The Imoca are 60-foot Open monohull yachts mainly intended to race in the Vendée Globe. Find here the latest news and investigations from Tip & Shaft on the subject.
The last preparatory practice race before Vendée Globe organized by the pole Finistère race off Port-la-Forêt ended last Thursday. Charlie Dalin was out there in the mix and, at a month before the start of the ninth Vendée Globe it was the ideal opportunity to catch up with the skipper of Apivia, one of the favourites for the solo round the world race.
During the last Défi Azimut, two boats, Fabrice Amedeo’s Newrest-Art & Fenêtres and Louis Burton’s Bureau Vallée were unable to start racing because of a problem with the renewal of their insurance. And so, in light of that, Tip & Shaft took an interest and questioned most of the teams to learn how the Vendée Globe Imocas are insured.
The Vendée Globe Notice of Race gives entrants the opportunity of substituting themselves with a replacement skipper should something happen which means they cannot take the start (that replacement has to be appointed before October 1). Of course this is a scenario which becomes all the more relevant, a choice closely considered by some teams while Covid-19 remains a threat. Tip & Shaft lit up our phones to ask all teams whether or not they are employing this option.
The Vendée Globe organization is entering the final stage of planning and preparation before the start on November 8. From the sports perspective the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne race in June provided some reassurance, but the current evolving health situation in France leaves room for doubt especially as to the final shape and format of the village, the organizational arrangements and the final rules and regulations. Two months before the start gun fires Tip & Shaft takes stock.
Last July 14 Jérémie Beyou won the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne race, concluding what proved to be a thrilling three-way match up with Charlie Dalin and Thomas Ruyant. Tip & Shaft shares some of the lessons that we learned, debriefing with the help of the race director Jacques Caraës, Antoine Mermod who is president of the Imoca class, the weather routing specialist Jean-Yves Bernot, skipper Romain Attanasio (who did not participate) and the journalist Didier Ravon.
For many fans, the name Quantum is synonymous with the team bearing that name that has been at the top of the 52 Super Series for many seasons. The US headquartered sailmaker hopes to get back into ocean racing.
The start of the first ever Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables d’Olonne is on Saturday at 3.30 p.m local time. As before each major event, Tip & Shaft has solicited the opinions of the great the good of the ocean racing world in France as well as a few hand picked Anglo Saxons to ask the big question. We have Antoine Mermod, president of Imoca, Tanguy Leglatin the trainer in Lorient, Christian Le Pape, head of the Pole Finistère Course au Large, sailors Yann Eliès, Charlie Enright, Dee Caffari, Matt Sheahan and French based American Ryan Breymaier who works with Boris Herrmann. Also questioned was Gaël Robic, journalist at France Télévision.
More than a year after the end of his collaboration with the Gitana Team, Sébastien Josse is back on the water. As soon as deconfinement started he started sailing and working with Nicolas Troussel helping him to prepare the next Vendée Globe aboard Corum L’Epargne, the latest new generation Imoca to be launched. That seems like a good opportunity for Tip & Shaft to catch up with the skipper who is originally from Nice and whose career to date spans Figaro, Imoca, Ultime and the Volvo Ocean Race.
To try to understand what is happening with the Covid crisis, Tip & Shaft set up a series of interviews around the topic of sail racing. Today, we listen to the designer, Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, co-founder with Marc Van Peteghem of the VPLP team, which designed three of the eight new boats built for the 2020 Vendée Globe (Charal, Hugo Boss and DMG Mori), as well as the two future Ultim trimarans, currently being built for Macif and the Banque Populaire team.
With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole planet, it has meant a great deal of uncertainty for sport in general and sailboat races are no exception. To try to get to grips with this new situation, Tip & Shaft is carrying out a series of five interviews about the future of sail racing. Our fifth guest is Johan Salén who, with Richard Brisius, is co-owner of The Ocean Race.
With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole planet, it has meant a great deal of uncertainty for sport in general and sailboat races are no exception. To try to get to grips with the new situation, Tip & Shaft is carrying out a series of five interviews about the future of sail racing. Our third guest, Nathalie Quéré is an expert in sponsorships, she works as a consultant and managing director of W Ocean Racing, a management company involved in sailing which she co-founded with the Australian skipper, Chris Nicholson.
With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole planet, it has meant a great deal of uncertainty for sport in general and sailboat races are no exception. What will the impact be on our sport? What changes will there be to the economic model? How do races need to change? How will sponsors behave? To try to get to grips with this new situation, Tip & Shaft is carrying out a series of five interviews about the future of sail racing. Our first interviewee, Mark Turner, cofounder with Ellen MacArthur, of Offshore Challenges, which became OC Sport, was head of the Volvo Ocean Race between 2016 and 2017, and now works as a consultant.
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