The 39-year-old is seen by many as one of the most exciting newcomers in the Imoca class. With two consecutive victories in the Route du Rhum on a Class 40 and two titles in the Figaro class, he is regarded as one of the best in his field - which doesn't necessarily mean much in the Imoca world, of course, as many of the sailors there were previously top skippers in other classes. But Richomme offers a very strong overall package: his team Paprec Arkea is well financed and has already built and managed an Open 60 (the previous boat was sailed by Sébastien Simon, now on board Robert Stanjek's "Guyot"). However, the Juan K design at the time was considered slow on the scene and had to contend with many technical setbacks.
The new design, built by the renowned Multiplast shipyard in Vannes, which also produced Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer", is therefore exciting. The new boat is the result of a collaboration between Antoine Koch and the Finot-Conq design studio, who are actually old acquaintances in the Vendée, having designed four winning boats in the history of the race. But that was a damn long time ago; Vincent Riou last won in 2005 with "PRB" on a Finot-Conq design. The office has not built a foiling Imoca since then. This makes the approach of the new collaboration all the more exciting. This is because Antoine Koch is the technical mastermind behind the project, who also co-developed Thomas Ruyant's "Linked Out" and previously the foiling maxi-tri "Edmond de Rothschild" from the Gitana team, both top boats in their class. And: The new "Paprec Arkea" is a sister ship to Thomas Ruyant's new "Advens", which is currently under construction. As Ruyant is currently regarded as the best Imoca skipper together with Charlie Dalin and he is the only one to have beaten him recently, we can expect a lot from the boat. Antoine Koch utilised the expertise of the Luna Rossa AC team for the development of the foils, whose manager developed the design of the two wings.
This makes it clear that the new "Paprec Arkea" could be a real heavyweight together with Yoann Richomme. And he makes no secret of his high expectations of himself and the boat:
"We want to be among the five leading boats at the end of the year and be right at the front of the Transat Jacques Vabre."Yoann Richomme
But the big goal is of course the Vendée Globe, for which the boat is also optimised, as Antoine Koch revealed in a recent interview. "The progress is mainly downwind with lots of wind and waves. The hull is designed to be fast in rough seas." This was one of the great realisations of the last Vendée: The boats were accelerating and decelerating too much, constantly drilling into waves or falling off the foils. Not good for high average speeds. Boris Herrmann had also recognised this and used it to develop his boat with an enormous amount of buoyancy in the bow and a lot of keel jump.
However, Koch and Finot-Conq's approach is fundamentally different to Boris'. "Paprec Arkea" is very narrow, similar to Jérémie Beyout's "Charal", and has long, more elbow-shaped foils that can be pulled almost completely out of the water when fully retracted. "This should also give us an advantage in light winds. We have very little wetted surface area in the hull and foil," says Antoine Koch.
For him, it was important that the hull does not have too much surface area in the water when braking in rough seas, as this slows it down too much and requires a lot of energy to build up speed again. "In some scenarios, we have up to 10 % less resistance in the water than Thomas Ruyant's old 'Linked Out', which should help," says Koch.
However, the French have followed Boris Herrmann's approach in one respect: the Open 60 has a completely enclosed deckhouse. However, it looks much flatter and more squat than the "Malizia - Seaexplorer", more like the "Holcim - PRB" or "Biotherm", and is slightly further forward. The bow is less rounded and less scow-like than on "Charal".
Richomme will be sailing with the new build, which has just been delivered to the team base in Lorient, next week, followed in May by the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race, which will be sailed double-handed. The highlight of the season this year, the Transat Jacques Vabre in October, is also a double-handed race. Richomme has not yet named the co-skipper for this race.
Fans of the boat class can look forward to even more exciting new builds this year: Thomas Ruyant's sister ship "Advens" will soon be leaving the shipyard, Briton Phil Sharp is getting a new Sam Manuard design, and Charlie Dalin is finalising his new "Apivia", designed by Guillaume Verdier. The first Imoca design by Class 40 specialist David Raison, which is currently being built by Persico in Italy, will also be exciting. It is being skippered by Frenchman Eric Bellion. In any case, it won't be boring until the start of the Vendée Globe ...
