Overcast skies, light wind from NNW at 3-4 knots, sea slightly rippled by a broken wave. But on Sunday in Les Sables d’Olonne, on the French coast of the Bay of Biscay, the departure of the Vendée Globe, the solo round-the-world trip without stopovers and without assistance, was spectacular despite the gloomy weather. Spectacular because the 40 navigators (record number of participants) of the tenth edition of the regatta born in 1989, twenty years after the Golden Globe Race, set their bows towards the West, and towards the route which leads to rounding Cape Horn, the Everest of the sail. The route is always the same: 23,400 miles (45,000 km) over the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the South Pacific and the Atlantic again to return to Les Sables d’Olonne leaving the Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn on the left. Objective for the winner: to improve the record set in the eighth edition of 2016 with 74 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 46 seconds by the Frenchman Armel Le Cléac’h.
The first time in 1989
And 26 of the 40 loners are French. The others, including two women and two disabled people, come 3 from Great Britain and the same number from Switzerland, 2 from Germany and 1 each from Belgium, China, Japan, Italy, New Zealand and Hungary. But the French are obviously the favourites. All the winners of the nine editions of the round the world race were in fact French navigators. Starting with Titouan Lamazou who won the first edition with a time of just over 105 days. And the 100 day limit held until the fourth edition when, again a Frenchman, Michel Dejoyeaux, stopped the clock at 93 days. Second behind Desjoyeaux was the English navigator Ellen MacArthur who, however, was not the first woman to participate in the round-the-world trip. The first, Catherine Chabaud, ran the third edition, finishing in sixth place of the 6 finishers out of 15 starters.
The Imoca 60
60 feet (18.28 meters) in length, 4.50 meters of beam, a 29 meters mast, a sail area of 250-270 m² in narrow sailings and 500-600 m² in main sails. It is the portrait of an Imoca 60 of the IMOCA (International Monohull Open Classes Association) class, founded in 1991. With their skippers are the other protagonists of the Vendée Globe. Over the years the measurement rule has constantly evolved on the issues of lightness, reliability, safety and speed. Until arriving, in 2015, at Safran, a project by the French studio VPLP of Marc van Peteghem-Vincent Lauriot Prévost and Guillaume Verdier, built by the French shipyard CDK-Technologies of Lorient and the first IMOCA 60 equipped with foil. A design solution also stimulated by the tonnage rule which required the wing mast and keel to be both one design.
The foil revolution
In 2016 there were six foil boats on the starting line. Four years later there were 19. This one was 24 out of 40. But it should be remembered that, again in the 2016-2017 edition, behind the first four foil boats, in fifth and sixth place (with the fifth trailing the fourth by only 10 hours after 80 days of navigation) there were two boats without foils. A sign of undiminished competitiveness for non-foils and of the crucial importance of the human factor. As well as on foils, which allow you to “fly” even at 40 knots, double that of first generation boats, and which have moved from the first L-shapes to C-shapes which allow you to “retract” the appendages inside the hull improving performance and handling in extreme situations, a lot of work has also been done on the hull and deck plans. But to give an idea of the possibilities that come from foils, it is enough to say that on a transatlantic liner in 2023 the German Boris Hermann traveled 641.13 miles in 24 hours at an average of 26.71 knots.
Manuard and his bow scow
The introduction of foils and flying navigation has therefore led to increasingly “flat” hulls as well as the need to protect the navigator, now dealing with unthinkable speeds even for a performance-focused boat like the Imoca 60 , led to the redesign of the cockpit and deckhouse, creating a real “government cell”. Another turning point is the shape of the bow. The turning point was the designer Sam Manuard who for the 2020-2021 tour designed L’Occitaine en Provence, an Imoca 60 with a scow bow. An element that has distinguished its projects since the successful Mini Transat. And this time too Manuard is on the line with two of his projects, both with high and round bows, entrusted to two favourites.
Even the no-foils are among the new entries
Manuard’s designs will have to compete with a series of Imoca 60s built specifically for the Vendée Globe, the result of the work of other new and old designers specializing in Imoca. First of all Guillaume Verdier who signed five of the ten Imoca-foils launched between 2022 and 2023 and which are making their debut around the world. With two new projects, together with Sam Manuard, is the duo of Antoine Koch and the studio, a great expert in ocean-going hulls, Finot-Conq while the VPLP studio of Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost has only one new project in the competition. But among the new entries we should also mention the two no-foils, designed by the Frenchman David Raison (another promoter of the scow bow) who was responsible for Jean Le Cam’s (twin) boats (with his no-foil sixth in 2016) and Eric Bellion both built by Persico Marine.
A human and technological adventure
However, returning to the departure which took place under a cloudy sky and with little air, but with the crowd always distinguishing the start of the world tour (on the eve of the departure, two and a half million people had visited the 30,000 m2 Village) the tenth Vendée Globe promises to be full of entertainment. The 40 navigators put it on stage with their stories, a long list of favourites, the many technical implications due to the presence of tested and new boats by many designers. And then He: the Great Ocean that will reserve for everyone, men and boats, the very tough test that is the Vendée Globe, the great adventure of solo sailing around the world.
Emilio Martinelli
