The Imoca class is experiencing an unprecedented boom: 40 skippers will be crossing the starting line off Les Sables d'Olonne this Sunday, more than ever before. Nevertheless, some sailors will have to stay ashore despite fulfilling the qualification criteria. Such was the demand.
Eleven new boats have been built since the last Vendée Globe, five of which are completely new developments. Six women are in the starting field, this time some of them on boats that are really capable of winning. And a total of 13 participants are not from France, including Boris Herrmann from Hamburg, who is one of the top favourites, and three Swiss: Justine Mettraux, Alan Roura and Oliver Heer. That is also a top score.
Before the start, we spoke to the president of the class association about the current state of development. Antoine Mermod has been at the helm of the Imoca class for eight years.
YACHT: If you look at this year's Vendée fleet and compare it to 2020, one of the big differences seems to be that back then it was all about that: Who developed the fastest foils? And can they and the hull withstand the loads? This time, you can actually see most of the changes on the large deckhouses, can't you?
Mermod: That's right. Four years ago, "Hugo Boss" was the first boat of a new generation that prioritised the protection of the skipper and was really optimised to be operated entirely from the inside. That was good for Alex, but bad for the photos (laughs). Today, almost all new builds have developed in this direction. For me, that's the main difference between 2020 and 2024.
When Boris Herrmann presented his "Malizia Seaexplorer" in 2022, there were critical comments: He had gone too far in terms of seaworthiness and structural strength, and the boat was too heavy. After some very good results, the criticism has now largely died down. Rightly so?
When Boris had his boat developed by VPLP, he prioritised three points from his first Vendée experience: He didn't want the bow to bore into the sea ahead at high speeds and in rough seas. The structure of the hull had to be safer and more stable; in return, he also accepted a higher weight due to several reinforcements. And the third was to protect the skipper from the elements during the race. In this respect, "Malizia Seaexplorer" is a logical development.
Recently, some of the boat's features have also been seen elsewhere, such as on the sister ships "Paprec Arkea" by Yoann Richomme and "Vulnerable" by Thomas Ruyant.
Most teams today build structurally much stronger hulls. The pounding in the swell at speeds of 25, 30 knots is simply too hard for lighter foam core or Nomex laminates. There were a lot of delamination problems. Guillaume Verdier had already recognised this in 2020 and heralded the change; most designers then followed suit with the designs for new builds after 2020. It is also true that the Antoine Koch/Fino Conq designs by Thomas Ruyant and Yann Richomme are more rockers (Keel jump, the ed..). Getting the bow out of the swell was simply one of the big lessons learnt from the last Vendée.
Another much-discussed feature at the launch of the new "Charal 2", a Sam Manuard design, in 2022 was the so-called "X-Rudder", which is intended to provide advantages when foiling and looks very solid. No other team has ever built something similar. Why?
When foiling on an Imoca, the boat lies on the hydrofoil and the keel, and there is nothing at the stern to stabilise the position, like the boats on the America's Cup. T-shaped rudder blades are also not permitted according to the class rules. The rudders of "Charal" are arranged in such a way that they push the boat up slightly at the stern and stabilise the flight attitude. This should also bring speed advantages on the centre line. But it is a heavy system, it has to be built more solidly to be able to take the greater loads. And the advantage is difficult to quantify. But the last word has not yet been spoken, perhaps we will see more systems like this in the future, as new ground has been broken. What's more, the other teams were already so far along in development when "Charal" was launched that there was probably no time left to think about such ideas.
Another special feature of the starting field for this Vendée is that, after twelve years, two completely newly developed non-foilers will be at the start again: Jean Le Cam's "Toute Commence en Fininstére - Armor Lux" and Eric Bellion's "Stand as One". Also from a designer new to the class, David Raison, who has designed many successful Minis and Class 40s. So far, however, they have largely failed to prove their capabilities. How do you rate their potential?
The two boats were finished very late, not until 2023. It is true that "Stand as one" had structural problems during the Transat Jaques Vabre. Both skippers also had to qualify. Eric Bellion was therefore very careful in the New York-Vendee return race so as not to jeopardise his start in the Vendée; arriving was the top priority. We know little about the boats compared to the competition. But if you look at the performance of the foilers compared to the non-foilers, not using hydrofoils is obviously a very risky option. We'll see what is possible with it. After all, Jean Le Cam was fourth in the last Vendée, and best without foils.
Le Cam and Bellion also wanted to use the concept to prove that it is possible to take part in the Vendée Globe with a much smaller budget. Other skippers tried to save money by using the mould of another team as a second boat. Nine boats have been created in this way. Is this a growing trend and how much cheaper does it actually make a new build?
In fact, this has been done in the class for a very long time. At the 2004 Vendee Globée, the two fastest boats in the race, the Imocas of Jean Le Cam and Roland Jourdain, were made from the same mould. There are many other examples. That saves quite a lot. Building the mould for an Open 60 is almost as expensive as building the hull. The moulds can be used very well for 2 to 3 boats. This also speeds up the building process considerably because the development time is eliminated. This is a very, very attractive option, especially for teams with a smaller budget.
The development of foils has become somewhat quieter. In the beginning, the leaps from generation to generation were enormous, the performance of the boats literally exploded. Is this the effect that when an innovation catches on, the benefits level off significantly after a few years?
That is definitely the case. The last Vendée was the first edition with the really big foils, but there have also been development variants. We had "L' Occitane" with probably the biggest foils with a lot of righting moment, "Hugo Boss" with the huge C-foils. The Verdier boats already had appendages like many have today. There was simply a greater variance. After the Vendée, however, it became clear which foils were the fastest and which were good all-rounders. The designers drew similar conclusions from this as to what the best compromise was. However, the biggest leap in performance in terms of foils was actually from 2016 to 2020.
Another area that some designers describe as critical are Lorimar's standard masts, the use of which has been prescribed by the class for years. Their design and calculation dates back to a time when foils did not exist. During the development of Boris "Malizia Seaexplorer", the designers at VPLP said that the rig was a weak point, as it was actually undersized for the increased loads when foiling. There have also been frequent mast breakages, for example on Louis Burton's "Bureau Vallee", which wore out two rigs in quick succession, then "Holcim", "Guyot", "Groupe Dubreuil" and most recently "Fortinet - Best Western". Do we need a new standardised mast for the class?
The boats are getting faster and faster, but the mast design dates back to 2012/13. For the 2016 Vendée Globe, a really huge safety margin was factored in. But then in 2020 we could see that the margin was getting tighter because of the increased buoyancy of the bigger foils. There were no major problems back then. However, since the boats have been sailing consistently faster, we are now reaching the limit of the profile. As a result, there have been significantly more mast breakages. That's why we decided to build a 20 to 25 per cent stronger one-design mast for next season.
Charlie Dalin had already dominated the class with his old "Apivia". His new "Macif" also seems to be hard to beat again. How can this be explained?
We'll see if that's the case. In fact, Guillaume Verdier as designer and Mer Concept as support team and shipyard are simply playing at the highest level. And Charlie is an engineer himself, he knows what he's doing. Whether it's sailing, weather, construction or optimisation - Charlie and his team have always been at the very, very top since 2020, regardless of the aspect.
A word about the field: Is it actually the strongest that has ever competed in a Vendée Globe?
Yes, I would say so. I think there are about twelve teams that can really win the race. Each one is good for the top five, definitely the top ten. But the Vendée is also a unique race: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, the technical component is complex, as is the human component. It is not always the fastest boat that wins, nor the most experienced skipper, nor automatically the team with the biggest budget. The race is simply always good for surprises!
It's not quite so easy to assess the development of the sails since the last Vendee Globe from the outside. What do you notice?
As the boats are getting faster and faster, the sails tend to get smaller and smaller and cut flatter and flatter. The wind hasn't changed that much, perhaps the main in the top is a little less flared on some boats. The aim is to optimise the balance between propulsion and wind resistance. Spacesheet sails, on the other hand, have a lot to do with the skipper's choice. You can only take three or four on board because of the sail limit (maximum of seven sheets plus the prescribed storm jib (editor's note). It is a long process to make a choice based on performance, personal preferences and the strengths of the boat. You can't cover all areas perfectly, so there are sometimes differences in performance between boats because one setup works better or worse in certain weather conditions.
Before the last race, many skippers said that the autopilots had made huge progress and were reacting better and better to wind, waves, sails, used foil area and much more. Is there such a huge leap again?
The development there is always constant, but I would say the big leap was from 2016 to 2020. This time the progress is less drastic.
You are closer to the technical development of the individual teams than almost anyone else. Which boats do you find the most exciting?
The hulls of the new co-operation between Antoine Koch and Finot-Conq ("Paprec - Arkea" and "Vulnerable" by Thomas Ruyant, the ed.) are very interesting. It looks like they will go through heavy seas very well due to their shape. The designs are quite different to what we've seen in the past, much sleeker. It will be exciting when they sail in the Southern Ocean for the first time.
And perhaps the C-Foils, which Sam Manuard developed for Sam Davies and which Boris Herrmann also used when his first set suffered structural damage before the Ocean Race. They seem to be super easy to use, but are still very good for high average speeds - ideal for a single-handed race.
And of course the new "Macif" from Charlie Dalin. It may not be the strongest boat in every detail, but overall it is absolutely top class - perhaps the best package in its entirety.
In 2020, Kevin Escoffier's "PRB" broke up during the race after a catastrophic structural failure, collapsed like a knife and sank in minutes. Were there any findings on the case that were incorporated into the new boats?
There was a lot of feedback from the team in the class at the time. But it must also be said that the boat was from 2010, and even though its structure was very elaborately reinforced after being retrofitted with foils, it was not originally designed as a foiler. I think that all designers have significantly increased the safety coefficients of their designs since then. We have already talked about the hulls without a foam core, with more full carbon fibre laminate than before.
In the America's Cup or Sail GP and also the Moths, all boats have T-foils on the rudder to stabilise the flight condition, which push the stern out of the water, so-called elevators. Will this also be permitted for the Imocas at the next Vendée Globe?
We are currently discussing this intensively, but it will not be the next Vendée Globe 2032, but rather the one after that.
That sounds like a very long-term transition. Why not sooner?
Many teams calculate that their boats have a useful life of around eight years. They also plan with a certain resale value. If we change the class so radically, this will be reduced. And it also requires a huge amount of development work, which simply takes time. We have seen that the Ultims took almost ten years before they really flew around the world in a stable manner. We will see fully flying Imocas one day, that's for sure, but it's a long way off.
Looking back on your eight years as President, what were the most important milestones in the development of the class?
In any case, the opening for more international participation and for The Ocean Race. That's good, because Imoca was originally very much focussed on the solo sector. Now many sailors are coming on board the boats who were previously crewed and find them exciting! They may later return to the short-handed or single-handed sector, and vice versa of course.
And the development of foiling was important. In the America's Cup, the boats are foiling. Olympia foiling them too, now spectators can see boats flying around the world! Sailing has certainly become more attractive to young people as a result.
The Ocean Race Europe now also seems to be catching on with French teams, who were initially rather reluctant. Does this also apply to the race around the world?
In any case, the interest has always been there. The announcements of the last few weeks show that. The problem is first of all finding the budget for such a second major event. We first had to show how much effort is involved and that the sponsors get an exciting race for their money. Of course, the last race was very valuable for this.
It was also important that an American team entered the Imoca class in the last race and won the race. I think that will help a lot for the next edition. The future promises to be very exciting.
The Vendée is as international as it was four years ago. Would it actually be a disaster for the French public if a Frenchman didn't win for once?
Don't forget: in 2020, there was still a chance that Boris would win the race 48 hours before the finish. A year later, he almost won the Ocean Race, and in 2024 he came second in two transatlantic races! The fans know he can win. I also think most fans accept the skipper's performance, know how hard someone has to work to win the Vendée and then grant him his victory, no matter where he comes from.
