Jean-Pierre Dick’s new IMOCA 60 is to be launched in less than a month from now in Auckland, New Zealand. Nicolas Abiven, technical director of the Virbac-Paprec Sailing Team, explains how far the construction has reached: "They’re all very busy in the yard! There are around thirty people working on the construction of Virbac-Paprec 3 and putting the final touches to the stratification. We’re already getting the heavy gear aboard: keel rams, engine, propeller shaft and the electronics. The mast and boom are ready. The team is fitting the final parts of the deck hardware. We have carried out ultra-sound testing to check the quality of the build. The keel is currently being worked on and is due to be finished in around a week or so."

 As each year, the AGM of the IMOCA class has elected its representatives. Dominique Wavre, Luc Talbourdet and Jean Le Cam were voted back in and José Maria Bénavidès, the Spanish representative, was elected to the post made vacant by Jacques Guilbaud. Dominique Wavre handed over the presidency to Luc Talbourdet, who left this post back in 2007. This team closely represents all the members and the heads of the IMOCA class know each other well and will be continuing along the same lines as those that were previously adopted.

The new board of the IMOCA class :
President: Luc Talbourdet
Vice-President: Jean Le Cam
Vice-President: Pascal Chadail
Secretary: Bernard Stamm
Treasurer: Yann Eliès
President of the Events Committee: Alex Thomson
Board member: Dominique Wavre
Board member: José Maria Bénavidès

 What the designers had to say about the new PRB 5 after her launch on Thursday 11th March:

Vincent Lauriot Prévost : "We’re used to launching boats, but at the same time there’s always that little emotion. We’re moving on to the next phase. We’re leaving the yard and the boat is going into the water. Then, there will be the trials and we need to check through everything. This is an enjoyable stage. PRB and Safran? Boats are never the same. She may have the same hull as Safran, but she doesn’t have the same appendages or the same rig. You’ll see she is very different."

Guillaume Verdier : "Our work doesn’t finish today. The boat is built now, but we’re moving on to fine-tuning her. This is where we look at her performance, which is the most interesting phase. As for her structure, PRB is very similar to Safran, but in terms of the balance of sails to appendages, she is very different. We came up with a completely different ."

 Just over a year after the end of the last Vendée Globe, Vincent Riou is getting ready to launch the first new generation monohull to be built for the next Vendée Globe. Following a construction lasting several months, the winner of the 2004 race will be revealing his new racing machine on Thursday in the presence of the designers, VPLP – Verdier, Jean-Jacques Laurent, the CEO of the Vendée based company that sponsors him and his technical team. The 60-foot IMOCA monohull, the fifth to be decked out in the colours of PRB, will be lowered into the water in Port La Foret before undergoing her righting test immediately afterwards. The mast will then be stepped in the middle of the afternoon. Her first sail is planned for next week.

 The recent winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre alongside Marc Guillemot on board Safran, would like to start his own 60-foot IMOCA campaign. Charles Caudrelier has given himself until the end of May to find the budget, which would enable him to line up for the start of the next single-handed round the world race. If he manages to achieve this, Charles Caudrelier’s objective is to set out to tackle the Everest of the Seas aboard “an eco-friendly boat, offering a high standard of performance, while fulfilling sustainable development goals,” according to the start-up Quantis, which has just announced their support for this project named “Eco-Think-Vendée Globe 2012

 After arriving in New Zealand in early February, Jean-Yves Gau, who has been working on the deck hardware and electronics on Virbac-Paprec gave us his first impressions on the construction of the boat: "Virbac-Paprec 3 is a fine boat, which has been well designed and is certainly the most complete of Jean Pierre's IMOCA 60s, as she is very different from the others. Now that Virbac-Paprec 3 has been taken out of the mould, I am in charge of fitting the deck hardware, the electronics and the power system aboard her. I'm currently working on the new nav console. A container will shortly be arriving in New Zealand containing the sails, deck hardware and the electronic box of tricks designed in Lorient, the computer equipment, the safety gear, the batteries and the clothing."