiday."  Let's just say that Vincent and Jean-Jacques would like to see a change, as long as they come up with something they both agree on, as Vincent explained. We should remind everyone that the solo sailor had to abandon his single-handed round the world race last winter as he rounded the Horn, as his boat was damaged during the rescue of Jean Le Cam.

The new PRB will therefore be lining up for the start of the first race on the IMOCA calendar next year and will take part in the major events planned for the 60-foot ocean racers leading up to the Vendée Globe three years from now. As the builders continue with their work, Vincent intends to continue training alongside Arnaud on his old boat in order to be fully ready for the Transat Jacques Vabre this autumn. "When we started out on the Fastnet, it was the first time I had sailed along with Cali. It all went well at the start, but then we got stuck in a wind hole off the South Coast of England. In fact it took us so long to get moving again that we just could not get back up with the leading boats… Looking back at the race, I won't forget the great performance from Sam Davies and Sidney Gavignet, who were discovering Artemis for the first time (the Rogers designed boat previously sailed by Jonny Malbon) and of course Sébastien Josse, who was in better form than ever. Jojo is determined to gain his revenge (after being forced to retire from the Vendée with rudder damage) and he has what it takes to be able to look forward to a great season," added Vincent, who is equally determined to show everyone just who is boss.
 

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