RUPERT HOLMES TAKES A LOOK AT THE OFFSHORE CLASS EVOLUTION
An astonishing number of new IMOCA 60s are being launched for the next Vendée Globe, with eight splashing last year and more to come, along with an accelerated updating of existing boats. A stark indication of the speed of evolution is that the boat which holds the Vendée Globe course record set in 2018 (ex-Banque Populaire Vlll) is now Pip Hare’s Medallia. Yet so much has changed she reckons it’s currently outclassed in design terms by two dozen others.
That will change for Medallia next season, after UK boatbuilder Jason Carrington fits bigger foils and slices off the front 2m of the hull to create more of a scow bow shape. If the latter sounds drastic, bigger budget teams have been more aggressive. Kevin Escoffier’s new PRB, which was originally built for an entry in The Ocean Race, had the front 4.5m chopped off for restyling.
PRB’s new bow shape reduces wetted surface area, while still providing key scow bow advantages of increased form stability and a softer landing when you plough into the wave in front, or fall off the foils.
Minimising these potentially enormous decelerations should make life easier for skippers – every time the boat slows from 30 knots to 20 the apparent wind shift necessitates re-trimming sails, which takes a huge amount of effort and attention. Maintaining a consistent pace also significantly reduces the risk of damage.
THE BULL IS BACK
Naval architect Sam Manuard took the IMOCA world by storm with his first boat, l’Occitane en Provence, launched for Armel Tripon only a year before the last Vendée. That boat’s scow bow design was radically different to any previous IMOCA, but reflected many of the design developments that have been successful in the Class 40 fleet.
Lack of preparation time and technical problems meant we never saw that boat’s full potential realised, yet so convinced were many IMOCA skippers of its performance potential that several more have since been made from the same mould, including Sam Davies' latest Initiatives-Coeur. Ahead of the next Vendée Globe, Manuard has also been working with Jérémie Beyou.
While photos of IMOCAs near-airborne are eyecatching, that’s not an optimal mode – the ideal is a low ride with the hull still just in touch with the water. That way there’s less distance to fall when the boat eventually drops off the foils and average speeds therefore remain higher.
However, the key problem is that IMOCAs still don’t have T-foils on their rudders, so skippers have very little control over ride height, or ways to recover from a bows-up attitude. For
