We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. This month Conrad Humphreys nominates Charal\u201cWhen you look at what the designers and engineers have put in place to get round quite restrictive IMOCA rules and balance on a single foil, I think that is something extraordinary,\u201d said Conrad Humphreys as he nominated the IMOCA 60 Charal as his Coolest yacht.
\nJ\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou\u2019s VPLP-designed Charal, the first of the new generation of foiling IMOCA 60 round the world designs, typifies the huge evolution in this evergreen solo ocean class.
\nIt is nearly 15 years since Humphreys raced in the Vend\u00e9e Globe in Hellomoto, formerly Mike Golding\u2019s Group 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat boat was considered revolutionary, with its canting keel and wingmast, and for one person it was a beast to sail.
\n\u201cI had a halyard winch on the mast and used to be on the foredeck getting the spinnaker down.
\n\u201cNow, the whole way these boats are engineered is to keep the sailor off the deck and they\u2019re so fast they need to be protected from the elements.
\n\u201cBut that really adds to the interest of what, to me, is the greatest spectacle.\u201d
\nCharal stats rating:
\nTop speed: 30 knots
\nLOA: 18m
\nLaunched: 2018
\nBerths: 2
\nPrice: \u20ac5m
\nAdrenalin factor: 90%
\nConrad Humphreys
\nConrad Humphreys, 46, is a former winner of the BT Global Challenge and in 2005 became the 5th British sailor in history to complete the Vend\u00e9e Globe in the IMOCA 60 Hellomoto.
\nHe has raced in La Solitaire du Figaro and twice failed to finish the Route du Rhum.
\nMore recently, he skippered an open launch 3,600 miles across the South Pacific, recreating Captain Bligh\u2019s voyage in 1789 for a TV documentary, \u2018Mutiny\u2019.<\/p>\n
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The post World\u2019s coolest yachts: Charal IMOCA 60 appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We ask top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times. This month Conrad Humphreys nominates Charal\u201cWhen you look at what the designers and engineers have put in place to get round … <\/p>\n