All good things come in threes, as you might say with Jörg Riechers. The 52-year-old from Hamburg has already come close to taking part twice. But the campaigns with the Mare Team and Offshore Team Germany always failed, not least due to lack of funding. After a stint in the Class 40, he most recently sailed the Rolex Fastnet Race on the Imoca of the Swiss Beat Fankhauser. But that is not enough for Riechers. He wants to finally fulfil his own boat and thus his big dream of taking part in the Vendée Globe.
Together with Alva Yachts, a young company founded in 2017 and based in Bad Pyrmont, which develops fully electric luxury yachts and components for them, a new Imoca is to be built for the Vendée Globe. The launch is certain, says Riechers.
YACHT: Mr Riechers, how did your contact with Alva Yachts come about?
Riechers: About the marketing expert Sabine Köhler. She has already worked for other sailing campaigns and also for Alva Yachts. I was looking for good marketing advice and came across her. She made the contact.
What does Alva Yachts expect from the project?
The Vendée Globe is increasingly focussing on sustainability and climate protection. Alva Yachts specialises in the electrification of yachts. For them, it would be a kind of proof: what works in the Southern Ocean works everywhere.
What are the plans until 2024?
The hot design phase has just started. This will run until February 2022 and the boat should be ready by March 2023.
Who will construct it?
A team of designers. This includes the Frenchman Etienne Bertrand, with whom I also worked on the Mini, Guillaume Dupont, the co-designer of the Imocas "Charal", "Hugo Boss" and "11th Hour", and Farr Yacht Design, who provide their technical capabilities, such as simulation programmes. And I'm one of them. I have a one hundred per cent free hand in the design and the composition of the team. Unlike previous campaigns, I don't have to follow a prefabricated structure, which has sometimes led to friction.
How much of the necessary budget is available? Did you read in the announcement that sponsors are still being sought?
That is correct. The more money we can raise, the more we can put into the project, the better it will be. But regardless of that, the boat will be built and I will start, that's for sure.
You sound a bit reserved, but you should be cheering.
I'm not jumping up and down now, I'm too old for that and I've been doing it for too long. But it's really great, overwhelming, and I honestly didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
The project is to be officially presented tomorrow at the boat show in Cannes.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
