Sometimes you don\u2019t need to adopt every technological advance to stay at the front, as the IMOCA class is proving. Matt Sheahan reportsThat tens of thousands of Vend\u00e9e Globe fans were prepared to get up in the early hours of the morning and camp out on a sea wall in the middle of winter to see a group of boats pass by is truly remarkable. I can\u2019t think of another event in sailing that has this kind of pulling power on this scale.
\nThere is no doubt the Vend\u00e9e Globe is an extraordinary phenomenon. Forty years old, now in its 10th edition and with a record entry of 40 boats there\u2019s nothing else like it in sport. The fact 39 boats made it down to the South Atlantic having crossed the Bay of Biscay was also a record.
\nBut the success of this event has been no accident. Neither has the fact that the class is stronger than ever. That the Vend\u00e9e Globe was oversubscribed this time around is evidence of that.
\nYet success hasn\u2019t been without its stresses, especially when it has come to deciding how to allow teams and their designers to continue to evolve and develop their machines at the leading edge of the sport. The recent development of the foiling IMOCAs has been fascinating to watch with speeds that are simply incredible.
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe design secrets of Charlie Dalin\u2019s Vend\u00e9e Globe winning IMOCA revealed<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharlie Dalin approached the 2024 Vend\u00e9e Globe with a unique perspective. Dalin\u2019s previous boat, Apivia (now Clarisse Cremer\u2019s L\u2019Occitane en\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIMOCAs hit warp speed: 24hr solo sailing record falls repeatedly to hit incredible 579.86 miles<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Vend\u00e9e Globe leaders are locked into near-perfect conditions, riding the leading edge of a low pressure system in the\u2026<\/p>\n
But to fly the boat using a pair of asymmetric hydrofoils and then balance it fore and aft by dragging the stern around is not the way you\u2019d set out to create a leading edge offshore machine if you started with a blank sheet of paper. Designing an aircraft with asymmetric wings, a lump of lead on one side and no tailplane isn\u2019t a popular approach either.
\nLifting the stern out of the water with a T-foil rudder would make life easier, quicker and some say safer. But the class voted it out back in November 2023 as it considered what the rules would be, not for this Vend\u00e9e Globe but the next one in 2028.
\nIt had been a big topic of conversation with plenty of advocates for making an IMOCA 60 fly properly. But the class is as sensitive to costs as it is to preventing a technical arms race that would fragment the fleet. The class achieves this by acting as a democracy: it\u2019s the sailors and owners themselves who decide the rules. And when it came to defining what an IMOCA would look like for the next Vend\u00e9e Globe they focussed on a different approach.
\nT-foils were voted out, largely based on cost, not just of the foils and control systems but also as a result of the amount it would cost to re-think the next generation of 60-footers. Even for those looking to re-configure their boats rather than build new, (which currently is around \u20ac7million), it was said that the cost could be as much as \u20ac2-3 million for a full facelift.
\nTo fly the boat using a pair of asymmetric hydrofoils and then balance it fore and aft by dragging the stern around is not the way you\u2019d set out to create a leading edge offshore machine
\nTo some this may have looked like the class had frozen in the headlights as it struggled to figure out how to handle a key technical upgrade. Yet, looking back at its history there are several areas where the class has looked at what would make the racing better, safer, more popular and more reliable instead of going for outright speed. The move to a one-design keel fin is a good example.
\nProducing a robust design for everyone meant that the horror of broken keel fins has \u2013 touch wood \u2013 stopped.
\nSo this time around, instead of going for T-foils, the class decided to approve a new one-design mast. This has been much needed for a boat that has developed significantly more power since the foils that created greater righting moment. Keeping the rig in the boat is a tricky, and at times stressful, part of sailing these beasts where alarms are pinging constantly with load monitors in the red zone.
\nBut apart from performance and reliability, the IMOCA class also feels a responsibility to encourage more sustainability throughout the build and campaigning of the boats. From reducing the number of sails that a team can have, to crediting points to teams that, say, share moulds, there are several incentives that have been introduced to reduce the class\u2019s carbon footprint.
\nDuring the recent Yacht Racing Forum in Amsterdam we heard of ways in which designers and builders are using panels produced using flax fibres and a green resin for some of the non-structural parts of the boat
\nBut the really clever thing is that this is happening without seriously compromising the performance of the boat and without disgruntled teams and owners drawing stumps and heading to a different class. To maintain this for over 30 years, while still pushing at the leading edge, is remarkable and an example to many other areas of our sport.<\/p>\n
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The post Why the Vend\u00e9e Globe fleet is right to reject a full foiling rule appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes you don\u2019t need to adopt every technological advance to stay at the front, as the IMOCA class is proving. Matt Sheahan reportsThat tens of thousands of Vend\u00e9e Globe fans were prepared to get up in the early hours of … <\/p>\n