Good news for Jean "Le Roi" (the King) Le Cam, who won the last Vendée Globe sensationally finished in fourth place with an old non-foiler and made history with the spectacular rescue of Kevin Escoffier. He will be taking part in the race for the sixth time, this time with a new build in the mould of Eric Bellion's new boat. The two skippers had worked together after the last Vendée Globe, Le Cam made his old Farr design "Hubert" available to Bellion so that he could gain more Open 60 experience. The Frenchman will also be taking the boat to the start of the Route du Rhum at the beginning of November.
Jean Le Cam and the Vendée Globe
Le Cam had already said after the end of the race that he would like to start with a new non-foiler in order to keep the budget smaller and also because he was sure that a clever new build could definitely be competitive. However, the 63-year-old also mused that he would have to be more economical with his energy than a younger skipper. The fact that the foilers are more strenuous for the skipper is undisputed.
Is Raison designing another extreme bug?
At the time, he estimated his budget at around four million euros for a new boat and to maintain the team until the start of the next Vendée 2024. He has now secured two million of this with the help of the Finistère region's sponsor, and construction of the boat has begun. Le Cam and Eric Bellion, together with designer David Raison, had already started to design the moulds and cockpit. By using the mould for two boats, construction will be significantly cheaper. Raison is known from the Mini and Class 40 classes for designs with extreme scow bows, so we can expect the new Open 60 to go in this direction, even if the Imoca class rules restrict such extreme bow shapes as in the Class 40.
Considering that the New construction of Boris Herrmann's new "Seaexplorer - Malizia" cost around seven million euros, plus the rather high operating costs for such a boat and team, Le Cam's budget is likely to be far less than half that. It will be interesting to see what the cunning old Breton from Quimper does with it.
