The hotly anticipated British leg of the SailGP circuit, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth, takes place this weekend from 19-20 July.

Twelve F50s will be racing on a tight racecourse just off Southsea, with an enormous grandstand in the race village expected to welcome 20,000 spectators over the weekend.

Weather conditions look promising, with 8-16 knots forecast for Saturday 19, and a punchy 16-26 knots possible for Sunday.

Strong breezes are forecast for Day 2 of the British SailGP in Portsmouth. Photo: Ricardo Pinto/SailGP

SailGP CEO Russell Coutts commented: “10 years ago I wouldn’t have said this [20,000-strong crowd] was likely, but we obviously set the tone in Auckland, where we had a similar size crowd on shore, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have that sort of support here in Portsmouth.

“I think fans are in for a great event – especially on Sunday, when the breeze is going to be up, they’re probably going to be on that small wing foil configuration. And who knows, they might hit that new speed record.”

Sail GP obstacle course

For added jeopardy, the course area – always intentionally tight at Sail GP events – is likely to include several immovable obstacles – potentially including Spitbank Fort, one of Portsmouth’s famous sea defences, and shipping lane markers. A substantial exclusion zone will be in place from 2pm each day in the busy eastern Solent.

The Auckland SailGP set a new bar for crowd numbers – organisers will be hoping for 20,000 spectators at Portsmouth this weekend.

Giles Scott, who helms the Canada SailGP team commented: “I think the waters here are going to be an amazing racecourse. There will be some obstacles to dodge – may be a fort, some navy posts. So there is a lot going on, but it’s going to be an amazing venue.

Dylan Fletcher, helmsman of the Emirates Great Britain team, told Yachting World: “It’s an interesting race course – which if it gets the green light could add a curve ball! Not so much the marks, more the proximity of the start line to the shore!”

The huge grandstand under construction in Portsmouth for the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix. Photo: Yachting World

Tom Slingsby, team boss and helmsman of the Australian BONDS Flying Roos SailGP team, cautioned that with added spectacle, comes added risk for the teams. He told Yachting World: “Some of the Sail GP race tracks have had a few obstacles – Cadiz has a reef. But I’d say this is probably the most obstacles we’ve had, and probably the biggest one with the fort.

“Honestly, we’re going to have to go away and brush up on our rules when approaching an obstacle and who gains right of way and how. I’m going to go and brush up on that stuff. But other than that I’m pretty confident.

“Sometimes when you’ve got obstacles on the course the drivers just need to have a little level of respect that – I might have right of way here, but if I keep pushing this there’s going to be a nasty crash, and back out of the situation. It’s not nice to back out of a situation because it doesn’t help your race result, but we also need to have a level of understanding that these boats are dangerous and if we push the situation too hard where it might not be your boat, but another boat might have an incident. You’ve got to have enough common sense.

“The penalty points work for boat on boat situations, but often we’re coming into a situation and there’s five boats coming in and one boat might have right of way and exercise that right, but in doing that can cause a collision between others.

“Whether the rules need to adapt more for these sorts of racecourses or this type of racing, we’ve got to keep looking at that because these boots, when they hit, can be catastrophic and very dangerous.”

Pressure on British SailGP team

There was much talk in the press conference about the potential home advantage for the British team.

Emirates Great Britain SailGP team CEO Ben Ainslie commented: “People talk about pressure in sport, and it’s definitely an added pressure when you see tens of thousands of people there all expecting the home team to win, that’s frankly a little bit intimidating. But we also say pressure is a privilege and I think Dylan, Hannah and the team will thrive off that.”

Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team won the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix in Sydney, but have struggled to get on the podium in more recent events. Photo: Jason Ludlow/SailGP

For the British squad, however, it’s not just the home crowd that’s piling on the pressure – after a near perfect start to the season, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix team has dropped to fourth overall, finishing the previous event in New York in eighth, following a seventh in San Francisco and fourth in Los Angeles.

“Ultimately we had a really good start to the season, but I’m still inexperienced, explained helmsman Dylan Fletcher.

“I think we saw some cracks appear in San Fran, so we’ve put some things and processes in place so hopefully we won’t see those again.”

Tom Slingsby, driver of BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team. Photo: Andrew Baker/SailGP

He explained further, telling Yachting World: “In LA we had a bad first day but a good second day, and we were one point away from the final, so it’s not really a bad event, it’s just the margins are super-tight.

“I think San Francisco was the one we were a bit surprised about, we went there with high expectations – probably too high expectations. We made some mistakes, and then didn’t quite rectify those mistakes.

“In New York we spent a lot of time on debriefing and we were in good spirits, but sailing three-up was really a curve ball that I’d never done before. And part of think the problem was the way that we sail the boat four-up was little bit different to some of the others and that exposed some errors. But in reality there was just two decisions or mistakes that day that cost the difference between in the hunt and not, and Sunday we had a top three day. So it looked really bad on paper, but it’s not quite so bad.

“And we had a really unfortunate incident with the Canadians that cost us a season point, the umpire have said they got the call wrong, but ultimately we have to bear that.

“But we’ve spent a lot of time watching videos of the others teams, and they’re not doing anything special, they’re not doing anything we’re not doing. They’re making plenty of mistakes and that’s the nature of SailGP, you’ve just got to keep fighting for every point.”

More to come?

So, if each team is still making mistakes – how much potential is there still to come from the F50s?

“There’s plenty [of room to improve],” says Fletcher. “You can see when we’re all in our own space, we’re all sailing the boat quite well, but sailing them at that level all the time is another thing – especially the start. You see some teams start really well one event and sometimes really bad, so being consistent there will deliver the results.”

Tom Slingsby agreed: “There’s still a huge amount of potential there. These boots are incredibly difficult to sail, and no one is sailing a perfect race.

“Compared to when I used to sail my Laser I think I got a lot closer to 100% than I ever have in a SailGP race. The difficulty of the boots, the co-ordination of the team – just everything coming into it. the top teams might not even be at 90%.”

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SailGP is about to kick off a US double-header, with back to back events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, starting in LA this weekend (March 15-16). Currently topping the leaderboard is Emirates GBR, ahead of previous series winners Australia and Spain.

It was little surprise that, after his history-making performance as co-helm to Ben Ainslie on INEOS Britannia in the 37th America’s Cup, the vacant helm seat on the British F50 catamaran went to Dylan Fletcher for the 2025 SailGP season.

Fletcher was originally the very first British SailGP helmsman (or ‘driver’, in SailGP parlance) having taken the wheel in the inaugural 2019 season. He was soon replaced by Ainslie, with a new team branded under INEOS sponsorship, and Fletcher didn’t return to the circuit as a sailor – though after last October’s Cup he told Yachting World that SailGP represented ‘unfinished business’.

After Ainslie retired from F50 sailing, and Giles Scott moved to the Canadian team, it was announced that Fletcher would helm, with Hannah Mills as strategist.

Fletcher and the British team hit the season running, taking podium finishes at the first two events in Dubai and an extremely windy Auckland, before winning a nailbiting final at Sydney. We sat down with Dylan ahead of the US events to get his thoughts on the SailGP season so far. Read on for the full interview:

Winners in Australia. Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP

So, how did you jump straight to the front of the fleet?

“I guess I still have Season One under my belt – although when you look back at Season One, it was so bad in terms of how we were sailing the boats, and it’s progressed so much. But everyone [else] in our team was consistent. It was just me stepping in and I’ve worked with a lot of them before.

“Me and Han, we’ve known each other forever. Her coach was my mentor [Joe Glanfield], so there’s so many similarities with how we talk.

“I was super-happy with the start of the season, but certainly none of us were expecting it. We also know that we will have our tough moments, but we’ve been, I guess, pleasantly surprised that in light winds, then windy, then medium, we seem to be up there in all three conditions, which is nice. AND we have plenty of mistakes that we’re making, especially myself, so it feels nice that there’s still some headroom.”

How much have the boats changed since that first season?

“The wings are new. There’s obviously three different sizes now, but the whole wing itself is new. So in Season One, we were basically using wings from the America’s Cup that were all different. So there were some performance differences in reality, whereas now they are all the same.

“The [wing] twist is much faster, so you can basically sail the boats better. It was quite hard for the two grinders in season one because the twist was really slow, so you’d struggle to ‘catch’. So you’d have to sail the boat quite differently.

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“The other thing – outside of T-foils – has been lots under the hood. So the systems have massively stepped up. The way the accumulator and oil and pump and valves and all the technical sides have all improved massively, which you don’t see, but effectively allows us to sail the boat better and more accurately.

“As soon as I got on [a new generation F50], you can feel the difference. But in reality, I guess they’re all relatively minor changes compared to the T-foils. They really have – not exactly thrown a spanner in the works, but they are a big learning curve for everyone now.

“It changes [how you sail the boat] quite a lot. There’s some oil management we have to do. Because you’ve got the same amount of pumps and everything on the boat, but you are using more oil. You can move the cant in and out in the same way you could on an AC40 . So that certainly changes things.

“And the T-foil can pierce the waves occasionally. If you are below a certain boat speed and you pierce the waves, you crash. With the previous foils if you got a little bit too high, you just generally would slide sideways and then come back down. Whereas with these foils you crash. I think you see the helms flying the boats a little bit lower when the pilots are crossing. Just being more conservative, a bit more worried about not crashing – well, certainly I do.

“And because of the cant, we get more righting moment. As you cant out, you lower the bow effectively for the same rudder average. Generally speaking, all the teams are running more bow-down pitch than we were previously.”

Racing at SailGP Sydney. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

Do you think the rankings – who’s got the hang of the T-foils and who hasn’t – will be changing a lot over the next events?

“I think it feels like it’s stabilised slightly. We’ve seen in the data that teams were not all sailing the boats the same. It was quite wild at the start in New Zealand when we did our training, and now there’s a reasonable amount of similarities.

“There’s also some different styles – like you see the Aussies obviously started incredibly well and sailed really well in all the qualifying races. But the flip side is you don’t need to win every race. You just need to win the last one.”

At events like Auckland – decent breeze, crazy small race tracks – how strategic are you being compared to just getting around the course?

“Yeah, really strategic. It’s almost slightly less reliance on the computer systems and that sort of thing because [everything] is changing so fast that you do have to just go off your gut effectively.

“But it is incredibly tight. We haven’t actually sailed with 12 boats yet, but it’s felt incredibly tight with 11, and there have been some moments that were scary, but in reality, so far, it’s been good and clean.

“The racing is, for me, incredible. I’ve really missed that tight fleet racing. Where you’re racing against Pete [Burling] and Diego [Botin], who I obviously raced very closely with [in the 49er]. But then also people like Ruggero Tita, who went to the Olympics in 2016 [sailing the Nacra]. For them all to be together, it’s really, really good fun.

Hannah Mills. Photo: C. Gregory / INEOS Britannia

And how do you run it with Hannah in terms of strategy calls? Presumably, you just have to be incredibly fast in terms of communicating?

“Yeah, I think what’s amazing with Hannah is we’ve got a lot of trust straight away with each other. There were some moments in Sydney, for example, when it was really hectic. And I was just trying to focus on managing the lane ahead, but I had an idea of what I wanted to do. It’s too hard to go and explain what I want. But I know I can just say to Hannah, ‘What do you think?’

“The other thing is because of her experience, in the final, we gybed, did a gybe turn-up, and I didn’t get to the other side. So she’s helming the boat in the round up, and I’ve got complete confidence that she can deal with that side. So, there’s a lot of trust with our roles and she can do a really good job.”

And when it comes to traffic management, how do you handle that? Because there are boats coming from every direction at some points.

“Well, we’ve got the coaching booth who are looking at ‘issue boats’, as we call them, on the 2D map. We got Ben Cornish and Rob Wilson. Ben Cornish is making sure that if there’s a port-starboard and they haven’t heard anything [from the boat], they might [tell us]: ‘There is an issue boat on port.’

“It’s Hannah’s responsibility to look, but then also the booth is a backup. Obviously, we don’t want to have a crash. So Han will say, ‘We’ve got an issue with this boat. Might be crossing. What do you think?’ Then, like any normal boat, I make the final call on a duck or a cross, basically.”

Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

Are those close calls as close as it looks?

“It’s incredibly close. The racing in Sydney, especially on the first day, where the first beat was very changeable with the shifts – then you’re coming into a boundary, you’re going to come out on port, and it’s like, ‘are we going to be in the zone of protection?’ It’s ever-changing very quickly.

“I think for me, that day in Sydney really highlighted how intense the season is going to be. Every day we get off the water and we are just like, ‘Wow, that was wild’.”

The penalty system really pushes avoiding collisions, doesn’t it?

“Yeah. So if the boats come together, then there’s penalty points. And if they believe that even the right of way boat could have done more to have kept clear, then you get penalty points, and they are severe.”

So keeping out of trouble becomes a huge part of the strategy?

“Yeah. In the last two races in the fleet racing, we’d almost guaranteed our spot for the final. We were 15, 16 points ahead of 4th. We were thinking, ‘Okay, just two solid races’. Just stay out of trouble because if you go and get a penalty point, then you’re not only out of the final, but then you’ve got the season penalty points. We see now the Germans with negative season points and the Americans and the Brazilians on nothing – going into the fourth event of the season. It’s unbelievable, right?

“And that this is something we’re discussing as a team – it’s a long season. It’s about managing risk, and the finals are going to be up and down. But if we can just try and keep plugging away and be in the final or thereabouts, then that’s where we need to be at the end of the season.”

A close finish at SailGP New Zealand. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP

Going back to the coaching booth – is their primary role collision avoidance? Can they communicate much else to you?

“So they can communicate with us whenever they want. Some teams run it differently, so their booth might be a bit more of a strategist effectively, maybe depending on their experience.

“For us, we’ve got Rob who is obviously really experienced at coaching in SailGP. Then Ben and I actually did all of the two boating in AC40s together, so we’ve got a really great relationship. Their role is really to help us with the bias on the course or the gate bias, which changes quite a lot. I guess they’re almost a backup for anything that we’ve missed. They might turn around and tell us: ‘You must have left turn!’ Although they’ve never said that yet!

“Or there was an incident in Sydney where the software wasn’t working properly, and we didn’t have any laylines or anything, and they would be backing us up. So Hannah would go to leeward and have a little look, and we’d go back to [doing it the] old fashioned way – which is fine, but not knowing where the boundary was was quite concerning!”

“In between the races is where we really use it a lot. I guess it’s similar to the race engineers you’d have in Formula One. Ultimately, because it’s so fast-paced, it’s hard for them to actually have space to talk to us. They really struggle to get the time.”

Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

Do you get information overload at some point? Where you just need to look at where you’re going?

“There are times like that. But I think we’re quite good as a team at trying to not talk too much. The team have done a really good job of integrating me because obviously there’s things that I’m not as good at or learning, and they’ve given me the space rather than going ‘Do this, do that’. Because then I’m just listening to them and I’m not doing what I’m actually quite good at. And so we don’t do anything well. They’ve allowed me the space to do what I do well and I will learn from my mistakes.”

Was it quite hard to adapt to sailing with another voice in your ear from the coaching booth?

“Not really! It’s quite interesting. It’s just another piece of information. You get used to it. But then with this [high performance] world, it slowly just builds up more and more and more, so you become more accustomed to it. But the flip side is I was out sailing my Moth last week and absolutely loved being on my own.”

Nobody to talk to!

“No, but I do occasionally talk to myself before the start of a race to go through my checklist. Otherwise, I sometimes forget things!”

Looking ahead to the US events, what are you expecting?

“I’m always hopeful of San Fran. That’s going to be good. And I’m really excited to be going to race in LA. I think a different venue, flatter water, then followed by San Francisco, where we’ll have maybe slightly longer courses, more open racetrack where we can see some longer runs, it will be interesting to see where teams are with the T-foils.”

The Rolex Los Angeles SailGP takes place from March 15-16, followed by the Oracle San Francisco SailGP from March 22-23. Visit SailGP.com
Tickets for the UK event, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth, are on sale now, with early bird pricing available until Monday, March 17. See sailgp.com/tickets

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That tens of thousands of Vendée 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’t think of another event in sailing that has this kind of pulling power on this scale.

There is no doubt the Vendée Globe is an extraordinary phenomenon. Forty years old, now in its 10th edition and with a record entry of 40 boats there’s 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.

But the success of this event has been no accident. Neither has the fact that the class is stronger than ever. That the Vendée Globe was oversubscribed this time around is evidence of that.

Yet success hasn’t 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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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’d 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’t a popular approach either.

Lifting 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 Vendée Globe but the next one in 2028.

It 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’s the sailors and owners themselves who decide the rules. And when it came to defining what an IMOCA would look like for the next Vendée Globe they focussed on a different approach.

T-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 €7million), it was said that the cost could be as much as €2-3 million for a full facelift.

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’d set out to create a leading edge offshore machine

To 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.

Producing a robust design for everyone meant that the horror of broken keel fins has – touch wood – stopped.

So 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.

But 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’s carbon footprint.

During 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

But 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.

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“The AC45F foiler was the one design boat we raced in 2016, leading up into the America’s Cup in Bermuda,” says Freddie Carr.

“The reason it’s my favourite is it hit a real sweet spot in the sport where we were sailing foiling catamarans – so we were going fast, close to the shore with a boundary race course, but we still had ropes and winches. Everything was human-powered, but we were foiling and doing stadium racing. You had to be a really good sailor to sail that boat mechanically. But it looked spectacular and fast.

“The top speed we did in one was 41 knots. We were out training before the World Series event in Portsmouth. It was reaching starts back then, and it was blowing 20-25 knots. We bore away at Mark 1 to go from a reach to downwind, and we were all drop-hiking. So it’s not like we were in the pods like we are now in the AC75s.

“We were hanging on a toe strap, drop-hiking, doing 41 knots. It was ridiculous. And I’ve never felt more vulnerable in my life on a boat!”

Photo: Lloyd Images/Getty

Make sure you check out our full list of Coolest Yachts.

AC45F stats rating

Top speed: 41 knots
LOA: 13.45m/44ft 1in
Launched: 2016
Crew: 5
Price: €675,000
Adrenalin factor: 90%

David ‘Freddie’ Carr

Freddie Carr was a cyclor in the INEOS Britannia America’s Cup team, which won the Louis Vuitton Cup. Prior to that he was part of Ainslie’s BAR Racing, as well as Team Origin, GBR Challenge, and other campaigns over 20 years of crewing in the Cup. He has also raced TP52s, Mini Maxis and Extreme 40s. See our full feature on page 40.

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The two crews are both attempting to break the non-stop, around the world record – the ‘no limits’ Jules Verne Trophy – which currently stands at 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.

Thomas Coville’s Sodebo Ultim 3 was first to start, crossing the virtual start line off Brest in western France, at 2103 last night, Friday 29 November. The ‘line’ is between Ouessant and the Lizard, UK.

The crew set off at nearly 30 knots, though this morning were some 100 miles behind the equivalent pace set by current record holder IDEC Sport.

Sodebo’s tracker shows the bid’s progress against current Jules Verne Trophy record holder IDEC Sport

In order to break the record, Sodebo will need to return to cross the line by January 9, 2025 at 2034hrs.

Francois Gabart’s SVR-Lazartigue then set off this morning, Saturday 30 November, at 08.51 (local time). They will need to return by the morning of January 10 in order to break the record.

Record-breaking routing

Both teams set off independently, but their weather routing teams have identified the same weather window which is currently forecasting the boats to reach the Equator in around five days.

In order to be in with a shout of beating the record, they will then need to be at the Cape of Good Hope within a dozen days of starting. Both teams progressively went from ‘Code Orange’ standby mode, to ‘Code Green’ before starting just 12 hours apart.

Sodebo Ultim 3 Skipper Thomas Coville sets off on a Jules Verne Trophy bid from Lorient on 29 November, 2024. Photo: Vincent Curutchet / Team Sodebo

Thomas Coville, skipper of Sodebo, explained: “The transition from orange to green is often quite brutal, you have to change mode and mentality.

“Personally, what helps me to switch is when I get dressed in my sea gear, when I put on my boots, it allows me to enter another world, that of a sailor.”

Thomas Coville (far left), Benjamin Schwartz (centre) and the Sodebo Ultim 3 crew. Photo: Vincent Curutchet / Team Sodebo

Crew member and navigator Benjamin Schwartz explained the team’s start strategy: “We will set off close-hauled/reaching to look for a first front in the south of a depression, with a tack planned for Saturday afternoon, then dive south in a wind that will pick up, so downwind.

“The objective is to go around the Azores high from the east and slip under it for a final gybe, probably Monday morning, which will take us straight towards the equator in about five days, so a little ahead of the record time.”

But he cautions: “The window is quite short, insofar as the Azores High tends to emit a ridge  (an extension)  which closes the route to Portugal, so we will have to manage to slip into a fairly narrow corridor in time.”

Jules Verne Trophy crews

Sodebo is sailing with a crew of seven: Thomas Coville, Frédéric Denis, Pierre Leboucher, Léonard Legrand, Guillaume Pirouelle, Benjamin Schwartz and Nicolas Troussel.

Skipper Francois Gabart, third from left, and the SVR-Lazartigue crew setting off on their way to the Jules Verne Trophy start line in Brest on Saturday, 30 November 2024. Photo: Clement Gerbaud/SVR-Lazartigue

SVR-Lazartigue is sailing with six: Francois Gabart, Tom Laperche, Pascal Bidégorry, Amélie Grassi, Antoine Gautier, and Émilien Lavigne.

For the Jules Verne Trophy the teams may use on shore routers, and each will have a team monitoring the weather, position of ice, and potential routing strategies. Sodebo’s is headed up by Philippe Legros and Simon Fisher, while SVR-Lazartigue’s router is Jean-Yves Bernot.

Record holders rematch

The current time was set by Francis Joyon on IDEC Sport in 2017, when his six-man crew completed a non-stop circumnavigation – in the non-foiling trimaran – at a blistering average speed of 26.8 knots.

Both skippers have claimed the solo non-stop around the world record, Coville setting a record time in December 2016 of 49d 3h 7m 38s.

Gabart set the current benchmark of 42d 16h 40m 35s the following year – remarkably just two days slower than the crewed record they are both attempting to beat, including an astonishing 24hr record of 851 miles solo.

The newest of the Ultims, SVR-Lazartigue is perhaps the most advanced design. Photo: Guillaume Gatefait

Going head to head

In 2016, IDEC Sport and Spindrift 2 set off within hours of each other, in the first ‘head-to-head’ Jules Verne attempt. Both teams made it round, but neither broke the record.

The last time two boats set off together was in 2020, when Gitana 17 and Sodebo started within hours of each other in late November.

Both retired from their attempt early: Gitana turning back after three days after colliding with a ‘UFO’ (unidentified floating object), while Sodebo had a great start to their bid – extending to over 200 miles ahead of IDEC Sport’s position, and regularly posting days with 30-35-knot averages.

But by mid-December they too had to retire, after colliding with an underwater object and damaging the starboard rudder.

The foiling Ultims are notoriously vulnerable to collisions, but in February 2024 Charles Caudrelier won the first ever single-handed around the world race in the giant trimarans, after his Gitana 17 made the circumnavigation without stopping for a technical repair (he did stop in the Azores to avoid ‘impassable’ conditions in the Bay of Biscay, with a forecast of 7-10m waves and 50 knot winds). That passage proved it can be done.

Support crew bid farewell to the Sodebo Ultim 3 crew. Photo: Vincent Curutchet / Team Sodebo

How to follow the Jules Verne Trophy

You can follow the Sodebo attempt at their own tracker dashboard, which besides boat speed, wind data etc also includes the option to message the crew and even see who is on watch.

SVR-Lazartigue also has it’s own tracker – which also shows relative position to IDEC Sport (100 miles ahead after two hours of racing), wind data etc.

If they make it that far, the two crews are also likely to overtake the Vendée Globe fleet in the southern oceans.

The post Head-to-head Jules Verne attempts: two Ultim trimarans set off to try and break 40 days around the world appeared first on Yachting World.

The 37th America’s Cup is due to start on Saturday 12 October and will see America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand taking on the first British challenger in 60 years INEOS Britannia.

The America’s Cup is a two boat match race and is a first to seven points competition (best of 13 races). Two races per day are scheduled and the competition will run daily until one team gets to the magic seven race wins.

Emirates Team New Zealand have won the last two America’s Cups but this second generation of the foiling AC75 class boats has seen all teams much closer in performance terms than the first time they were used in 2021.

For those wondering how to watch the America’s Cup there are a whole host of options and many of the America’s Cup streams are free depending which country you are in.

Read all our America’s Cup reports to catch up on the latest racing and our analysis of where each team stands.  

Looking for a free America’s Cup Sailing live stream? The event will be free in the UK on Youtube and the America’s Cup website. Full details on how to watch The 2024 America’s Cup live stream just below.

How to stream the America’s Cup in the UK for free

America’s Cup racing for the UK audience will be available on a number of platforms. The easiest way to watch the action for free will be via either the America’s Cup Website, via the America’s Cup Youtube Channel. The racing will also be available on TnT Sports – an add on to Discovery + with a cost of £30.99 per month. And it will also be available on Eurosport.

If you try to watch your domestic coverage from anywhere outside your home country, you’ll soon find a problem – geo-blocking. That’s where the broadcaster prevents you from watching your usual feed from abroad. It’s a common problem for sports fans all over the world.

By downloading and installing a VPN, you can effectively trick your computer into thinking that it’s back at home. Our sister title, TechRadar has done extensive testing of the best VPN service and Nord VPN consistently comes out on top.

How to use a VPN to watch the America’s Cup racing

Using a VPN is as easy as one-two-three…

1. Download and install a VPN – as we say, the top choice according to our sister title is NordVPN.
2. Connect to the appropriate server location – open the VPN app, hit ‘choose location’ and select the appropriate location, eg: ‘Australia’ for 9Now.
3. Go to the broadcaster’s stream – head to your home broadcaster’s site or app and watch as if you were at home – Youtube or the America’s Cup website for UK viewers.

How to watch the America’s Cup in New Zealand

New Zealand has a similar set up to the UK in that America’s Cup racing can be streamed free and live via the America’s Cup Youtube channel or via the Website.

Stuff Group and Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year entered into a partnership with Emirates Team New Zealand to provide extensive, live and lively coverage of the America’s Cup in New Zealand. You’ll be able to watch all of their coverage live via Stuff and also ThreeNow.

How to stream the America’s Cup in the USA for free

For America’s Cup viewers in the United States the options are a little more limited. America’s Cup racing will be available to stream for free via the America’s Cup website, but it will be on a 24 hour delay.

Those living in the USA and wanting to watch the America’s Cup racing action live will need to sign up to ESPN+ for the duration of the event in order to watch live. ESPN+ is $10.99 a month.

When is America’s Cup Racing 2024?

America’s Cup Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta: 22-25 August 2024
Louis Vuitton Cup: 29 August 7 October
Youth America’s Cup: 17-26 September
Women’s America’s Cup: 5-13 October
37th America’s Cup: 12-27 October

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:

1 – Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
2 – Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The post How to watch the America’s Cup live streams appeared first on Yachting World.

Foiling used to be the preserve of a select few elite-level athletes, but a couple of decades of work by enthusiasts determined to broaden participation has resulted in a slew of designs that any competent dinghy sailor can enjoy.

Inevitably some have fallen by the wayside, but others continue to go from strength to strength. Technology, materials and knowledge have all improved substantially while competition is bringing prices down.

Here are some of the best options out there for a summer of high adrenaline and high speed flying fun…

The 10 best foiling dinghies

Photo: Tamborini Alessio

Waszp

Skill level: 5-10

To date most foiling dinghies have sold in only relatively small numbers, despite the enthusiasm of many in the industry. Yet the one-design Waszp bucks that trend in a big way, with some 3,500 built over the past eight years, even though it was not conceived to make foiling as easy as possible.

It’s based on the International Moth, and even meets the admittedly few class rules, even if not competitive against the latest designs. However, that doesn’t matter to Waszp sailors thanks to 100-plus strong entry lists for the class’s own major championships (a new record is expected to be set at the 2025 event in Weymouth, UK).

Created by Andrew McDougall, who designed the extremely successful Bladerider and Mach 2 Moths, the Waszp has an emphasis on simplicity, providing it doesn’t unduly sacrifice speed. The hull shape has a little more form stability than the latest Moths, while the folding wings can be set horizontally to act as stabilisers when learning. They can then be raised progressively as you become more confident and proficient.

The wishbone boom eliminates the risk of being hit on the head and makes crossing the boat easier, while control systems are easy to use, understand and maintain.

Construction is of cored fibreglass and epoxy, rather than carbon, so the sailing weight of around 50kg is almost double that of the lightest Moths. Take-off speed is around 8 knots and can be achieved in as little as 7-8 knots of true wind. A choice of 5.8, 6.9 and 8.2m2 sails allow the boat to be sailed by people with a wide range of weight, with the small X rig providing a pathway for young sailors.

In addition to the close competition, the class also benefits from a vibrant community that goes well beyond the regatta scene, including training sessions, technical assistance, coaching and equipment recommendations.

Waszp specifications

LOA: 3.35m
Sailing weight: approx 50kg
Price: £14,250
Builder/dealer: waszp.com

Quant 23

Skill level: 3-7

This Swiss firm has been at the forefront of the foiling revolution for many years, often working in conjunction with British naval architect and inventor of the DSS foiling system, Hugh Welbourn. The Quant 23 was conceived from the outset as a boat that’s easy to fly. A combination of the broad scow hull shape, plus a 60kg ballast keel, creates a boat in which crew weight is responsible for as little as 20% of the effort required to keep it upright.

Yet for a boat of this size its power-to-weight ratio is astonishing. The 330kg displacement makes it almost two and a half times lighter than the slightly shorter J/70, yet the Quant’s upwind sail area is a third larger. Lift off with a crew of two is possible in just 6 knots of breeze, while speeds of 20 knots can be achieved in only 9 knots.

Quant is currently in discussion with a new shipyard about building future 23s with some modifications.

Quant 23 specifications

Hull length: 7.08m
Beam: 1.93m
Displacement: 330kg
Upwind sail area: 35m2
Price: POA
Builder/dealer: quant-boats.com

Skeeta and Nikki

Skill level: 2-5

The Skeeta is a small scow-shaped foiler that differs greatly from the Waszp, thanks to a broader hull shape that offers greater form stability in displacement mode – an important factor in reducing risk of capsize before the boat gets airborne and helps open foiling up to a wider audience.

The foiling system is controlled by a retractable bow wand that can be adjusted on the fly to increase or lower the ride height and quickly return to a safe displacement mode. The wand also obviates any need to adjust the angle of rudder-mounted foils while sailing.

It was created by Melbourne-based father and son team Jim and David French. Jim, a former Moth world champion, was among the early foiling Moth pioneers who realised the potential for a boat offering the same thrill of speed while being considerably easier to sail.

The Skeeta is available with 8.5 and 9.5m2 sails to suit anyone from 60-100kg and boat speed at take-off is around 7.5 knots. This can be achieved in only 4 knots of true breeze using the optional ($US3,000) Stoke Foil Boost electric drive system, which gives a speed boost to get up on the foils and thus create additional apparent wind. It can also be used to manoeuvre the boat in tight space at displacement speeds, such as when launching from a slipway in a marina.

The Nikki is based on exactly the same principles but is a smaller boat with 5.5 and 6.5m2 sails aimed at young people weighing 25-65kg (approx age 8 upwards).

Skeeta specifications

LOA: 3.66m
Hull weight: 38kg
Price: €15,935

Nikki specifications

LOA: 2.90m
Hull weight: 27kg,
Price: €11,850
Builder/dealer: skeetawatersports.com

Switch

Skill level: 4-8

This new full carbon one-design with a narrow hull form has many similarities to the Moth, but is a larger boat with different attributes intended to widen the appeal. It’s the brainchild of brothers Stefano and Gian Ferrighi, who apprenticed under Waszp’s Andrew McDougall. Sail design is by former International Moth European champion Mike Lennon of Quantum Sails.

The result is a versatile and innovative boat that can be easily converted between foiling and non-foiling modes thanks to retractable foils and adjustable rigging. Three different sail sizes – 6.5, 7.5 and 8.4m2 – use different lower mast sections. Take-off is claimed to be possible in as little as 6 knots of true wind, while maximum speed potential is a very impressive 30 knots downwind.

This ability to reach high speeds while foiling, yet offer stability and manoeuvrability in displacement mode, make it suitable for a range of sailing conditions and skill levels. It also packs down into a slender case, making for easy international transport and storage at home.

Switch specifications

Length: 3.9m,
Width: 2.25m,
Hull weight: 25kg
Price: approx £21,000
Builder/dealer: switchonedesign.com

Birdyfish

Skill level: 2-5

There are fewer two-person foiling dinghies on the market and they tend to be heavier boats than single-handers, reflecting that getting the weight of two people flying is a more significant challenge than one person.
Consequently the Birdyfish is a larger 4.7m (15ft 5in) dinghy with a scow-shaped hull and twin foils that both provide lift and contribute to stability when the boat is foiling.

This makes it an easier boat to sail than many, although take off speeds are in the 8-10 knot range, and therefore require more breeze than lighter single-handers. Nevertheless, acceleration is reported as impressive and top speeds above 20 knots are possible.

Two versions are available, differing only in their sails. The fun model has a dacron mainsail and jib, plus a nylon Code 0, while the race version has all three sails made from a high-tech membrane fabric.

Birdyfish specifications

LOA: 4.7m
Price: from €24,660
Builder/dealer: birdyfish.com

Flo1

Skill level: 1-4

The aim of this single-hander is to make foiling accessible to a wide group of sailors. It was created by a young but experienced Dutch team, combined with the foiling design nous and experience of Hugh Welbourn. It works using a pivoting daggerboard and a rudder in a cassette so can be sailed from a beach, before deploying the DSS dynamic stability foils in more open water.

Those learning can sail with both foils down for an easy flying ride. As you get more confident you can raise the windward foil up to reduce drag, while adding righting moment and power.

The challenge, says Aeronamics founder Jurian Rademaker, was to make the boat as easy to sail as an ILCA or RS Aero. They’re working with sailing schools in the Netherlands to help prove this. The epoxy foam sandwich construction has carbon fibre reinforcement, while the foils and rig are carbon composite.

Flo1 specifications

LOA: 4.25m
Sailing weight: 75kg
Price: €15,545 ex VAT
Builder/dealer: aeronamics.com

Gerys 4.7

Skill level: 2-4

If you’ve mastered sailing any boat before, that’s all you need to get aboard a Gerys 4.7 (15ft 5in), says its Brittany-based developers, brothers Erwan and Raphael Censier. This 130kg stable scow shape is designed to suit all ages and ability, can be used by one to three crew and in a variety of conditions up to 30 knots.

It also has plenty of scope for progression. It should be fun to sail in displacement mode, can take flight from 8 knots of breeze and the manufacturers report maximum speed to date of 23.5 knots.

The yard says it’s now only producing the most advanced version of the boat, which is in sandwich carbon epoxy sandwich with Corecell foam. It has delivered 12 so far.

Gerys 4.7 specifications

Hull length: 4.70m
Beam: 1.83m
Displacement: 130kg
Upwind sail area: 14.5m2
Price: €33,000 ex VAT
Builder/dealer: gerys.fr

Foiling Dinghy

Skill level: 1-5

This 3.85m (12ft 8in) single-hander has large self-adjusting and self-tacking carbon C-foils that conveniently fold under the hull for easy launching. There are also carbon T-foils on the retractable rudder to help minimise pitching when in flight.

In general the concept has been kept simple with the idea of making the Foiling Dinghy as easy to sail as a Laser. The wide hull also provides substantial form stability in displacement mode.

Hull weight is only 30kg and it can take off in as little as 8 knots wind. A choice of 7.5 and 9.5m2 sails allows for crew weights from 55-95kg. The unstayed rig means there’s no standing rigging to crash into if the boat decelerates quickly, and it also facilitates both speedy rigging of the boat and packing up after you’ve finished sailing.

Foiling Dinghy specifications

LOA: 3.85m
Beam: 1.58m
Hull weight: 30kg
Sailing weight: 55kg
Price: €18,535
Builder/dealer: ast-yachts.com

UFO 3.0

Skill level: 1-4

This small single-handed catamaran promises excellent stability in displacement mode and has Moth-style T-foils on the single daggerboard and rudder. Nevertheless, this is another boat intended to be as simple to set up and sail as possible, while at the same time offering plenty of high-speed thrills.

Reliable take-off is possible in 8 knots of true wind and a wishbone-style boom means the bottom of the mainsail is soft, making it easier for less agile sailors to cross the boat in tacks and gybes. It is also sufficiently small for a single-hander to easily right without assistance, even when fully inverted.

It was created, along with his son, Dave, by former Vanguard Boats CEO Steve Clark, who has a background in both A- and C-class catamarans, as well as Moths. The UFO was launched six years ago and more than 500 have been built by north America’s largest dinghy production operation, Fulcrum Speedworks in Rhode Island. Pricing is very competitive, in part thanks to clever industrial design that minimises the number of components, making this one of the cheapest foiling dinghies available.

UFO 3.0 specifications

LOA: 3.05m
Beam: 1.68m
Sailing weight: 50kg
Price: £9,168 ex works
Builder/dealer: fulcrumspeedworks.com

iFly15

Skill level: 3-7

T-foils on each daggerboard and both rudders of this all-carbon 15ft catamaran allows two different foil control options. The Flysafe Foil Control is an automated mechanical system that keeps the boat horizontal in both longitudinal and athwartships axes, making it ideal for people who are new to sailing a foiling boat. By contrast, the MDT Foil Control allows experienced and pro sailors to adjust the rake of the foils while sailing.

Take off when sailing single-handed can be achieved in only 6 knots of wind, though the boat is designed for crew weights of up to 140kg, so can support a second person.

iFly15 specifications

LOA: 4.63m
Beam: 2.5m
Weight: 95kg
Price: €29,980
Builder/dealer: iflysail.com

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The post The 10 best foiling dinghies: fun ways to get flying for all abilities appeared first on Yachting World.

We’re all seeking experiences. Whether that’s taking on a sporting challenge, going on above-averagely-adventurous holidays, or learning a new hobby or skill, we live in an era where ‘doing’ is more important than ‘having’. It’s evidenced by the rise in everything from ultra marathons to immersive art exhibits to Duolingo.

A travel trends report by Mastercard in 2023 found spending on experiences was up 65% over the previous four years, while spending on ‘things’ had risen just 12% .

What’s more, it makes us happy: officially. A 20-year study by Dr Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University, USA, came to the conclusion that buying possessions might bring temporary happiness, but it fades quickly. By contrast, experiences shape us – and they stay with us forever.

But if you could do anything, what would be your ‘bucket list’ sailing experience? We find inspiration in 12 great sailing adventures – some on your own yacht, some a world away…

Photo: Studio Borlenghi/ACE

1 Watch racing megastars

This year is set to be one of the biggest for competitive sailing: Paris 2024, for which the Olympic sailing regatta will be held in Marseilles; a packed summer in Barcelona ahead of October’s America’s Cup; then in November the Vendée Globe sets off from Les Sables d’Olonne. With a bit of planning you could attend some of sailing’s biggest events from your own yacht.

Berths in Marina Marseille old harbour will be hard to come by, but close by is Les Îles archipelago, where Port du Frioul is just a ferry ride away. Along the coast Port de Bouc Plaisance and Port Sausset-les-Pins have train and bus links to Marseilles. Carry-le-Rouet is closer, though its marina is suitable for shallow draught yachts only.

When it comes to choosing America’s Cup accomodation, Barcelona’s Port Olimpic marina say they aren’t yet taking reservations, but have a list of those interested and plan to allocate spots closer to the Cup. Barcelona also has a handy coastal train that connects holiday towns such as Blanes, which has a marina, to the city.

In Les Sables d’Olonne, Port Olona, is unsurprisingly full: 40 IMOCAs need to squeeze in. But consider La Baule to the north and La Rochelle to the south. Both are a couple of hours away by train, but as the IMOCA fleet gathers weeks ahead of the start there will be plenty of opportunities to see these impressive machines up close.

Photo: fairtransport.eu

2 Deliver barrels of grog

For a truly unique sailing experience, crew on a traditional sailing ship delivering cargo. Passages with open berths vary from a three-day hop transporting goods like Scottish whisky or French wines, to month-long adventures visiting multiple trading ports across Europe, or a transatlantic to collect Caribbean rum and coffee.

Expect to join a diverse, salty crew for some communal living and a degree of physical work, particularly when it comes to loading and unloading the cargo, but also to enjoy the chance to experience slow living, sailing with a true purpose, and learning traditional skills handling tall ships.

Find out more at: fairtransport.eu; grayhoundventures.com

Photo: James Kenning/WCC

3 Sail across the famous Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay has a fearsome reputation, hence most skippers looking to sail their own boats will aim to cross in summer, when there is a better chance of settled weather between May and August.

But for sailors looking to gain experience of bigger conditions, a skippered south-bound Biscay crossing can be a memorable way to make this right-of-passage crossing, and a valuable learning opportunity.

59° North and Rubicon3 both offer Biscay crossings during the ‘off’ season. This year 59° North will depart Plymouth in late September for Lagos, Portugal. Rubicon3 will be running a three-boat Biscay Masterclass, heading from Falmouth to Vigo, Spain, in October, with pre-departure workshops on heavy weather skills (last year included talks from ocean racers Mike Golding and Miranda Merron, and meteorologist Simon Rowell).

“Taking part in a training sail across the Bay of Biscay late in the season is a valuable opportunity for sailors to experience and learn how to handle heavy weather sailing. It’s something that many sailors seek, but few have the chance to practise in real-life conditions,” explains Rubicon3 founder Bruce Jacobs. “This experience is critical because it helps bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and the actual skills needed if you ever encounter heavy weather.”

Article continues below…

Sailing Biscay: Top tips for a safe and smooth crossing of the notorious bay

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Andy Schell, 59° North founder, says their Farr 65 Falken crossed Biscay in both March and September 2023. “Both offered pretty typical – read ‘heavy’ – conditions, though different. March had more heavy upwind conditions, with strong south-westerlies. September gave us a very good weather window and Falken had a heavy but mostly reaching and running passage, so it was much more comfortable.”

59° North always start their trips from the west – departing from Ireland or Plymouth. “I think the stereotypical ‘Biscay bashing’ happens most often to boats who are further inshore on the shallower continental shelf,” explains Schell. “You get this sort of worst-case scenario where cruisers who are new to offshore sailing want to go ‘offshore’ to get across Biscay, but don’t go far enough offshore to make it more manageable.”

Besides the confidence making the trip with an ocean-ready 60-footer can give, he says a westerly route offers several advantages: “easier wave action when or if the weather does pipe up; a lower risk of orcas further off the coast; and more time and sea room to heave-to when needed.”

The passage isn’t solely something to be endured, however, as crews leave an increasingly chilly Britain for some late season sun and warmth in southern Europe.

“The thought of sailing across Biscay terrified me and was far beyond what I felt capable of taking on,” says Anna Wenneker, from London, who crossed with Rubicon3. “I learned so much – be more worried about some things, and less worried about others – but I also just had a proper adventure. I usually charter a boat and have a lovely holiday, but I’ve been craving a proper sailing adventure and this was it.”

Find out more at: rubicon3adventure.com; 59-north.com

Photo: Kraken Travel

4 Sail to a rock concert on a cliff

Explore Norway’s Vega archipelago in a unique expedition available through Kraken Travel. The nine-day passage includes stops to climb the Seven Sisters mountains, sail a Nordlandsbåt fishing boat, and go on an eagle safari before the unforgettable finale – a coastal race to the truly unique Træna Music Festival.

Described as the world’s most beautiful festival, it sees live music performances atop windswept islands and even in caves and rock gorges.

Find out more at: kraken.travel

Photo: Truls Rosenkrantz/Kraken Travel

5 World’s most scenic beach clean

Kraken Travel also organises expeditions along the Helgeland coast, some of Norway’s most pristine waters – but with a twist. Run by SailNorge with Nordic Ocean Watch, the seven-night trip combines exploring stunning islands with a beach cleaning programme to help preserve the incredible ecosystem. Add archipelagos to navigate, the world’s only Arctic whisky distillery to sample, and Scandinavian saunas to enjoy, and it makes for a memorable cruise with a purpose.

“Over the past year, there has been an uptick in crew wanting to explore beyond their usual cruising grounds and get more out of their time on water,” observes Kraken Travel co-founder Mike Pickering.

“Using sailing to get closer to nature has become a common theme. There has been a real shift towards sailing holidays being more than just sailing.”

Photo: Nick Bubb

6 Cruise to a secret island

In an age where nearly the entire planet is mapped by satellite, the notion of stumbling on an undiscovered island seems destined to remain a fantasy. But there are still places in Europe where you’re likely to be the only yacht.

Despite lying midway between Madeira and Lanzarote, the Selvagem Islands are a small archipelago few cruisers have heard of. Nick Bubb, who cruised there with his family, was keen to visit the islands due to their biodiversity.

After picking up the sole mooring buoy in an anchorage to the south-west of Selvagem Grande, they met the island’s nature wardens (apply online in advance). “We had the most amazing few hours hiking among juvenile shearwaters and tracking the endemic Selvagem wall geckos. Our boys were also blown away to discover they were the only children to have landed on the islands all year.”

Photo: James Tomlinson/Waszp Class

7 Learn how to foil

No matter how many times you’ve seen it in photos, the experience of flying over water is breathtaking. Foiling is booming – not only for grand prix racers but probably at your local sailing club or beach, thanks to the popularity of wingfoiling and ever growing range of foiling dinghies.

If you fancy a go but – perhaps wisely – feel like warm water might make the learning experience more fun, many sailing beach club holidays now offer a foiling experience.

Mark Warner has foil-adapted RS Aeros, while Wildwind in Greece uses ILCA/Laser dinghies with ‘Glide Free’ foils, to let first time flyers try it out in a familiar boat.

“Foiling in a Laser is a great starting point for someone learning the ropes as it still relates to basic sailing skills meaning people with less experience can still have a go,” explains Ashley Deaton, Wildwind’s beach manager. “Being a sturdy boat, the Laser allows for you to make mistakes without the risk of hurting yourself.”

Minorca Sailing has a fleet of Skeeta and Nikki foiling dinghies. “The Skeetas are great for adults and older teenagers and come with two different size rigs depending on the conditions.

“The Nikki is ideal for children and younger teenagers – we’ve had children as young as eight years foiling. Wind conditions are also perfect to get up on the foil and sustain flight, but not so much that it becomes too much of a handful,” explains Minorca boss Ian Aldridge.

Alternatively, if you want to take on the Waszp, the one-design racing class, there’s nowhere better to learn than iconic Lake Garda. Sail Garda offers a 10-hour multi-day course for experienced dinghy sailors to get to grips with the foiling design (choose your own accommodation locally).

Find out more at: minorcasailing.co.uk; sailgarda.com; markwarner.co.uk; wildwind.co.uk

Photo: Amelia Le Brun

8 Sail a norfolk classic

Selkie is a Stiffkey Cockle owned and skippered by Blakeney local Zoe Dunford, who knows the creeks and coast waters of North Norfolk like the back of her hand – each year she walks the routes at low tide, observing the changes to the ever-shifting sand bars and channels.

She offers custom day trips that can include wild swimming and spectacular wildlife watching – at this time of year sailing past seals, terns and shelduck chicks, then skeins of pink-footed geese in autumn and winter. Rarer visitors that keen birdwatchers may spot include wheatear, greenshank and grey plover.

Though an idyllic experience to share with non-sailing family, she also frequently welcomes seasoned sailors, and can offer gentle instruction on handling the gunter-rigged Stiffkey Cockle. Selkie has a silent electric engine, and all trips include tea and homemade cake.

Find out more at: staynextthesea.co.uk

Photo: Another World Adventures

9 NorthWest passage in a lugger

Taking on the Northwest Passage in a 100-year-old, ex-herring drifter is no small challenge, but open berths are available to join the 1915-built Tecla on a series of high latitudes adventures, building up to a full Northwest Passage attempt next summer (they’ve completed it twice in 2019 and 2023).

Tecla is family owned and operated, and went through a full restoration in 2021. Twelve guest crew join three permanent crew to run a three-watch pattern and handle the twin masts and six sails – spars are traditional wooden, but sails are Dacron, and most lines now Dyneema.

This year the Tecla is setting off on a tour of the Americas, with the opportunity to join stages ranging from 10 to 50-plus days. After a Viking route passage in June from Scotland, Tecla will cruise Greenland before dipping its bows into the Northwest Passage. Then back to Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and south from Europe to the Falklands. From the Falklands, Tecla will sail to South Georgia and Antarctica, around Patagonia. After an incredible Pacific adventure, taking in Easter Island, Tahiti and Hawaii, a full Northwest Passage attempt is scheduled for July 2025 from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska – truly an adventure of a lifetime.

Find out more at: anotherworldadventures.com

Photo: Sunreeef Yachts Eco

10 Charter like a celebrity

One of the most eye-catching launches in recent years has to be the Sunreef Eco 80 with its in-hull solar panels (200,000 views and counting on our YouTube video tour). diYachting has a brand new, fully spec’d Eco 80 available for skippered charter in the Caribbean this winter. The catamaran combines electric engines and solar with luxury living (Rafael Nadal is a Sunreef power cat owner) and four crew to tend to your every need.

Find out more at: DIYachting.co.uk

Photo: SV Entropie/WCC

11 Sail across the Atlantic

Top of many sailors’ wish-lists, an Atlantic crossing is a true bluewater adventure. If you’re not in a position to skipper your own yacht across, then going for a first transat as a crewmember can be a great way to enjoy the experience without the responsibility of the preparation.

Every year dozens of sailors complete the ARC rally as charter guests – last winter, more than 160 people made the crossing as a paying guest on 21 yachts.

“Paying for a berth on a charter boat is a great way to achieve a sailing bucket list, but importantly for ARC sailors, it’s also a popular way to try out ocean sailing before committing with your own boat,” explains World Cruising Club boss Paul Tetlow.

“A boat owner planning a family and friends adventure can sail with a charter company to get an insight into the practicalities of ocean sailing as part of their decision-making process.

“An ocean crossing in any boat is a good way to work through decisions about the suitability of your existing boat, choices of essential and luxury equipment, crew and watch systems, and even fundamentally whether you like ocean sailing. Sailing with the ARC adds an extra layer of confidence that the boat has met a published list of safety requirements.”

Alternatively, you can use the uninterrupted crossing to hone a new skill. Rubicon3 offers a celestial navigation transatlantic passage each year, and they have proven highly popular (this year’s is already sold out, but there’s an eastbound transat next spring).

Bruce Jacobs, the founder, says: “Sailing is more about connecting with nature than relying on technology.

“That’s why it’s magical to have the skills to turn off the screens and plotters and use the sun, moon, and stars to navigate by.”

Find out more at: worldcruising.com; rubicon3adventure.com

Photo: Rick Tomlinson

12 go on a south Georgia photo expedition

Legendary yachting photographer Rick Tomlinson is hosting a photographic safari to South Georgia this November, aboard the Pelagic 77 Vinson of Antarctica, run by Skip Novak’s Pelagic Expeditions. The month-long expedition will set off from Stanley in the Falklands – weather permitting – on a 750-mile passage to South Georgia.

The proposed itinerary includes visiting King Haakon Bay, where Shackleton and his men ran ashore, the vast King penguin colony of Salisbury Plain in the Bay of Isles, and the former whaling station at Grytviken. Nordenskjold Glacier in Cumberland Bay East is a must-see highlight, and there will be ample opportunities to capture incredible wildlife and landscape images under Rick’s guidance.

Find out more at: pelagic.co.uk

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The British America’s Cup team has become the fourth challengers to unveil their new AC75. INEOS Britannia revealed their AC75 in the early hours of morning, as the foiling monohull – which is code-named RB3 – emerged from the INEOS Britannia base in Barcelona in preparation for having the rig stepped in readiness for its first ever sail. 

Team Principal and Skipper of the Challenger of Record,  Sir Ben Ainslie said RB3 would be “on the water very soon”.

COO David Endean confirmed the team will first perform some initial tow testing and systems checks before hoisting sails.

The British America’s Cup team’s AC75, code named RB3, came out of the shed for pre-sail preparation on Saturday 20 April.

The British America’s Cup boat was built by Carrington Boats in Hythe, on the south coast of England, before being transported to Brackley, in Northamptonshire, which is the centre for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, where the F1 Team’s Applied Science division partnered with INEOS Britannia for the design and build. On 2 April, RB3 left Turweston for its journey to Spain, arriving at the INEOS Britannia Barcelona base on 6 April, delivered by GAC Pindar.

The build has been a two-and-a-half year project, and the team now has less than four months in order to get to grips with the new sailing yacht ahead of the first Preliminary Regatta races for the AC75s on 22 August.

The INEOS Britannia shore team working on the AC75 race boat ahead of first test sails. Image: 37th America’s Cup recon

Ainslie said: “This is a big day for the team. We have been keeping RB3 under wraps for such a long time that it’s almost surreal to see her out of the shed and in public view here in Barcelona. 

“Thousands of hours of work have gone into this boat and so it’s great to finally reveal her to the world. Things are really stepping up in the campaign now, and we are looking forward to launching RB3 and getting out on the water very soon.”

British AC75 unveiled

Not all of RB3 has been unveiled – the foils appear to have ‘socks’ concealing the lower arms (teams are allowed to conceal their foils until the boats are first launched in water) – and there was no rudder in place. The eye-catching livery also has something of a ‘dazzle ship’ effect in the dark. However, the early shots suggest a flared bow, and a fairly bulbous ‘bustle’ under the hull, with a finer skeg running underneath it, which stops forward of the expected rudder position.

Bow on view of INEOS Britannia’s new AC75 showing the boat’s ‘bustle’

AC75 ‘bustles’ are designed to achieve an end plating effect between the boat and the sea, effectively sealing the boat to the water’s surface for aero and hydrodynamic efficiency – but balanced against additional drag during take-off and touch-downs. Of the four boats so far, RB3 initially looks to be among the most substantial, with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s appearing to be a finer, slimmed down design.

Each of the AC75s unveiled so far has also removed volume aft – in part a response to rule changes which mean that runners are no longer required – with RB3 showing radically sloping topsides from what we assume are the top of the cyclor pods down to the transom, meeting with a very flat under section.

The boat’s unveiling also showed the suspended aerial gantry which the team has built above the deck of RB3, a learning from its partnership with INEOS Mercedes to make key maintenance work more efficient in order to reduce time required in the shed.

INEOS Britannia has built an aerial gantry suspended above the race boat pit lane area, inspired by their partnership with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, to improve efficiency in repairs and maintenance

We’ll have a fuller analysis of the different AC75s’ hull shapes, and what the teams are aiming to achieve in the challenging waters off Barcelona, coming soon, plus more images of RB3 once the boat has been made public in daylight.

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“It has to be Monitor, of course! The father of all flying rockets!” says Desjoyeaux. One of the world’s first sailing hydrofoils, Monitor was created in 1955 by Gordon Baker, who designed military hydrofoils, and built by his company, JG Baker Manufacturing, with input from the US Navy.

“[It was] at the same stage of the current America’s Cup, with the technologies of that time,” explains Desjoyeaux. “Today, it’s very difficult to find pure innovation, as lots of solutions have been tested/tried. Most of the time, only successful ones are known. (Though I heard that at the end of the 18th century, they pulled a flying machine on Thames river, by horses running on both sides!).”

Monitor carried cotton sails and could foil in around 13 knots of wind on two ‘ladder foils’ forward and a submerged foil at the transom. Early speeds were around 25 knots, and in October 1956 it hit over 30 knots, sailing at twice the windspeed. It is now at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

Photo: Courtesy of Mariners Museum USA

Make sure you check out our full list of Coolest Yachts.

Monitor stats rating

Top speed: 30.4 knots
LOA: 7.92m/26ft 0in
Launched: 1955
Berths: 0
Price approx: $20,000
Adrenalin factor: 98%

Michel Desjoyeaux

Michel Desjoyeaux is one of France’s biggest offshore racing stars, and the only skipper to have won two Vendée Globes. He is also known for his design innovation – he was first to sail a canting keel Mini Transat design in 1991, and later developed widely-adopted designs such as IMOCA 60 kick-up rudders through his Mer Agitée racing stable.

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Less than a week after setting out from the start in Brest, the leading Ultim trimarans in the Arkea Ultim Challenge have crossed the Equator.

First to enter the Southern Hemisphere was Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue, who crossed at around 1843 (CET) this evening, with Charles Caudrelier on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild around 1.5 hours behind.

The blistering pace set by the 100ft foiling trimarans has seen the leading Ultims cover the North Atlantic, from northern France to the Equator, in six and a half days.

For context, on his 2017 record breaking solo circumnavigation Francois Gabart’s took 5d and 20h to get to the Equator, while the fastest solo time was during Thomas Coville’s previous record, in 5d 17h 11m. The fastest ever is is that of the crewed Spindrift 2 team, who sailed from Brest to Latitude 0 in just 4d 20h at the start of a Jules Verne Trophy attempt.

However, all of those record attempts were carefully timed to depart at the absolute optimum moment for a fast Atlantic passage, while the Arkea Ultim Challenge fleet set out on a predetermined race start day.

The start of the Arkea Ultim Challenge in Brest, January 2024. Photos: Alexis Courcoux

High speed solo trimarans

The Arkea Ultim Challenge, which is the first race of its kind as solo around the world non-stop in giant multihulls, set off from Brest on the West of France, on Sunday lunchtime, 7 January 2024. 

The six trimaran fleet had passed Cape Finisterre before breakfast on Monday and hurtled past the latitude of the Azores in the small hours of Tuesday. Despite being briefly slowed in the first 48 hours by a ridge of high pressure, the Race HQ frequently noted speeds of more than 45 knots at times by the fastest trio while by Wednesday, as they approached the Canary Islands, the leading boats were posting averages of 38 knots.

Vendée Globe winner Armel Le Cléac’h (Maxi Banque Populaire XI) commented after two days of racing: “At this pace we can be at the Cape of Good Hope in 12 days and at Cape Horn in 30 days. In the IMOCA it took more than double the time. It totally changes your vision of a race round the world.”

Anthony Marchand (Actual Ultim 3) agreed: “What’s crazy is this feeling of traveling very quickly, of being at the Canaries in 3 days and the Cape Verde 23 hours later.

Eric Peron on Adagio at the start of the Arkea Ultim Challenge in Brest, January 2024. Photos: Alexis Courcoux

46 knots is too fast!

The teams swiftly faced their first low pressure system, which required a mindset shift for the skippers from the first few days of closely matched sprinting.

Anthony Marchand (Actual) explained on Wednesday 10 January: “Going into 6 metre waves, after three days at sea, I feel good, I am starting to switch to ‘offshore’ mode, less in tactical regatta mode. 

“You can quickly get caught up in the game of in contact racing, which can be a bad idea.”

Charles Cauderlier on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild agreed: “For sure there is a definite, noticeable intensity between us, that’s for sure, even a little too much sometimes. 

“I calmed things down in the breeze for the boat, especially after I was hitting 45, 46 knots. That really felt a bit quick for what is, after all, the start of a round the world race!

“We started out fast but I think in time everyone will find their rhythm and it will all settle down little by little, especially as things get serious with the first depression.”

All six trimarans negotiated the first major front without incident, though experienced winds of up to 40 knots, as predicted by the shoreside routing teams each skipper works closely with 24-7.

Armel Le Cléac’h explained: “The wind strengthened from ahead as expected, pretty much as I was anticipating it to do, I had reduced sail area a lot, well in advance to tackle this slightly delicate passage. Then there was a big shift in the wind with gusts of over 50 knots. At night, in torrential rain, let’s just say it wasn’t very comfortable.”

Since flying past the depression, the Arkea Ultim Challenge fleet were in search of tradewind conditions, with the fleet splitting into pairings. At the front, SVR Lazartigue and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, with Thomas Coville on Sodebo and Armel le Cléac’h on Maxi Banque Populaire XI closely matched around behind, then Anthony Marchand on Actual Ultim 3 in 5th and Eric Peron, a late entry on Adagio, in 6th.

Thomas Coville on Sodebo racing in the Arkea Ultim Challenge, 2024. Photos: Alexis Courcoux

Long way round

Le Cleac’h revealed that he had suffered a problem with his largest headsail, the J0, which contributed to him losing touch with the leading pair.

“Two or three days ago I was still in contact with the leaders then I had a problem with a sail and it took me quite a while. I had to fix stuff and  unfortunately that left me behind. Now, though, I have found conditions that allowed me to sail quickly.

“But this course is long, I know a lot more things will happen. We must maintain our pace, our strategy with conditions which should allow us to quickly descend into the 40s.

“The idea is to get to the gates of the Indian Ocean with a boat at 100% operational capacity and to be able to attack the big South where we will have to change down the gears.”

For the leaders it now looks like a fast passage towards the longitude of Cape Town at good speeds. The wind flow around the Saint Helena high pressure system is favourable and in flat water they should be able to sail at close to maximum speed potential.

“There is no sea, no secondary swell and a very favourable weather situation,” explains  assistant race director Fred Lepeutrec from Race HQ in Brest.

“Within 48 hours, the leading duo will begin to slowly curve towards the South East, following the great circle route, the more direct route.

“It’s different to the usual sequence. With the southwest flow of the Saint Helena anticyclone, which will strengthen, they have a slant direct towards the Indian Ocean and conditions to go at their full potential.”

Follow on the live tracker at arkeaultimchallengebrest.com

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There are very few ‘firsts’ left in the world of sailing, but one such remaining barrier could be smashed when the Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest sets off from north-west France on 7 January 2024.

Since the Sunday Times Golden Globe in 1968/69 – the ‘impossible feat’ – there have been all manner of non-stop laps of the planet, from fully crewed Jules Verne Trophy and solo records, to races such as the single-handed Vendée Globe, and The Race in 2000 for fully crewed maxi-multihulls. This January sees a new pinnacle-of-pinnacles event: the first solo, non-stop, round the world race in Ultim trimarans. Six brave French skippers on their 100ft multihulls are entered.

The advancement in human endeavour and technology in this cutting edge area of sailing has been extraordinary. Thirty years ago we were in Brest for the first tentative Jules Verne Trophy attempts. Back then no one knew if sailing around the world in under 80 days was even possible: three boats set off and only one made it – Bruno Peyron’s maxi-catamaran Commodore Explorer in 79 days 6 hours.

Since then the record has been reduced by titans such as Peter Blake/Robin Knox-Johnston, Olivier de Kersauson, Loïck Peyron, Franck Cammas and, ultimately, Francis Joyon. In a quarter of a century, the record has halved with Joyon’s 105ft IDEC Sport setting the present benchmark of 40d 23h 30m 30s (at 26.85 knots average) five years ago.

You might assume that a solo around the world would be much slower, but Joyon destroyed this notion. In 2004, when the Jules Verne Trophy record was 63 days, he completed a lap in just under 73 days alone on his 90ft trimaran IDEC (also the first successful solo non-stop circumnavigation by a trimaran). The following year the UK ground to a halt for an afternoon, television dominated by live coverage of Ellen MacArthur’s arrival into Falmouth after she’d taken more than a day off Joyon’s time.

Gabart on his previous Macif Ultime. Photo: Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi

Thomas Coville took the time below 50 days in 2016 with 49d 3h, broken the following year by François Gabart’s 100ft Macif, establishing the present solo non-stop record: 42d 16h 40m 3s (just 4% slower than Joyon’s fully crewed).

While these times are impressive, they are records set in optimum, carefully selected conditions (for the first two weeks at least), whereas the Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest is a race. The solo sailors will have onshore routers, but their departure day is set, and pace likely dictated by their opponents. It’s a very different test of man and machine.

“It is something new,” says Gitana’s Charles Caudrelier. “The first time racing around the world with these big flying boats. It is a bit like the first Vendée Globe – not quite the same because we know where we are going! But it is a bit of an adventure, and I’m happy about that.”

Armel le Cléac’h in solo mode on Maxi Banque Populaire XI. Photo: Benoît Stichelbaut

The contenders

Surprisingly, skippers at all stages of their careers are competing. Amiable sea-dog Thomas Coville will be 55 when the race sets off. There is almost no major event Coville hasn’t done, from the America’s Cup to winning the Volvo Ocean Race.

Having sailed ORMA 60s, Coville moved into the record breaking business on maxi trimarans and is now on his third, Sodebo having backed him continuously. Of the six skippers Coville is the most experienced racing Ultims single-handed and is laudable for his sheer tenacity – he finally set a solo round the world record on his fifth attempt, after 11 years of trying.

At the other end of the scale, it was a surprise to learn that SVR-Lazartigue will not be raced by François Gabart, the single-handed round the world record holder and the blue trimaran’s initial skipper. Instead, taking over for solo races will be 26-year-old Tom Laperche. An engineer and highly talented sailor, Laperche is a graduate of the classic French offshore racing pathway; and has been involved with SVR-Lazartigue since its launch, racing as Gabart’s co-skipper in the last two Transat Jacques Vabre.

Anthony Marchand, 38, has also newly taken on a campaign, replacing Yves le Blevec on Actual Ultim 3 (ex-Macif) in early 2023. Meanwhile an 11th hour entry is Eric Péron on Adagio, the previous Sodebo Ultim. The boat is something of a ‘Frankenstein’ creation – recycling the 2001 maxi-tri Geronimo with appendages from 2010 America’s Cup winner USA17 – but a fast one.

Thomas Coville, on Sodebo Ultime 3. Photo: Vincent Curutchet/Team Sodebo

“I’ve been preparing for this kind of thing for years now,” said Péron. I haven’t done much preparation on the boat, but for everything else, the boxes are ticked. So, in the short time I’ve got left before the start, I hope to become at one with the machine. What motivates me most of all is the fact that it’s an extreme race, and that’s why I want to take up the challenge. Obviously, I’m not leaving totally confident. But I’m not going to give up.”

In the absence of Gabart, the two favourites are likely to be Armel le Cléac’h on Maxi Banque Populaire XI and Charles Caudrelier on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Gitana 17). Theirs are two of the best funded and oldest teams.

Banque Populaire first sponsored Joyon’s ORMA 60 in 1989 and has campaigned seven trimarans since, including building two Ultims. The team’s first Ultim had a disastrous 2018, before a final crash left it utterly destroyed during the Route du Rhum. Undeterred, the French bank set about building a replacement. Now, alongside SVR-Lazartigue, their two-year-old Maxi Banque Populaire XI is one of the newest Ultims.

SVR-Lazartigue and Banque Populaire XI are essentially VPLP designs (Ultim teams have their own in-house designers, engineers, aero- and hydrodynamists, foil and hydraulics experts), while Maxi Edmond de Rothschild is from Guillaume Verdier – Emirates Team New Zealand’s long term naval architect who has applied much of his Cup experience to the offshore trimaran.

Adagio, the previous Sodebo Ultim. Photo: Yvan Zedda

Impressive statistics

An Ultim’s length can be anything from 24-32m (78ft 8in-105ft) with a maximum beam of 23m (75ft), though in practice all six are trimarans built to, or near to the rule’s maximum. Overall mast height is less than 120% of length of the longest hull, so 38.4m (126ft). Additional rules cover minimum air draught below the beams and float volume. Water ballast, autopilots and automatic anti-capsize systems are permitted, but stored energy (produced by the crew) or the creation of inertial energy and computer or electromechanical assistance for adjusting any of the appendages is forbidden.

As with all things yachting, their quantum performance leap has come since going airborne. Today all six use a similar, complex foil configuration: on each hull is a rudder with an elevator where lift can be adjusted via a flap on its trailing edge. Midships in each float is a giant J-foil, which can be raised, lowered and its rake adjusted. Unique to the Ultims (apart from Adagio) is the daggerboard, which is fitted not only with a trim tab on its trailing edge to prevent leeway, but an elevator.

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Gitana 17). Photo: Yann Riou/Gitana

The foils and elevators are adjusted hydraulically in combination to alter, for example, fore and aft trim and ride height, depending upon the point of sail and sea state. Generally the aim is for the platform to have zero heel/pitch. Thanks to the rudder elevators the ride is very stable in pitch (unlike IMOCA 60s), the foils effectively ‘locking’ the boat to the water.

Just as America’s Cup catamarans that raked their windward rudder elevator to produce downforce (like crew on the rail), so Ultims can produce downforce with their daggerboard elevator. According to Gabart this is vital: racing an Ultim solo is about maximising efficiency so, when a gust hits, the rake on the daggerboard elevator is increased, sucking the trimaran’s main hull down. “If you release the hydraulic main sheet, it takes five minutes to pump it in again,” explains Gabart. “With this, when you are sailing at 40 knots you can add two tonnes [of down force] in one second using minimal energy.”

With their latest substantially larger foils, Ultims can fly in less wind. Originally it required 15-20 knots of wind or 26-27 knots boat speed for Macif to fly, this is now down to 12-14 knots of wind and 21-23 boat speed for SVR-Lazartigue – remarkable considering an Ultim’s 15-17 tonne displacement.

It’s similar on Banque Populaire XI, says Armel le Cléac’h. “We fly in 12-13 knots of wind or 22-23 knots of boat speed. In 15-17 knots of wind we fly upwind at 27-30 knots – that is the big step. Compared to older Ultims like IDEC in the last Route du Rhum, it’s an 8-9 knot improvement.”

Actual Ultim 3, formerly Gabart’s Macif. Photo: Thierry Martinez

Such speeds permit Ultims to become ‘masters of the weather’ – to some extent at least – often travelling so fast that their skippers can choose the weather system they can sail in. Optimum conditions for an Ultim are 15-25 knots (more than this and the sea state becomes too choppy for foiling), so they aim at the sweet spot of weather systems (flat water ahead of a warm front), which they then ride, like a surfer on a wave.

Le Cléac’h says their top speed has been 47 knots, “But that is not an objective. We want to have a good average speed: 40-42 knots for one or two hours is very good. 35-37 knots for 24 hours is very good too.”

Riding a rocketship

So how can skippers handle such a monster-sized boat that is foiling single-handed? Autopilot technology has improved to extraordinary levels of accuracy. According to Gabart, once set up, speed sailing in a straight line is not much different between solo and crewed. “Upwind or downwind VMG you are a little bit better if you are steering and others are trimming. At 65-70° TWA it is no different.”

Naturally manoeuvres are slower alone. Gabart says that going from reefed to full main might take two minutes fully crewed, but at least 10 solo. Some technology helps, like Harken’s latest generation Air 900 winches and pedestal grinders with bespoke gearing for single-person operation.

The newest of the Ultims, SVR-Lazartigue is perhaps the most advanced design. Photo: Guillaume Gatefait

While foils and many sail controls are hydraulic (SVR-Lazartigue has 23 rams), the pedestals are able to drive twin hydraulic pumps – though it requires serious manpower: “80% of the grinding is for the hydraulics,” says Gabart. SVR-Lazartigue will race with just five sails, including main and J0-J3, two permanently rigged on furlers.

Sailing at such high speeds has several effects. With apparent wind factored in, on deck there is constantly storm force, or at best gale force, winds. Human beings cannot operate for long in this and so cockpit
protection has drastically increased with some Ultims now fully enclosed.

On the latest Sodebo and SVR-Lazartigue these have moved forward. On the former, the ‘bridge’ is forward of the mast, USS Enterprise-style, while on the latter it is just aft of the mast, with jet fighter-style steering cockpits each side, complete with sliding canopies. The end result is that an Ultim’s crew rarely ventures outside, viewing the world via CCTV.

While foiling reduces hydrodynamic drag, all the teams have been focussed on reducing aero-drag. Crossbeams now have trailing edge fairings made from robust vinyl, while on SVR-Lazartigue, moving their ‘cockpit’ forward has enabled them to have an AC-style ‘deck sweeper’ boom where the deck creates an endplate for the foot of the mainsail (improving efficiency).

Tom Laperche steering, jet fighter-style, on SVR-Lazartigue. Photo: Guillaume Gatefait

To finish first…

For the teams, the principal hurdle of the Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest will be finishing. The major worry on such a long race is reliability. To prevent structural failures Ultims have load cells, the output from which is monitored in real time. Otherwise teams have simply been racing and sea trialling as often as possible in all conditions.

This year’s Transat Jacques Vabre’s heavier conditions were ideal, enabling the double-handed teams to really push the boats harder. While all the Ultims finished, some were in better shape than others, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild suffering rudder and foil issues while Sodebo Ultim’s starboard rudder sheared off after a collision with an underwater object.

“The main problem will be to have all of the boats finishing the race in good shape,” says Caudrelier, who says it will take a new approach from his previous crewed around the world races. “Always you push to the maximum, but this time you can’t do that and we will have to find a good balance between performance and safety for the boat. That is quite an interesting exercise and also managing a boat like this alone for 45 days.”

Éric Péron explains: “On these boats, a small incident can immediately put us out of the race, because nothing can be replaced on our own. The boat is so big that there’s not much we can do to fix it with what we’ve got on board.”

Antoine Gautier, head of the design office at Mer Concept (behind SVR-Lazartigue) adds that their enormously complex boat will be simplified: “We are going to have less systems on board to make it simpler and more reliable. There are some things which won’t make much difference on a round the world race.”

Armel le Cléac’h at Banque Populaire’s mission control/protected pod. Photo: Vincent Curutchet/ Hublot Sailing team

Capsize was once a major concern, but for Ultims today is – apparently – almost a non-issue. The multihulls are simply huge, and their rigs are now stepped almost two thirds of the way back from the bow, to prevent pitchpoling. As Gautier explains: “The boats are definitely safer than any multihulls before. There are no more pitchpoling issues and in terms of heel stability, you almost can’t heel because the leeward foil is pushing up so much. That is why they are able to sail so fast, even short-handed – because the boats are very safe and you don’t feel in danger.”

Nonetheless they do still have inclinometers which can automatically dump hydraulics (eg mainsheet) or mechanically release headsail sheets if heel is excessive.

Of greater concern are elements beyond the skipper’s control: collision. AIS and radar target alarms substantially reduce the chance of an Ultim hitting another vessel, but the threat of a ‘UFO’ (unidentified floating object) remains. As Gautier says: “Collision is the biggest fear for all of us. If you hit something at 30-plus knots it is the end of your race. The boat which is going to win will be the one which has all its appendages at the finish. It is Russian roulette and you can’t do anything about it. This is not a fun part of the sport, but it is the same for any race like this.”

To help prevent such collisions Ultims are all fitted with SEA.AI (previously known as OSCAR) a camera mounted at the masthead that can ‘see’ ahead both in daylight and at night, using infra-red. Images are compared in real time with a giant database to establish whether something ahead represents a collision threat.

Ultims raced each other double-handed in the November 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre – won by Armel le Cléac’h/Sébastien Josse in Banque Populaire XI. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot/Alea

There are other factors too that will come into play: a good deal of luck, undoubtedly, but also the skill, experience and motivation of the skippers. Caudrelier has perhaps the most experience in his boat and over the last three years has won most races, but he has never raced solo around the world. “This is my Vendée Globe” he acknowledges.

By contrast Le Cléac’h has completed three Vendées, on the podium every time. However his recent victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre was his first in an Ultim. For Coville, this might be his last lap? While for Laperche this will be his first big Ultim event and proving himself is a key objective.

What is certain is that this will be the ultimate contest between some of the world’s most talented offshore sailors. How many will make it round? And for those that do, it could be the fastest ever round the world race, so all the action will unfold quickly. Follow at arkeaultimchallengebrest.com

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The post Six solo skippers ready to race 100ft foiling multihulls around the world appeared first on Yachting World.

Ahead of me, the bow of Medallia is pointing at the sky. This is not poetic license; I am actually looking upwards at my bowsprit as it rises up, 50ft in front of me and some 3m higher than I am. In that split second, I can barely compute what is happening.
My brain just starts to grasp the situation when Medallia levels out and shoots forwards. I watch the speed log flick from 26 knots to 27, 28, 29 knots. The acceleration is actually insane. The foils are humming. Occasionally the windward foil grazes the waves and sprays me with a wall of water. Medallia, newly refitted and modified, is just one hour into our first commissioning sail and I have no doubts that we have indeed turbocharged our IMOCA 60.

The IMOCA class is in the midst of a boom. There are now over 50 international teams running these 60ft ocean racing beasts. The Vendée Globe has expanded its entry list to 40 candidates for the next edition in 2024 while The Ocean Race has been reborn as a crewed IMOCA event, with teams smashing the 24-hour monohull record.

Sponsors are flocking to the class and team budgets have never been higher. There are 14 new boats in build and the first two-boat campaign (Thomas Ruyant and Sam Goodchild’s For People and For Planet) was launched earlier this year. It’s an exciting time to be part of this class, but it’s tough for a small team like mine, based outside France, to stay competitive.

When I finished my first Vendée Globe in 2021, I had already started planning for the second race and I knew I wanted a competitive entry. I had the support of Leslie Stretch, CEO of my title sponsor Medallia, but with neither the time nor the funds for a new boat (around €6 million and two years to design and build), I had to look at existing boats.

There were no 2020 generation boats for sale, so we settled on the best previous generation boat on offer – the VPLP/Verdier-designed Banque Populaire VIII, in which Armel Le Cl’éac’h won the 2016 Vendée Globe and set the course record. One of the first to be designed and built with foils, it was strong, well proven and successful. But when we bought it in 2021, I had now idea how the class would grow and how much it would advance – or how much we’d have to do to Medallia to keep pace.

New 5.4m long foils are a huge jump from Medallia’s previous 3.4m appendages. Photo: Lloyd Images

A meeting of minds

Because of changes to the qualification rules for the next Vendée, there is precious little time in the four-year cycle when the boats can be out of action. The only window we had to refit Medallia was early 2023, before the all-important qualification races started. Joff Brown, our technical director, and I started with a tour of the pontoons at the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre start, taking photos and making notes of all the trends, features and ideas we could see on other boats.

I knew I wanted big foils. At the other end of the scale, two skippers – Jean Le Cam and Eric Bellion – are building new yachts with daggerboards (both David Raison designs). The ultra experienced ‘King Jean’ Le Cam believes the all-round performance of a daggerboard boat, combined with the reduced risk of performance limiting damage to foils, could win the race. The speed differential between a boat with big foils and one with none can be huge – over 15 knots at the biggest extremes – but foils are only activated in the right conditions, namely reaching.

When boats are not reaching, speeds between foilers and daggerboard boats can be similar, particularly in lighter airs and when dead downwind or upwind. But, despite having seen non-foilers do well on shorter qualification courses, my opinion is still that the benefit of big, powerful foils at key moments in the race will outweigh the all-round performance of a more traditional design.

The foil design for this latest generation of boats has become a lot more homogeneous compared to the early 2020 designs, and most foils sit somewhere on a continuum between a C shape, which has a smooth, steady curve, and an L shape, which has more of a hard elbow. In general, the C shape is thought to be faster and to give a more consistent flight in big breeze downwind conditions (as seen with Malizia in The Ocean Race) while an L shape is better for reaching and upwind so provides more all-round performance.

One happy skipper! Pip Hare reports that Medallia’s performance has been turbocharged by the changes. Photo: Lloyd Images

The IMOCA class rule now caps the maximum foil extension to 5.75m from the centreline, so the other significant variation is the angle and height at which the foil leaves the hull. In general terms, a flatter foil, which leaves the hull at a shallow angle, will provide less side force against leeway but will be better in downwind conditions, where it will be able to lift the bow out of the water at lower speeds. It’s also worth remembering that these big foils do not need to be used at full extension; the power and lifting ability can be regulated by trimming how far out they go.

For Medallia I didn’t want to go too extreme; I don’t want or need to be the fastest on the track, I need to be capable of sustained high performance yet still be able to back off and sail in ‘safe mode’ when the need arises. The Vendée Globe is about fast averages, reliability and problem solving, and the fastest boat on paper will not necessarily be the winner. I wanted a yacht that would have the best potential for me, a 50-year-old woman, racing in my own style.

With ideas starting to form, the next step was to select a designer to work with. To ensure easy access to our boat’s original drawings, we spoke to the two design houses that had conceived the boat: VPLP and Verdier. Both designers impressed on me the importance of modifying the shape of our bow, and that new foils alone would not work.

Through the evolution of two design cycles since my boat was launched, bow shapes have changed to produce increased performance downwind in big waves. With average speeds of over 20 knots, the IMOCA fleet regularly travel faster than the waves and the boats are now designed with a view to jumping over the wave ahead rather than ploughing through it.

A 15m2 deck section was removed and rebuilt. Photo: Lloyd Images

This is achieved by increasing the overall volume in the bow, while lifting the entry so the stem sits clear above the waterline. Both design houses emphasised that the most effective bow modifications for Medallia’s existing bow shape would involve remodelling the first 5-7m of the underside, to start lifting up to the bow from just aft of where the new foils would sit. But even a modest change in shape would have a significant effect.

Eventually my choice of designer was a no-brainer. Guillaume Verdier is a genius, undoubtedly one of the greatest yacht designers of our time; I was more than a little starstruck. However, what sold it for me was that he really listened to me. He was excited by the prospect of keeping an older boat in the game rather than building a new one. He steered me towards an existing foil design and I agreed that this would be the cost effective and expedient solution for us.

Fairly quickly we needed to select contractors: Jason Carrington in the UK for the structural work and CDK in Brittany for the foils, benefitting from their prior experience building the boat’s set of foils. It slotted together perfectly. We also needed to consider whether collaborating with another team would work for us. After a chance encounter with the Holcim-PRB team, on the cross-Channel ferry of all places, a conversation grew. They were generous with their knowledge and we decided to collaborate, sharing foil design. Then we’d make the biggest bow modification we could afford with as much budget as we could muster.

Article continues below…

World’s fastest monohull: Malizia-Seaexplorer IMOCA 60

Followers of the IMOCA 60 fleet will know that two names have dominated the class over the past two generations when…

Extraordinary Boats: the new 11th Hour Racing IMOCA 60

For decades the whole point of designing an IMOCA 60 has been to win the Vendée Globe solo round the…

Verdier’s design team came to inspect the boat and talk us through each one of the many decisions we had to make. At this point I stepped back from the process as over 2022 I took part in four races, three of which were solo. My objective was to finish the year with a top 15 position in the Route du Rhum, competing against the skippers with four years’ experience in boats with big foils. It went well, and though I just missed out on a top 10, I ended up 12th, with an overall incredible ranking of 8th in the IMOCA Globe 2022 series.

After the Route du Rhum we sailed back from Guadeloupe as fast as possible, picking our way through some big weather systems. As soon as we arrived back in Gosport, the boat was stripped of her mast and keel, then taken to Carrington Boats in Hythe, near Southampton, after Christmas where it was pushed into the shed for six months of work.

No turning back once the bow was sliced off. Other changes that aren’t so visible include new foil cases and bulkheads. Photo: Lloyd Images

The first cut

It was a shock when the first angle grinder sliced through the hull. Within a matter of days, the bow had been cut off and a 15m2 section of deck over the existing foil cases had been removed. Seeing the pictures, I remember feeling sick. It was the first and only time I doubted my decision. Ripping out the old structure was loud, messy, and quick. Our new foils are further forward and a completely different shape so we needed to rip out the old foil cases, make good the holes in the hull, then drop in the new structure, along with an extra bulkhead just in front.

Besides adding the new bulkhead we had to reposition watertight hatches, add structure supporting the new foil cases, a grid of beams in the aft of the boat to protect against slamming, shrink the internal water ballast tanks and move our foredeck hatch forward and off centre.

While all this was going on, our own team still needed to carry out usual winter refit work, including servicing every element of the boat after a long year on the water, and a planned upgrade to our onboard electronics.

The new foils are made end-on, now a fairly common practice that addresses the problem of separation of layers when the foils reverse load. Photo: Lloyd Images

Our new foils look refined and beautiful, a true work of art in form and in function. They’re 5.4m long with a chord of 60cm, and beside them our old 3.4m foils look like tiny penguin wings. Nevertheless, they somehow look too fragile to lift nine tonnes of boat clear out of the water, and the fine tips seem ridiculously small – but they can, and they do.

On a beautiful sunny morning in June, we wheeled the new hull of Medallia out of the shed. Over six months since the refit started and from the outside Medallia did not look that different, apart from the bow modification – the raw potential was all hidden inside.

We dropped into the water and motored to Gosport. Two days later the keel went on and the foils were ready to fit. Medallia sat on the high cradle, 5m in the air, with a crane suspending the foils alongside. We made clamps to grip the foils in place, then a handy billy purchase system to allow fine adjustment of the tip and shaft height to precisely line up with the bearing.

All hands on deck – the entire Pip Hare Ocean Racing team gets stuck in prepping Medallia before relaunch. Photo: Lloyd Images

Moment of truth

Fitting the foils was the moment of truth. The sight of the first foil at full extension brought tears to my eyes. It was magnificent. The new Medallia was revealing itself, just like a 2024 generation boat, as if the foils were always meant to be there, and exactly how we had planned it should be. I was relieved, intimidated, excited and proud all at the same time.

The skill involved in the design, build and fit of these foils with such exact precision is phenomenal. The foil bearings must fit to the millimetre – and the casings, pivots, positions and exit points for foil lines must be exactly right. The engineering is fine and precise, yet the boat must withstand Southern Ocean conditions. The IMOCAs may be much heavier than the foilers of Sail GP or the America’s Cup, but the design and build process is every bit as ingenious and rigorous.

With both foils in, Medallia is too wide to launch with a travel lift. Instead, it had to be picked up from points on deck – forestay and backstay fittings – then craned out over pontoons and bridgeheads to a berth. Once the boat was in the water, the mast was stepped and we completed the final stages of measurement with a 90° pull-down test, where the boat is tipped over by attaching a strop to the keel, then lifted until the mast is parallel to the water. The measurer notes the righting moment exerted on the mast tip at that angle and measures how far above the water the centreline of the hull sits.

Nine tonnes of yacht rides on slim carbon foils. Photo: Lloyd Images

Hitting 30 knots by accident

“We’re going to take it easy. This is just a chance to make sure everything works,” I said before our first sail trial. We needed to make Medallia fit to sail, to recommission, to ensure the boat was functional and safe. Nothing more. But from the moment we left the dock, I could feel a boat that wanted to go. The relief to be back on the water was huge.

We sailed out of Portsmouth Harbour, and gently wound the boat up, checking mast alignment, rig tensions, looking for leaks, listening for sounds out of the ordinary. We unfurled the sails, put reefs in and shook them out, methodically going through our commissioning checklist, hypervigilant for anything that looked not quite right. We had agreed not to use our more powerful offwind sails but to stick with mainsail and jib for the test sail.

Capturing data. Pip Hare now has a year to work up Medallia’s new performance ahead of the 2024 Vendée Globe solo race. Photo: Lloyd Images

The water was flat and, as we sailed to the east, the boat slipped easily through the water. “Let’s try a foil,” I said.

Gingerly, we dropped the leeward foil down to 100% extension. Joff had his head inside the case to watch the blade slide through the bearing. Yes, he called up, everything looked OK.

As we emerged from the wind shadow of the Isle of Wight the wind started to build, a couple of knots from 15 to 18 knots true. Suddenly, everything changed. The foils started howling, then screaming. There was a gust of wind and the bow reared up, high into the air. I was braced to broach, to fall backwards or fall bow first downwards, but instead we levelled off and Medallia took off at a sprint.

The speed felt incredible: easy and natural. I’d got used to deluges of water barrelling down over the deck and knocking me off my feet at these speeds in our previous configuration, but instead there was an occasional shower of spray as the windward foil touched the water, and it was quite bearable with the cockpit coachroof pushed forward and the back half of the cockpit open to the elements.

Medallia gets relaunched; fitting the millimetre-precise foils and bearings, which allow the foils to rake 5° fore and aft. Photo: Lloyd Images

The power of Medallia was incredible, I tried to slow down by easing the mainsheet and I failed. I tried again, but there was still no let-up in speed. Joff was shouting at me from down below that we’d agreed to keep it conservative. It was time to put out the fire. I turned the bow downwind, we sank down to sea level and relative calm was restored.

We’d seen a tiny fraction of what this boat is capable of and it’s phenomenal. The new IMOCAs have been logging top speeds of 40 knots, the 24-hour monohull record has been smashed during the Ocean Race to an epic 641 miles – an average of 26.7 knots. I expect my revamped eight-year-old boat to achieve top speeds in the high 30s.

Yet even from that first sail it’s obvious these bow-in-the-air performances are not sustainable when sailing solo, or indeed the key to a good Vendée performance. My job over the next year is to learn how to control this beast, to moderate the power, to tame the foils, to adapt to a sailing style that suits me at the right level of risk. This type of solo ocean racing is not a demonstration of machismo. We have incredible power at our fingertips and we need to use it wisely.

Latest generation IMOCA 60 foil designs

Photo: Ricardo Pinto/Team Malizia

Malizia-Seaexplorer changed to C-foils during The Ocean Race, which proved fast in the Southern Ocean, big breeze reaching and downwind conditions, where they were more able to keep the bow clear of the water when catching up waves.

Photo: Thierry Martinez/11th Hour Racing

The 11th Hour Racing’s L-foils have a tighter angle at the elbow which results in a greater depth and shorter span – this will help keep the bow higher, but is less effective at lateral resistance. Medallia’s have a slightly shallower angle that gives a more all round performance.

Photo: Lloyd Images

Our foils are made end-on, now a fairly common practice that addresses the problem of separation of layers when the foils reverse load. Reverse load happens when the foils present to the water at an angle or in a way that creates an upwards force on the elbow and bends the foils in the opposite way. This scenario pulls the foil apart at the elbow, forcing horizontal layers of laminate apart. To guard against the problem, rather than building the foils from the bottom up, they’re built from front to back. Thin strips the length of the foil, known as boomerangs, are laid up individually then glued together to form a base structure from which the foil shape is milled. This is then wrapped with final layers of carbon.

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The 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards were presented to Tom Slingsby and Kirsten Neuschäfer last night at a ceremony by World Sailing in Málaga, Spain.

The popular choices were decided by both an expert panel and a public vote, with Australian America’s Cup and SailGP skipper Slingsby separated from his nearest fellow nominee by a winning margin of fewer than 20 votes.

This is the third time Tom Slingsby has been named male Rolex World Sailor of the Year. After steering his Australian SailGP Team to a third consecutive title in the foiling racing series, he remains the only skipper to have won the SailGP trophy. A multiple world champion in dinghy classes, he is also skipper of American Magic, who won the first Preliminary event in the 37th America’s Cup cycle earlier this year, and will be challenging for the Cup next year in Barcelona.

Tom Slingsby at the World Sailing Awards 2023, Malaga, Spain on 14th November 2023. Photo: Mark Lloyd/World Sailing

Slingsby said: “I’m super humbled to be in this position. Previously when I’ve won this award, it’s been after a Laser world title or a Moth world title but this time it was purely sailing with teams.

“American Magic have had a rough journey so far in their America’s Cup campaign but it feels like we’re really turning a chapter and there are really exciting things to come.

“And then with the Australian SailGP team, these are some of my oldest and best friends in the world and I’m so fortunate to go sailing with them and I’d be nothing without those guys behind me.”

South African Kirsten Neuschäfer is the female 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year, after becoming the first woman to win a solo or non-stop around the world race when she finished first in the ‘retro’ solo Golden Globe Race earlier this year. Neuschäfer is famously diverted course to pluck fellow Golden Globe Race competitor Tapio Lehtinen after Lehtinen’s boat sank and he spent 24 hours adrift in the southern Indian Ocean.

Via video message, Neuschäfer said: “It’s such an incredible honour to be a nominee among such amazing, acclaimed and iconic sailors, but to win this award, to be given this recognition by such an esteemed panel of judges and by the public means so, so much to me. Thank-you to everyone who has believed in me and cheered me on.”

11th Hour Racing Team won the team of the year. Photo: Amory Ross/11th Hour Racing

Sailing team of the year, sustainability, and Beppe Croce Trophy

Other award winners include 11th Hour Racing, which was named Team of the Year after winning The Ocean Race.

The 11th Hour Racing Team, skippered by Rolex World Sailor of the Year nominee Charlie Enright, won the 2022-23 Ocean Race, becoming the first American team to win the crewed round the world race (formerly the Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race) and also the first non-French team to win an IMOCA round the world race. The had very mixed fortunes in the race – struggling with damage early on before finding consistent form.

The American team also shared their spare rig with Guyot environment, which enabled the French team to stay in the competition, before – in a dramatic twist of fate – Guyot environment crashed into 11th Hour Racing at the start of the final stage. 11th Hour Racing were awarded redress which sealed the overall race win.

The team also had a strong sustainability agenda, with a number of initiatives to improve ocean health and carbon tracking during their race yacht build.

The Magenta Project won the 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award.

Dick Rose received the Beppe Croce Trophy for his dedication to the Racing Rules of Sailing which has spanned over thirty years, and the President’s Development Award went to the Andrew Simpson Foundation. The foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, having been started in memory of Olympic gold medal winner and America’s Cup winner Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson MBE who tragically passed away during a training accident in 2013 aged just 26.

AC40s sailing ahead of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta 2023 Photo: Ugo Fonollá/America’s Cup

AC40 named boat of the year

The AC40 was named Boat of the Year, the foiling one-design, created by Emirates Team New Zealand, will be used for two Preliminary events in the America’s Cup cycle before being the race boat for the Youth America’s Cup and first ever Women’s America’s Cup next year. The innovative and technologically advanced yacht features self-tacking headsails and an autopilot control system that maintains stable flight.

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French duo Armel Le Cléac’h and Sébastien Josse sailing Maxi Banque Populaire XI have won the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023, crossing the finish line at 18:19hrs local time (22:19hrs UTC) on Sunday 12 November.

The biennial, double handed classic – which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary – started from Le Havre, France on Sunday 29th October, though due to significant depressions forecast in the Atlantic, the Ultime fleet were the only boats to set off on their Atlantic crossing, with others racing a shortened course and the IMOCA fleet held ashore.

The five-strong Ultime fleet sailed a 7,500 mile course south to round Ascension Island before turning back northwards to skirt the South American coast and finish in Martinique.

The elapsed time for the Banque Populaire XI duo is 14d 10h 14m 50s. They sailed the theoretical course at an average speed of 21.66 knots. They actually sailed 9263 nautical miles on the water at an average speed of 26.75 knots.

Banque Populaire XI closing in on the TJV finish. Photo: Jean-Marie Liot / Alea

Whilst SVR Lazartigue (François Gabart and Tom Laperche) led out of the Channel and on to the Bay of Biscay, Banque Populaire XI made their winning move at Madeira, and has led since just after Ascension Island and was never overtaken since emerging the most southerly mark of the course.

When Le Cléac’h and Josse finished, their nearest rivals were just over 160 nautical miles behind. The French duo of Gabart and Laperche on SVR Lazartigue finished the race in second on Sunday at 23:10hrs local time (Monday 03:10hrs UTC).

“We’re pleased to be here and have crossed the Atlantic, but a bit disappointed, as we would have liked to have won,” said Gabart who is handing the boat over to Laperche after this race. “We were up against people stronger than us. I don’t think we missed any strategic or tactical choices, but they were fast, very fast downwind. They sailed well and deserved to win. We are going to have to continue to progress and I hope Tom will win the next one. This has been a long series of second places since 2018. The positive thing is that each time, we’re not far off it. We’re close to winning, which is great. We have had some fantastic races, got it right, enjoyed ourselves, but it would nice to win.”

SVR Lazartigue approaching the finish to take second place.Photo: Jean-Marie Liot / Alea

On his seventh challenge it is the first time the 2016-17 Vendée Globe winner Le Cléach has triumphed on the Transat Jacques Vabre whilst Josse won the 2013 Multihull race as skipper of the MOD 70 Edmond de Rothschild, sailing with Charles Caudrélier.

In front of a huge, noisy crowd which turned out to greet the first finishers as the race returns to Martinique for the second time, Le Cléach enthused, “This is a mythical course which it is great to finally win on. Victory is very much about the fruits of our work as a team, optimising and stabilising the boat, improving the performance of the boat which we have demonstrated on this course with very good speeds, with a great co-skipper in Sébastien. It was a super course.”

Josse, who has been with the team for over a year now and helped Le Cléac;h prepare for last year’s Route du Rhum, confirmed, “There is the satisfaction of doing a job well, the two of us together and with this team, sailing with Armel is incredible, we were always working looking for speed and performance from the tough conditions coming out of the Channel across the Bay of Biscay, coming back at François after he led, and being able to always be pushing for speed, it is very satisfying and to learn more about the boat over mile after mile, to find good speeds and with good humour is very satisfying.”

Le Cléac’h highlighted, “All of the course was fast, we were sitting at 35 knots and more for a lot of today. This is a boat which is coming of age, which is getting to its stage of maturity, thanks to the work of this team. It is a long time since I started a race like that we had 30-35 and up to 40 knots off Cherbourg after the start but the boat was super good. We were always in the match.”

You can follow the TJV via the official race tracker.

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Wow…! This foil-assisted, ultra-lightweight superyacht breaks new ground in many respects and Baltic says it is “one of the most extreme yachts” the yard has built in its 50-year history. Raven is designed to sail partly on her leeward chine, with giant T-foils providing the bulk of stability, plus some vertical lift, while a 9.3-tonne bulb at the end of a precision engineered 5m-deep fixed fin keel provides additional righting moment.

There have, of course, been many standout superyachts over the past few years, yet it’s still extraordinarily rare to come across a yacht like Raven. This 34m foiling beast blends virtually unprecedented performance potential with light displacement and a level of luxury that’s rarely encountered on such fast yachts.

The T-foils are mounted on hydraulically operated arms capable of supporting a sizeable proportion of the boat’s displacement, while fore and aft trim is controlled by vertical trim tabs at the transom. In addition, water ballast tanks in each aft quarter provide a further boost to righting moment when necessary.

Raven’s speed potential is such that sailing her will have more of the feel of a giant performance multihull than a conventional monohull. The apparent wind will be so far forward, even when the true wind is well aft of the beam, that the mainsail is expected to be permanently sheeted home, with minor trim adjustments made using the traveller in exactly the same fashion as MOD70 and Ultime trimarans.

Beyond that, the sail plan and rig is relatively conventional, with a Southern Spars carbon mast and North Sails 3Di headsails using Helix structured luff technology, plus a full complement of Code and asymmetric sails set from an 8m bowsprit. The yacht is primarily sailed from a cockpit right aft that has shelter from the elements at the forward end, as well as access to the accommodation.

A cruising yacht that’s likely to break speed records

Shaving savings

Even in this part of the market the unavoidable hotel systems on board add a considerable amount of extra weight. Naval architects Botin Partners, structural engineers Pure Design and the builders have gone to extreme lengths to keep light displacement down to only 55 tonnes, a considerable saving on the typical figure of 75-100 tonnes for an all-carbon performance superyacht of this size.

Achieving such a light displacement required far more than simply the carefully engineered and executed carbon/Nomex construction. A forensic approach was taken to minimise the weight of all systems and components, right down to every pipe clip, nut and bolt. This included shaving 100g off every carbon pipe bracket, switching steel hydraulic pipework for lighter hoses, which alone saved 160kg, and reducing the weight of shower doors from 13.5kg/m2 to only 2.3kg/m2.

Despite the cost implications, carbon moulds were used for the hull and deck as they’re less susceptible to distortion due to changes in temperature. This means less fairing was required than usual, with savings in both the weight of filler and paint. Equally, in-house 3D printing was used to optimise custom items, including the complex titanium head of the retractable hybrid propulsion system.

Finnish concept designer Jarkko Jämsén developed Raven with her owner and is responsible for the yacht’s styling, including exposing elements of the carbon structure to create a unique interior aesthetic. Raven is finished to a an uncompromised level of luxury, with an interior fitted out to a far higher degree than is common for ultra-high performance yachts of this size. “Although weight has been scrutinised and massively optimised, Raven still fully supports a superyacht level of systems and comfort,” Baltic’s executive vice-president, Henry Hawkins, told us.

There are saloons fore and aft of the big central guest cockpit area, with the forward one incorporating galley and dining areas, while the aft section incorporates the owner’s sleeping accommodation. Aft of this the hull is largely empty, but forward there’s accommodation for four guests in two cabins, plus extensive crew accommodation. The latter is an important element in attracting top talent.

The unusual rattan deckhead and bulkhead finishes are extremely lightweight, while the exposed carbon adds visual interest and further reduces the amount of filler and paint required. Equally, the distinctive furniture framework is made of hollow carbon piping, while structural bulkheads have a Nomex core.

Raven’s owner also understands that sailing the yacht at high speeds will be noisy, so the absence of the usual sound-deadening materials fitted to superyachts represents another large weight saving.

Exposed carbon and rattan deckhead and bulkhead finishes below help contribute to a lightweight yacht

The yacht will be used primarily for day sailing, but will also undertake high-speed, long-distance passages. On deck the unique ‘bird’s nest’ cockpit well is intended as a two-way observation dome – crew on deck can see the yacht’s stunning interior, while those below can see the action outside. Extensive Perspex glazing is sealed using foam to minimise weight, while the carbon mullions are hand painted to resemble timber.

Interiors of largely flush-decked yachts can be disappointedly dark by today’s standards. To further alleviate this Baltic has resorted to a traditional approach: deck prisms that illuminate spaces more efficiently than simple glazed panels of the same size. The yard brought this concept fully up to date using carbon and Perspex instead of bronze and solid glass, saving a considerable amount of weight in the process.

“The boat is primarily for pure enjoyment and the owner likes the challenge of doing something that hasn’t been done before,” says the owner’s project manager, Garth Brewer. “He really understands the technical elements and this will be a development project which will require a measured approach.”

Record breaker?

Initial sea trials took place in early August, without foils, then the boat was hauled out the day before we spoke to the team for the foils to be added, ahead of a second phase of trials that took place in recent weeks/

Given the complexity of this yacht and the scale of the project, it’s no surprise that the post-handover development phase is expected to take roughly 12-18 months, significantly longer than the 8-12 months typically needed for smaller foiling raceboats such as IMOCA 60s.

“A significant sail and considered performance testing programme is planned,” confirms Baltic Yachts project manager Sam Evans. “This will include the boat’s core crew, plus a hugely experienced larger sailing team, which has experience across the board including the America’s Cup, The Ocean Race and SailGP.”

Raven’s potential performance data is subject to a confidentiality agreement, but it’s clear this yacht is one that has potential to break many records, including the 24-hour monohull distance record of 641.13 miles (subject to ratification) set by Team Malizia in the last edition of The Ocean Race.

“This project undoubtedly represents one of the biggest challenges Baltic Yachts has ever embraced,” adds Hawkins. “But that is what we do – we have a long history of bringing leading edge innovation to the fore.”

Baltic 111 Raven specifications

LOA: 34.0m 111ft 6in
LWL: 33.1m 108ft 7in
Beam: 7.40m 24ft 3in
Draught: 4.80m 15ft 9in
Light displacement: 55,000kg 121,000lb
Ballast: 9,300kg 20,500lb
Builder: balticyachts.fi

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The Transat Jacques Vabre is one of the ultimate tests of short-handed racing, a double-handed dash from France that sees many of the world’s top racing machines take on the North Atlantic in often brutal winter conditions. The 2023 edition will start on Sunday, 29 October almost exactly 30 years after the first edition of the event back in 1993.

Huge Transat Jacques Vabre fleet

The competitors taking on this gruelling ocean sprint are a true ‘who’s who’ of offshore sailing. The numbers are impressive, 190 sailors, 95 boats, 17 nationalities and 77 race first-timers are set to take part in the event for the first time.

Fleet sizes are similarly massive with fully 40 IMOCA 60s registered and 44 Class 40s. Add in six Multi 50s and an incredible five giant 100ft foiling Ultime trimarans, and you can quickly see that the 2023 Transat Jaques Vabre is a collection of some of the absolute best offshore sailors in the world.

Charlie Dalin onboard his new Macif was once again the stand out performer in the 2023 Fastnet Race

Incredible IMOCA 60 line-up

With just one year to go until the Vendée Globe this race is a key part of many teams’ preparation programme – and with many still to get their full qualifying mileage under their belts it is a vital part of qualification for a good number of sailors. Most of the new IMOCA 60s that have been built to challenge for the 2024 Vendée Globe are now on the water, so this represents a great barometer for where each team sits in the pecking order.

It’s hard to look past Charlie Dalin in the his new Macif IMOCA. The Frenchman, who has dominated much of the racing in this fleet in recent years, won his first big race on the new boat, the Fastnet Race, earlier this year. He will once again be sailing with Pascal Bidégorry and the two have proven a very effective team.

In the Fastnet Dalin and Bidégorry where pushed hard by Yoann Richomme and Yann Elies on Paprec Arkéa and there is little to suggest this will not be the case again with both teams looking very fast, and very sorted.

Elsewhere Thomas Ruyant‘s For People is back on the water having suffered some structural issues on the Fastnet Race and the two-boat team of himself and Sam Goodchild, sailing For the Planet both look set to be contenders. But in truth there’s a plethora of top teams any of which could make a podium. Despite a disappointing Fastnet, it would be foolish to write off Jérémie Beyou and Frank Cammas sailing Charal, for example.

Plus several of the IMOCAs that took on the fully crewed The Ocean Race are now back in their shorthanded racing set ups and with plenty of racing miles under their belts, they should be contenders. Included in this list is Boris Herrmann’s Malizia-Seaexplorer, which took the 24 hour record during the race. He will be sailing alongside Britain’s Will Harris and the pair look a formidable duo.

Tricky conditions for the giant 100ft Ultimes exiting the Solent at the start of the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race. Photo Rick Tomlinson/RORC

Five foiling Ultims

The Ultim trimarans represent the fastest and most advanced foiling offshore designs ever created, and an astonishing fleet of five will be racing in this month’s Transat Jacques Vabre, all looking to blast across the Atlantic at speeds approaching 40-knot averages.

Fresh from a Fastnet Race win, the fastest man to sail around the world, François Gabart, will be racing his impressive SVR-Lazartigue once again with Tom Leperche, the pair looking to get another win over their rivals, former Vendée winner Armel Le Cléac’h, who will sail with Seb Josse on Banque Populaire XI.

Not taking part in the Fastnet this year, the Gitana entry of Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, will be skippered Charles Cauderlier with Erwan Israel and in a class where results can be up and down, this boat probably has the strongest pedigree of the lot.

Probably the most tried-and-tested of the foiling designs is Sodebo Ultime 3, skippered by round the world record breaker Thomas Coville, and Thomas Rouxel. So far absolute top performances have been somewhat lacking for this boat, but she is fast and will be fighting at the front.

It seems surprising to say it, but the oldest and least technologically advanced boat in the five-boat fleet is Actual Ultim 3, previously designed for Gabart upon which he set his round the world record. Anthony Merchant has taken the reigns of this foiling Ultime and will sail it alongside Thierry Chabagny. It might not be the absolute latest design, but it is a tried and tested foiler with plenty of potential to fight it out at the front of the fleet 

The 7,500-mile Transat Jacques Vabre course

The Transat Jacques Vabre is now 30 years old, having first run in 1993 and every two years since, though the concept of the route is far older – the race course traces the historic coffee trading routes between France and Brazil used by clipper ships in the 19th century.

After starting in Le Harve, this year the finish is now in Martinique in the Caribbean, as opposed to the old finish in South America, with a mid-Atlantic turning mark of Trindade, off Rio de Janeiro, added for the fastest Ultime trimarans bringing their race distance up to 7,500 miles.

Meanwhile the Ocean 50 multihulls and IMOCAs will round a mark off the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, in a nod to the race’s historical destination, covering around 5,800 miles, and the Class 40s pass the Cape Verdes before heading to Martinque, around 4,600 miles.

However, the race is often decided in the opening miles, with the Bay of Biscay in late October/early November often delivering brutal, sometimes boat-breaking conditions.

Plenty of Brits will be cheering on Sam Davies. Photo: Yann Riou – polaRYSE

International line-up

Though the French have been the dominant force in shorthanded offshore racing for as many years as most can remember – and remain the nation with the strongest hold on the sport – international entries have come a long way in recent years. Gone are the days that events like the Transat Jaques Varbe where almost exclusively French event with a handful of international entrants taking part.

The 2023 edition has 17 sailors from different nationalities taking part, with the IMOCA 60 fleet featuring 26 non-French sailors.

For British fans there’s plenty to keep you interested as Pip Hare gets to stretch the legs of her newly relaunched Medallia who will be looking to show what her new-to-her boat can do after a disappointing Fastnet due to damage. She’ll be sailing alongside fellow Brit, Nick Bubb. Sam Davies will also be one to watch in her brand new IMOCA Initiaves Coeur 4.

There will be plenty of people watching Sam Goodchild to see if he and Antoine Koch can back up their impressive early races in Thomas Ruyant’s old IMOCA. If form so far this year is anything to go on he should be right at the sharp end of the fleet, despite only graduating up to the IMOCA 60 in the last year.

Elsewhere, Brit Alan Roberts will be once again sailing alongside Clarisse Cremer as the Frenchwoman looks to qualify for the next Vendée in Charlie Dalin’s old Macif – now rebranded for her title sponsor L’Occitane en Provence – and with extra British incentive on this team as ex-Vendée star, Alex Thomson heads the team behind the scenes.

Long-time followers of British offshore racing will be interested to see Mike Golding back on the water as he takes on this year’s TJV alongside Jingkun Xu on Singchain Team Haikou.

Follow latest race developments, including the live tracker, at: transatjacquesvabre.org

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Followers of the IMOCA 60 fleet will know that two names have dominated the class over the past two generations when it comes to design: VPLP and Verdier. So, it’s no surprise that all five of the IMOCAs competing in The Ocean Race come from those same drawing boards (and in the case of the oldest boat in the fleet, the 2015-launched Guyot Environnement, a VPLP/Verdier partnership).

Of the four designs, three are by Verdier – 11th Hour Racing Team, Holcim-PRB, and Biotherm. This leaves Boris Herrmann’s Malizia-Seaexplorer as the sole latest generation VPLP IMOCA in the race, but the differences in its design concept run much deeper. Malizia-Seaexplorer was, uniquely among the fleet, designed from the outset for both the 2023 Ocean Race and the 2024 Vendée Globe. The result is a distinctively different looking IMOCA.

VPLP explains that the design differs markedly from previous iterations of IMOCA, particularly in the shape of the hull. Much of this was the result of lessons learned during the 2020 Vendée Globe. The main aim of the hull studies VPLP undertook was to optimise Malizia-Seaexplorer’s performance in the heavy seas of the Southern Ocean without compromising its ability to perform in the more moderate conditions expected on the Atlantic stages of both The Ocean Race and Vendée Globe.

Damage to the original L-shaped foils proved fortuitous – the replacement C-shaped ones actually performed better. Photo: Ricardo Pinto/Team Malizia

Bow shape

German skipper Herrmann had made three laps of the planet before the Ocean Race start and had specific ideas he wanted to incorporate into the design. Malizia-Seaexplorer has noticeably full bow sections, a higher freeboard and more curved sheerline. Co-skipper Will Harris explained that the boat’s bow shape and volume are two of its key design features.

“The first 3.5m of the bow were cut off, in effect giving us a scow bow,” Harris said while showing me around the boat in the Newport stopover. “It means we’re less likely to catch the bow as we plough into the wave in front of us. And the added volume up front helps lift the boat back out of the water. You look at a boat like Biotherm, it has a bullet nose. Once it digs in a wave it’s hard to get it back out.

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“We really thought about this design for the Southern Ocean, and it really pays off in the heavy conditions. It might not be so good in other conditions, in lighter winds the extra volume means it’s heavier, but in the rough conditions it pays off for us.”

Among the Verdier designs, overall race leader Holcim-PRB seems the most similar in terms of bow shape, though it lacks the volume of Malizia. Not surprisingly, the two designs were clearly superior in the arduous 12,000-mile Southern Ocean Leg 3 of The Ocean Race. Holcim-PRB and Malizia-Seaexplorer were 1st and 2nd through the mid-leg scoring gate. Approaching the gate at longitude 143 East, Malizia-Seaexplorer overtook 11th Hour Racing Team in strong north-westerly winds of 20-25 knots to earn 2nd place.

Malizia-Seaexplorer’s notably high freeboard translates to greater headroom inside the cockpit. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia

11th Hour’s onboard reporter Amory Ross ruefully described Malizia’s superiority in the sea state as they went past: “After working our way through Biotherm it was Malizia’s turn to do the same to us this afternoon. They seem to be able to carry more sail and keep their bow up, presumably with the shape of their hull, and while we struggled in the waves to keep from nose diving, they were able to sail at the same speed but lower.

“We watched as they sailed down to us, around our bow, and then continued on in a more southerly direction.”

Malizia kept that pace up in heavy conditions on the approach to Cape Horn and rounded the iconic landmark ahead of Holcim-PRB.

Racing at full bore in the Southern Ocean during Leg 3 of The Ocean Race. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia

Banana boat

Another design feature Harris credited to their success is the boat’s rocker, the curvature of the hull from bow to stern. Harris said that because the rocker rises up in the stern, it also aids the bow in staying out of the water.

“The rocker continues well into the back of the boat, so the whole boat is like a banana,” Harris said. “The idea behind the rocker rising in the stern is to help lift the bow up even more. By having the stern high we can stack more gear, people and equipment in the back of the boat so the bow comes out even more, so it’s less likely to dig into the waves. The tradeoff is it’s less efficient in marginal planing conditions, it’s a little harder to get on a plane just before foiling, but we feel it’s a very small difference.”

The added freeboard also has multiple benefits, including the boat’s ability to self-right. All IMOCAs must be able to self-right after passing 110° of heel angle. “The higher freeboard means more volume at the front. So, when the bow digs in a wave, there’s a lot of buoyancy to help lift it out of the water. Higher freeboard also means more volume for life onboard. And in the IMOCA rules, a high freeboard means more form stability so we can have a lighter ballast bulb for the 110° test,” Harris adds.

The new borrowed c-shape foils were something of a blessing. Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

Foil changes

However, it’s Malizia’s foils that have proven to be an unexpected benefit – especially since they’re not the intended foils, but rather a spare set the team had to switch to after Malizia-Seaexplorer’s version one foils were damaged beyond repair before the race start.

The team’s original set suffered damage on the delivery from Guadeloupe at the end of the Route du Rhum to Alicante for the start of The Ocean Race. Harris said that they experienced some rough conditions on the passage and that when the boat nosedived the loads on the foils were counter to the designed loads. There’s a shaft inside the foils around which the carbon fibre is laid, but the carbon wasn’t strong enough to support the huge loads the foils undergo.

An ultrasound check revealed internal damage, and was followed by a frantic search for a replacement set – the team was fortunate to be able to use a set from designer Sam Manuard, similar to those built for Sam Davies’ new Initiatives Coeur.

“To be honest, it’s been a bit of a blessing,” Harris said. The original foils were L-shaped in profile, whereas the replacements are C-shaped. Harris says the biggest benefit is the way the foils regulate the boat’s motion through waves.

There are 54 separate control lines running into the enclosed cockpit. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia

“The C-shaped foils are more polyvalent, they’re good in all conditions,” said Harris. “They’re more vertical in profile, which means there’s more righting moment, more of a daggerboard effect. And when the boat starts to lift out of the water the foil comes out in a natural way and helps stabilise the flight of the boat. It doesn’t leap as much. The L-foils are not as good at managing those leaps, you must play more with their extension. With the C-foils, if they’re extended a bit too much in a gust it’s OK. They allow the boat to lift over the wave and not jump so much that it ventilates.”

The C-shape foil versus L-shape played out dramatically on Leg 5 of The Ocean Race, when 11th Hour Racing Team, Holcim-PRB and Malizia-Seaexplorer all took turns blowing through the race and outright monohull 24-hour records (previously standing at 602 and 618 miles respectively, the latter set by the 100ft Comanche back in 2015). During what’s been dubbed the ‘North Atlantic Speed Sailing Seminar’ Malizia-Seaexplorer ended up with the top number, setting a new record of 641.13 miles in 24 hours on 26 May, having maintained a breathtaking average speed of 26.71 knots.

By IMOCA standards, Malizia’s living quarters are comfortable, with curtained bunks. Despite how snugly the crew are wedged in, Rosalind Kuiper was thrown from her bunk and suffered a head injury in Leg 3, due to the foiling IMOCA’s extreme motion in rough seas. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia

“We had exceptional conditions with a flat sea, the wind steady from the right direction, the right angle for such a long time,” said Herrmann.

“No sail changes – actually, we took a reef in and out, so we slowed down for these two moments, but apart from that nothing slowed us down for a longer time. Sometimes, the waves got a little bit shorter and we’d slow down to 18 knots and get a bit stuck in the sea. But most of the time the boat would pass the sea perfectly and fly at 27-34 knots, it felt really relaxed.”

Bulletproof IMOCA 60

Regardless of the foil shape, Malizia-Seaexplorer is a beast of a boat. Harris noted that the boat has 30% more structure than the other IMOCAs. The hull is solid carbon fibre, no foam core, up to 16 layers thick in some places. The trend among the IMOCA class is to eliminate the foam cores and use a monolithic construction process that eliminates the possibility of core failure. Given the 30-knot speeds these boats are capable of, their skippers must have confidence that the machine will not break.

“This is a very good boat for the Vendée Globe, it is very good for the overall campaign,” said Herrmann. “I don’t foresee broken stringers or a delamination after a cold front. We have a monolithic very strong hull, a little heavier but when we are up on the foils we perform very much like the pack.

“We are seeing sensational performances downwind and upwind, a few knots quicker than the old boat, the ergonomics are so much better than the old boat. There are so many good things about this boat.”

Extensive solar panels from Solbian on the side decks and coachroof produce 60% of required power, the rest being generated from two hydro-generators. Photo: Antoine Auriol/Team Malizia

Malizia-Seaexplorer specifications

LOA: 18.28m / 59ft 11in
LOA inc bowsprit: 20.12m / 65ft 5in
Beam: 5.70m / 18ft 3in
Draught: 4.50m / 14ft 8in
Displacement: N/A
Mast height: 27.24m / 88ft 9in
Sail area upwind: 270m2 / 2,906ft2
Sail area offwind: 550m2 / 5,920ft2
Design: VPLP
Builder: Multiplast

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In the battle of the big boats it was the brand new IMOCA Macif, skippered by Charlie Dalin with Pascal Bidégorry which was first monohull home to take line honours in the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race and set a new course record in the process.

Dalin crossed the finish line after 2 day 07 hours 16 minutes and 26 seconds. This shaves over an hour off the time set by the giant ClubSwan 125 Skorpios in 2021 when the race first sailed the new course to finish in Cherbourg.

It’s also a back to back win for Dalin who also took IMOCA class victory in the 2021 edition – though on that occasion it was Skorpios that took line honours.

It was Yoann Richomme’s IMOCA Paprec Arkea that led the fleet in the early stages, before being overhauled by Dalin in the final approach to the finish. In the end Dalin squeaked to victory by just 4 minutes to claim the win from Richomme. British skipper Sam Goodchild rounded out the podium, with an impressive performance on his second race in For the Planet. 

IMOCAs in Rolex Fastnet Race

This year’s Fastnet was long heralded as a mouth-watering proposition for IMOCA 60 fans to follow, with a clutch of brand new designs, as well as skippers who’ve newly joined in the fleet lining up in their biggest race to date. And it didn’t disappoint.

Twenty-nine IMOCAs lined up for the start in Cowes, making one of the most spectacular starts of the whole race as a series of strong gusts came through shortly after they crossed the line. Many of the foil-assisted designs took flight with streaming white water rooster tails as they blasted away along the Isle of Wight shoreline.

IMOCA skippers were exercising caution at the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race 2023 in breezy conditions. Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Charal was one of the first away, with the enviable pairing of Jérémie Beyou and Franck Cammas. However, Charal was called OCS at the start of the Fastnet Race, incurring an automatic 2 hour penalty. Pip Hare, sailing with Nick Bubb on the newly refitted Medallia was also called over the line early. Sadly Hare, sailing her newly modified Medallia with co-skipper Nick Bubb, suffered furler and sail damage early on which put them out of contention.

The latest generation designs quickly stamped their authority on the race, with Dalin’s Macif – launched less than a month previously – first out of the Solent. Along with Charal other early leaders included Thomas Ruyant, also with a brand new boat, the Antoine Koch/Finot-Conq-designed For People. Sadly Ruyant later joined the long list of Fastnet retirees on Saturday night after incurring damage in the strong winds and severe sea state. 

“We had two objectives at the start,” explained Dalin on the dock after finishing. “Our first was to survive the exit of the Solent, and survive the first 10 to 12 hours of strong wind so that we could concentrate on racing afterwards – and then that’s what we managed.”

Closely matching Ruyant was his team mate Sam Goodchild sailing For the Planet, who is building up to his first Vendée Globe campaign, and Yoann Richomme, also on his first IMOCA programme with his new Paprec Arkea. 

Fast run from Fastnet Rock

There was a slight split in the fleet after exiting the Solent – Dalin leading a group that opened to head into Studland Bay, Richomme leading a group that headed south before tacking west. On the cross, it was Richomme that took the lead, though the two packs quickly merged.

“It was 30, 35 knots up wind, so not very comfortable, but I was thinking more from all the smaller boats and all the people hiking on the rail compared to us, who have got a big roof on their cockpit to keep us warm and dry. Yeah, the first 12-18 hours were the most difficult bits, but they went fairly well for us,” said Goodchild of the first day’s racing.

30-knot conditions for the IMOCA fleet in the Celtic Sea, here onboard Initiatives Couer.

At the Fastnet Rock Richomme’s Paprec Arkea led Dalin’s Macif, rounding at 2114 last night with Dalin just 20 minutes behind.

The run from the Rock saw the foiling designs posting boat speeds of 25-30 knots, Paprec Arkea hunting down, and then overhauling, the 88-footer Lucky (ex-Rambler 88), which had been an early prediction for the line honours win. 

“We weren’t expected to be that windy,” added Goodchild. “We’re expecting 20 to 25 knots. We had 35 in the end, so we had a bit of a hairy night, but it was obviously quick, as we went round the Rock at sunset and went round the Scillies at sunrise.

“So it was a quick cross in the Irish Sea and we didn’t get much sleep because the boat was a bit of a bucking bronco. But, it went fast and it was a good, fun ride.”

Macif stayed close in touch and after Bishop’s Rock moved up to challenge Paprec for the lead, the two matching each other gybe for gybe on the run back to the Scillies.

IMOCA Macif foiling around the Fastnet Rock. Photo: Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi

Fastnet first monohulls

The Casquets TSS is fast becoming one of the key deciding points in the race, and, with boat speeds down to just 5 knots at times, it was here that Macif took a more southerly line, moving into the lead for the final 30 miles of the race, the two boats separated by less than 2 minutes.

“We had a crazy leg from the Fastnet to the Scillies, we reached 30 or 40 knots several times – crazy speeds and that was great. The boat was just flying,” said Dalin. “And a crazy battle in the end with Yoanne [Richomme]  and Jan.

“We caught them, they took off again, we caught again, managed to overtake and just at the end we had a 2 miles lead and we got some seaweed in the keel! So we tried everything to shake it off but couldn’t. We lost like 1.4 miles due to this seaweed. So we’re pretty relieved when we got rid of that and managed to extend again to the finish.”

Behind the leaders, the lightening conditions had also caused a big compression in the fleet, and behind Goodchild in 3rd, Maxime Sorel’s V&B Montana Mayenne, Sam Davies on Initiatives Cover, and Clarisse Cremer with her newly relaunched L’Occitane en Provence closely packed.

Paprec Arkéa, skippered by Yoann Richomme, is one of several new IMOCA 60s that was contesting the Rolex Fastnet Race 2023, finishing 2nd.

“The IMOCA fleet is great. We had a very tough battle with a lot of other teams, there’s a really high level of sailors. And that’s what make the class interesting. You got these very skilled skippers with a very talented team developing the boats, engineers, architects, and you get this amazingly competitive racing.

“There’s a lot of team that with the same skippers, same sponsors, same team, but with another new boat. It’s getting a bit close to Formula One. I think that’s amazing.

The 88-footer Lucky rounds the Fastnet Rock in the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race, finishing as first IRC yacht. Photo: Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

First IRC yachts finish

Ten minutes after the first IMOCAs finished, Lucky crossed the line at, making them the first IRC boat home. However, they no longer hold the advantage on IRC overall, with the VO65s Wind Whisper and Team Jajo, who finished within the hour currently topping the IRC overall lead, though there are many boats still racing who could yet be in contention.

Follow all of our Fastnet Race 2023 coverage.

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The famous Rolex Fastnet Race always provides an intriguing line up of amateur and professional teams all looking for race glory as they battle the 629nm course from Cowes, round the Fastnet Rock and back to the (new in 2021) finish in Cherbourg.

But there are consequences to the Fastnet Race beyond merely the spoils for the winners and this year will once again see a large fleet of IMOCA 60s taking to the startline.

For the 29 IMOCA 60s, though victory is a significant goal, it is not purely a question of who will win the Fastnet as the aims of the teams go some way beyond the Fastnet Race itself with many gearing up for the Transat Jacques Vabre later this year and, more crucially, the Vendeé Globe in 2024.

With around 18 months to go until the Vendeé Globe 2024, there will be a number of recently launched IMOCA 60s on the startline for this Fastnet Race as well as several boats that are fresh from significant refits.

In short, the IMOCA 60 Fastnet fleet is absolutely stacked with top-end talent and fascinating new boats, so much so, it can be difficult to know where to look.

With so many interesting boats and sailors on the IMOCA startline this is, necessarily, a shortlist of those we are going to be following with most interest. In truth almost every sailor in this fleet will be of interest and there are many sailors that may well win that we have not included here…

New and revamped IMOCA 60 Fastnet fleet

With the Vendée running on a 4-year cycle, those with the backing to do so will typically have only recently launched the boats that they hope will take them to round the world victory in 2024.

As such the Fastnet Race in 2023 represents the first time we will see a number of the new IMOCA 60 launches for the next Vendée competing against one another – though it must be noted there are still a significant number yet to be launched.

A new IMOCA 60 is a significant undertaking with 10,000s man hours involved in the design and build of these technologically advanced semi-foiling machines. But just getting one on the water is only half the battle with sailors needing to understand the performance of their new boats and start to build a better picture of the best moding of the boars in certain conditions and wind angles.

Much of this can be modelled on computers these days but there is still nothing like real-world testing to validate ideas. The challenge is also similar for any older boats which have been undergoing refits.

All this is to say that it may not be the very latest boats leading the field in this Fastnet Race, but it does give the fans a good chance to, at least, start to assess the potential of the boats at this early stage – even if that potential might only be seen in fits and bursts.

Who to watch in the Fastnet Race IMOCA 60 fleet

Photo: Maxime Horlaville / disobey / Macif

Charlie Dalin and Pascal Bidégorry – MACIF Santé Prévoyance

Charlie Dalin has been the standout star in the IMOCA fleet in recent years. He was the winner of the last Vendée Globe on the water – but came home second after Yannick Bestaven was awarded redress for the time he lost assisting in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier earlier in the race.

Dalin has been something of a dominant force in his Apivia IMOCA 60 winning almost everything he has entered. However, he came home second in the Route du Rhum 2022 being beaten by a few hours by Thomas Ruyant.

The 2023 Fastnet race will be the first proper outing for Dalin in his newly launched IMOCA 60 MACIF Santé Prévoyance. Dalin and his team have spoken about this new boat as an evolution of the previous one with refining overall performance.

As is the case with many of the more recent IMOCA 60s a lot of thought has gone into sailor comfort too, with a fully enclosed and more centrally located cockpit.

Dalin is undoubtedly a quick sailor and his new boat should be quick – Apivia was widely regarded as the quickest and best set up in the fleet – but the boat was only launched at the tail end of last month, so the team will be focussed on getting the new boat up to speed.

“To be at the start of a competition just four weeks after the end of construction is quite some feat,” say Dalin. “The team has done and continues to do a fantastic job to make that possible. The four or five sea trials we’ve done so far have been very encouraging, but naturally we’re yet to fulfil the boat’s true potential.”

Photo: IMOCA / TR Racing

Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière – For People

Such has been the close competition between Dalin and Thomas Ruyant over the last few years in the IMOCA fleet it almost seems unfair to refer to the former as the stand-out star. But, while Ruyant has pushed Dalin all the way and beat him in the recent Route du Rhum, Dalin has won more often than not.

Ruyant suffered foil damage in the last Vendée Globe sailing his LinkedOut IMOCA 60 but sailed an impressive race thereafter to come home in sixth overall despite the damage.

Ruyant has also launched a new boat this year, though unlike Dalin he has had the opportunity to complete a race already, the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race, which he won alongside co-skipper Morgan Lagravière, an impressive performance from a brand new launch.

Ruyant’s new boat is something of a change from his previous – very quick – LinkedOut with the Frenchman turning to a new design team in Antoine Koch and Finot-Conq to deliver the new hull.

Though the fashion for recent launches in the IMOCA class has been towards scow-style bows, his latest boat does not quite follow that tradition and though there is plenty of bow volume much of it is carried above a dramatic, sharp chine running the length of the hull.

Certainly the boat performed well in it’s first outing but where Ruyant has really been making headlines of late has been in the announcement of the fist ever fully integrated two-boat, two-skipper outfit in the IMOCA fleet, TR Racing, with the talented Brit, Sam Goodchild taking on the skipper duties of the old boat, now named For the Planet.

With the backing of Advens and Leyton this two-boat team is currently creating its own dedicated state-of-the-art team base at Lorient, where up to 30 people will be employed for the next three seasons. It is certainly set to be a potent combination.

Photo: Eloi Stichelbaut – polaRYSE / Charal

Jérémie Beyou and Franck Cammas – Charal

A devastating start to the last Vendée Globe saw Beyou – widely considered one of the favourites to win the race – taking significant damage, forcing him to return and repair his boat before setting off again, essentially dashing his Vendée hopes within days of the start.

It is to Beyou’s credit that he returned to complete the race when victory was clearly out of sight and he achieved a remarkable comeback to finish in 13th position overall.

But Beyou is not a man here to merely compete in the Vendée Globe, he wants to win it and 2024 will mark his fifth attempt to do just that. Having secured an early commitment from his sponsors Charal to go again Beyou’s new Charal was the first of the latest generation to launch – as was the case with his previous boat.

The new Charal has some pretty radical features. She has significant volume in the bow, as with many other IMOCA launches trending towards more scow-like bows. But where she is truly radical is in the rudder assembly, with the twin rudders in an inverted ‘v’ shape.

In theory this should help with the boat’s stability while foiling. So far the boat in Beyou’s hands has proven to be pretty quick but has not quite shown stunning pace. The boat was pretty new when she was entered into the Route du Rhum race in 2022 and Beyou finished in third place behind Ruyant and Dalin on their older, more worked up boats.

Despite a very close battle between himself and Ruyant in the recent Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race Beyou just lost out to Ruyant in his newly launched For People.

Photo: IMOCA / TR Racing

Sam Goodchild and Antoine Koch – For the Planet

Sam Goodchild will certainly be one to watch in the Fastnet Race, he’s one of the two skippers in TR Racing team, alongside Thomas Ruyant. His IMOCA For the Planet is the ex-LinkedOut, on which Ruyant saw a great deal of success, most recently winning the Route du Rhum race in 2022.

Goodchild is an impressive and established offshore racer and was one of the favourites in the Multi 50 fleet heading into the Route du Rhum last year. Unfortunately the British sailor suffered a significant injury during the race start and could not compete.

Alongside co-skipper – and co-designer of For People – Antoine Koch, Goodchild’s first race in his new IMOCA was impressive with a third place in the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race behind Ruyant and Beyou. But the Brit admits he has plenty to do to get up to speed with the front of the fleet, stating after that race that: “The new boats are going very, very fast, so it’s a bit scary but it gives us goals,” Goodchild told the IMOCA class in an interview at the end of the race.

Apivia, the IMOCA upon which Cremer will compete now rebranded under new sponsor L’Occitane en Provence. Photo: Pierre Bouras

Clarisse Cremer and Alan Roberts – L’Occitane en Provence

There will be a lot of people looking at Cremer’s performance in the Fastnet Race this year. The first female in the last Vendée Globe, Cremer’s sponsor, Banque Populaire dropped the skipper from their plans after she had a baby and went on maternity leave.

The subsequent fall out of that decision and the negative press the French banking giant received saw them pull out of the event entirely.

Cremer was set to sail Charlie Dalin’s IMOCA 60 Apivia in Banque Populiare colours upon which Dalin had seen so much success for the 2024 Vendée Globe once his new boat was launched. But that boat was promptly put back on the market when Banque Populaire pulled out.

The boat was picked up by Alex Thomson Racing, and, with the headline sponsor of L’Occitane en Provence will be sailed by Cremer as she aims to take a spot on the 2024 Vendée Globe startline.

Cremer is a talented sailor and the boat is incredibly fast, so much will be expected of this combination. Cremer has selected experienced Brit, Alan Roberts as her co-skipper for the Fastnet Race – and he will continue as co-skipper of the boat and sailing coach.

Given this is the first race in the newly launched boat and team, outright victory might be something of a stretch but fans will be watching closely for some signs that this rapid boat in the hands of Cremer could be a potent combination going forward.

Photo: Ronan Gladu / Initiatives-Cœur

Sam Davies and Nicolas Lunven – Initiatives-Cœur

British born Sam Davies will arrive at the Fastnet fresh from competing in The Ocean Race as a part of Team Biotherm. Davies will be taking part in her fourth Vendée in 2024 and for the first time will be doing so in a brand new boat under her long-time sponsor Initiatives-Cœur.

Davies has not seen instant success in the new boat with a disappointing finish in the Route du Rhum and only managing 5th in the the recent Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race – though it should be noted that took place almost immediately after the completion of the The Ocean Race.

However, the hugely experienced sailor has a strong history in the Fastnet having finished in the top five in the IMOCA fleet in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021, though she has yet to finish on the podium, something she will look to correct in 2023.

Photo: Lloyd Images / Pip Hare Ocean Racing

Pip Hare and Nick Bubb – Medallia

Pip Hare sailed a very impressive Vendée Globe in 2021-22 with a boat that was well known to be one of the hardest to sail in the fleet – with halyards led to the mast base, a block and tackle canting keel system, no foils, and little in the way of cockpit protection.

The Brit’s sponsor, Medallia was convinced to help her find a newer boat for the forthcoming Vendée. CEO Leslie Stretch had asked Pip mid-race on the race’s live video show: “What’s next Pip? Let’s get to the end and then let’s go shopping for a new boat, shall we??” – on her return they did just that, buying the fastest boat ever to complete the Vendée Globe.

Launched in 2015 as Banque Populaire, the new Medallia comes with an impressive history. It was one of the first generation of yachts that were built specifically to foil, and it won the Vendée Globe for Armel Le Cléac’h in 2016, setting an unbroken course record of 74 days.

However, development has moved on significantly since the boat was launched but Medallia has just undergone a substantial refit with new, bigger foils added requiring significant structural alterations and the bow has been reworked into a more modern, higher volume configuration too.

Medallia only recently came out of the shed following her refit, so this year’s Fastnet Race will be the first test of the new upgrades.

“We’re really excited coming into this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race. It’ll be the first major test for the boat with her new set-up,” says Hare. “It’s a giant leap forward in terms of performance, but we also need to adapt to these changes with regards trimming and handling and then refine the new polars.”

See the full list of IMOCA Fastnet entries. 

Check out all our Rolex Fastnet Race 2023 coverage.

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As with most big races around the world, bragging rights in the Rolex Fastnet Race race are split into two broad camps, the line honours winners (the first boat to complete the course) and the winner of the event on corrected time.

And since the inclusion of multihulls 20 years ago, these categories are split again into monohull and multihull line honours and handicap winners.

Most of those taking part in the race, in either monohulls or multihulls, will only be focussed on the handicap results as a line honours win is out of reach of all but the fastest, biggest and most expensive boats in the world.

For the Rolex Fastnet Race 2023, the fastest boat to complete the course will almost certainly be one of the two 100ft foiling trimarans, the Ultim of Banque Populaire XI and SVR-Lazartigue.

Banque Populaire XI in full flight. Photo: Jeremie Lecaudey

Fastest Fastnet Race Multihulls

The foiling ocean racers are at the very forefront of technical innovation and are designed to break records – be that offshore races, ocean crossings or the ultimate prize a Jules Verne Round the World record.

The Ultim trimarans are set to become especially newsworthy over the next months with the first ever race for five of these extreme 32m long by 23m wide flying trimarans, around the world, non-stop, singlehanded, setting sail from Brest, France on 7 January next year.

Before then two of the main contenders will be leading the charge on the rather shorter 695 mile Rolex Fastnet Race.

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SVR-Lazartigue and Banque Populaire XI are skippered by two titans of offshore racing, Francois Gabart and Armel le Cleac’h respectively. Both are Vendée Globe winners (Gabart 2012, le Cleac’h 2016). Le Cleac’h is part of the exclusive club of triple winners of La Solitaire du Figaro (the unofficial world championship of solo offshore racing). He has been racing Ultims since 2013, this being his second boat.

Similarly, Gabart joined the Ultim class in 2015 winning many events with his MACIF trimaran, culminating in his record for sailing singlehanded non-stop around the world of just 42d 16h 40m 35s, incredibly just under two days shy of the fully crewed record.

Gabart has competed in the Rolex Fastnet Race twice before, winning on his IMOCA 60 MACIF in 2013 and then, in 2019, leading into the Plymouth finish line aboard his Ultim trimaran, only to be pipped at the post by Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, finishing less than one minute astern. “That was a little disappointing,” Gabart admits.

Charles Caudrelier and Franck Cammas on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild win the last Fastnet Race in 2021. Photo: Eloi Stichelbaut / PolaRYSE / Gitana

Neither of these Ultims competed in the 2021 race, when Charles Caudrelier and Franck Cammas on Maxi Edmond de Rothschild established the record for the new course to Cherbourg of 1d 9h 14m 54s.

Their Ultims are more than capable of bettering this and it’s possible a good breeze could even see the 14-year-old outright record for the most miles covered in 24 hours (908.2 miles/average speed 37.84 knots), also broken, given enough runway with suitable conditions and the will. If pressed, the latest Ultims could cover 1000 miles in a day (average speed 41.6 knots).

The top speed on Banque Populaire XI to date is 47 knots, but it is not top speed but high average speeds that Le Cleac’h says is the objective. “40-42 knots for one or two hours is very good, or 35-37 knots for 24 hours. We know that it is possible with our boat if the conditions are good.”

The performance of the Ultims has taken a massive leap in recent years, since new foil configurations have enabled them to fly.

For Banque Populaire XI getting airborne requires 12-13 knots of wind/22-23 knots of boat speed. Ideal conditions are no more than 20 knots as above this the sea state becomes too rough to use the foils effectively. Upwind in 15-17 knots Banque Populaire XI flies and will be making 27-30 knots. “That is the big step forward compared to the last Ultims, and that difference is very important compared to the older generation Ultims.”

“We regularly reach speeds of over 40 knots at less than 90° true wind angle (TWA),” says Gabbart. “In certain conditions, such as 25 knots of wind on flat seas, at 65°-70° off the wind, you’re doing 40 knots. That’s 60-65 knots of apparent wind speed. The maximum AWS in our log is not far from 70 knots.”

Of course one of these two foiling beasts being first to finish the Fastnet Race does require that they actually finish. The giant trimarans are at the very forefront of innovation and are famously susceptible to damage.

Reliability is improving, however, as foiling technology improves but even these hugely developed technological marvels the old adage holds true; ‘to finish first, first you have to finish’.

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The new foiling catamaran design is the result of Persico’s strategy to translate knowledge the yard gains from its work in aerospace, IMOCA 60 and America’s Cup spheres into very high performance cruising yachts. The structure is of high modulus prepreg carbon/Nomex, there’s an all-carbon interior, plus a Southern Spars rotating mast with Future Fibres’ ECsix and AEROsix composite standing rigging.

The boat is intended as a semi-foiler that can switch to full foiling mode, skimming 20cm above the water in appropriate conditions. The 7m-long righting moment foils are rake controlled and complemented by daggerboards for leeway control, plus T-rudders also with rake control. Design of the foils and flying system was done using the Gomboc VPP software that was instrumental in creating the AC75 foiling monohull and is now also widely used in the IMOCA class.

“The foil has the same purpose as the one used in the IMOCA class,” explains Ferdinand van West, lead designer of Morrelli and Melvin, “but it has been adapted to a catamaran and can be fully retracted.” The foils become effective in 9 knots of breeze and boat speeds well over 20 knots are predicted in just 13 knots of true wind.

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In stronger conditions downwind speeds of 40 knots and an astonishing 26 knots upwind are expected. For a more comfortable ride and greater safety factor maximum speeds can be dialled down via a fully autonomous control system, which can gradually lower the hulls and decrease speed to a comfortable level set by the owner.

A further advantage for a cruising yacht is that draught with the foils raised is a mere 65cm (2ft 2in), though with the foils lowered this increases to 5.31m (17ft 5in).

Despite the boat’s speed potential, it is primarily intended as a very spacious luxury cruiser with all the associated systems including more than 500lt of refrigeration space, a pizza oven and a whopping 64,000 BTU (approx 19kW) of air conditioning. This is powered by twin variable-speed 20kW diesel Fischer Panda generators, which also supply hotel loads the 2kW solar array can’t cover.

Twin 25kW Torqeedo electric motors, allied to a 40kW BMW I3 battery, provide auxiliary propulsion at a cruising speed of 8 knots, with the generators available for use as range extenders if necessary.

Construction has already started in Persico’s new facility at the Italian port of La Spezia, with the boat scheduled for launch in summer 2024.

Specifications

LOA: 24.1m / 79ft 0in
Hull length: 21.95m / 72ft 0in
Beam: 9.5m / 31ft 2in
Light displacement: 21,000kg / 46,300lb
Draught (foils raised): 0.65m / 2ft 2in
Draught (foils lowered): 5.31m / 17ft 5in
Price: POA
Builder: persicomarine.com

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Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team has won The Ocean Race after a jury awarded them redress of 4 points in the final leg of the round the world race, from which they were forced to retire.

The Ocean Race – previously the Volvo Ocean Race – took place in IMOCA 60s for the first time ever this year, with the usually one-or-two person semi-foilers optimised for ‘fully-crewed’ use for this race. However 11th Hour Racing was the only team to launch a new IMOCA 60 with the primary aim of winning The Ocean Race and thus went into the event as favourites.

While Holcim-PRB was the stand-out team for the opening stages, and Malizia impressive in the gripping Southern Ocean leg, 11th Hour Racing, who had not delivered on their potential early on, were delivering a zero-to-hero comeback story.

Having overcome several potentially race-ending breakages on the long Southern Ocean Leg 3, to win back to back wins over Legs 4, 5 and 6 – including into their home port of Newport – it was shaping up to be a fairy tale finish for the US team, and with just two points separating 11th Hour and Holcim-PRB over the unpredictable leg from northern Europe, across Biscay and deep into the Mediterranean, there was potential for a nail-biting finale.

However, disaster struck just 17 minutes into the start of Leg 7, from The Hague to Genoa in Italy, in a port-starboard incident between the 11th Hour and Guyot-environnement IMOCA 60s. Guyot-environnement, on port, did not see 11th Hour Racing and did not alter course in time to avoid them. The result was a full-bore ’T-bone’, with Guyot’s bowsprit spearing into the side of 11th Hour’s cockpit, missing skipper Charlie Enright by inches, while Guyot’s bow smashed into the port aft quarter of the 11th Hour IMOCA Malama, leaving a substantial hole.

Incredibly, no crew members were hurt, though all were deeply shocked by the incident.

After deliberation, the World Sailing International Jury awarded 11th Hour Racing Team 4 points of redress – based on an average of their results in the race to date – to put them at the top of the leaderboard.

The final leaderboard sees 11th Hour Racing Team 3 points clear of Team Holcim-PRB in second place, with Team Malizia in third, Biotherm is fourth place and GUYOT environnement – Team Europe fifth.

11th Hour Racing Team are the first US-flagged team to win the Race, and sailor Francesca Clapcich will arrive in Genova on Thursday afternoon as the first Italian sailor to win the race.

Speaking from onboard Mālama as the team delivered the boat to Genova, Skipper Charlie Enright commented, “When we launched our campaign in 2019, we never could have anticipated that it would finish in this way. Any sailor will tell you that they want to win races on the water and not in the jury room, and after winning three legs back to back we felt exceptionally strong and confident going into the final leg.

“We are pleased with the jury’s decision, although we wish we had had the chance to battle it out for this final leg on the water as Holcim-PRB have been exceptional competitors and pushed us all the way.”

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“Watching the gracefulness of kitefoil racing had me mesmerised the first time I saw it,” explains Will Harris. “It is an example of pure efficiency and use of all and any wind possible. From as low as 4 knots of wind reaching speeds of 30 knots on a 1.2m long board is incredible.”

Kitefoiling is now an Olympic sailing event, and will be making its debut at the 2024 Games. The class is a box rule, with a wide range of approved foil components, and choice of wing sizes. The foil kites use a ‘ram air’ principle so are self-inflating rather than pump-up tube kites.

Photo: Martina Orsini/IKA

“The racing looks like the kitefoils are doing a sort of ballet dance on the boards as they manoeuvre the kites and boards under their feet. It requires an unbelievable level of finesse and agility and the reward is pure adrenaline and very close and exciting racing,” adds Harris.

“I do kitefoiling myself and love it every time I go out since it’s made sub-10 knot conditions fun!”

Make sure you check out our full list of Coolest Yachts.

IKA Kitefoil stats rating:

Top speed: 30+ knots
LOA: 1.55m/5ft
Launched: 2018
Berths: 0
Price: £3,000+
Adrenalin factor: 95%

Will Harris

Will Harris (GBR) is co-skippering the IMOCA 60 Malizia in The Ocean Race. A former Figaro skipper, he took the coveted 1st ‘rookie’ or ‘bizuth’ title in 2016 and also finished 1st in the Class 40s in the 2021 Fastnet Race. In the last Volvo Ocean Race he was part of the Race HQ team, and is co-skipper of Leg 3 winners Team Maliza with Boris Herrmann for the 2023 The Ocean Race.

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Four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel and double Olympic sailing bronze medallist Erik Heil have joined forces, alongside team owner Thomas Riedel, to announce a brand new German SailGP Team. Germany will be the latest nation to contest the global racing league, which kicks off its fourth season on June 16-17 with the Rolex United States Sail Grand Prix in Chicago.

Sebastian Vettel’s involvement will be alongside entrepreneur and investor Riedel – president of the leading communications company that bears his name – with whom Vettel is a recent co-investor. That might sound like the pair are merely the money men, but in a release by SailGP on behalf of the team they state that Vettel and Riedel will both be taking an active role in the management and performance of the team.

Heil, who won Olympic bronze medals at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will drive the cutting-edge, hydrofoiling Germany F50. The new Germany SailGP Team was unveiled during SPOBIS 2023 in Düsseldorf, where the team introduced itself and presented its ambitions for the upcoming season.

Heil said: “Today is a really exciting step in the team’s journey and we have pulled together an amazing team. But we are under no illusions that it will be easy and other world-class teams have paid a lesson when they entered SailGP. We will have to work our way up. That’s the goal. However, SailGP comprises the best athletes in our sport and personally I can’t wait to get racing.”

In addition to Heil, female German-Brazilian double Olympic champion from Rio and Tokyo, Kahena Kunze was also announced as the team’s strategist. The full line-up will be announced next month.

Skipper Nathan Outteridge gets the Japan SailGP Team airborne in Cadiz, Spain, in October 2021. Photo: Felix Diemer/SailGP

Riedel is no stranger to SailGP, as his communications company provides the entire on-site wireless communications and TV production infrastructure for the league as a technology supplier. The wireless network connects, among other things, the participants’ F50s, support boats, referee and camera boats, as well as drones and helicopters for aerial filming.

Riedel said: “As a company, we have always been able to not only understand formats but evolve them through technology and innovation. I see great potential in all directions with the Germany SailGP Team: sports, business and media. We believe that a great movement can emerge from this. In addition, we can credibly implement our concerns in terms of sustainability and diversity. That’s one of the reasons why I approached Sebastian as a trusted partner and knowledgeable technology and sustainability expert. Sebastian also knows how to win. So, he’s not just a co-owner of the Germany SailGP Team, but an equal partner who can help us succeed in everything we do. However we are aware that success is not something you can achieve in a few races, and it may take some time, but I believe we have the team to make sure it happens.”

Vettel said: “I see a lot of potential as SailGP starts its fourth season and for the first time with a German team. Parallels between sailors and Formula 1 have long existed. The boats are fascinating and the speeds on the water are incredibly high. The races are exciting and I am happy to be close to them with a motivated group of young sailors.”

Vettel, who left Formula 1 in 2022 after a years at the sharp end of the sport, had become increasingly outspoken around sustainability issues both within the sport and without. And it appears this passion has not disappeared with the German stating it was one main reasons he was attracted to the endeavour.

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The past few years have seen an explosion of activity in the Mini 6.50 class, with qualifying races for the iconic Mini Transat race oversubscribed by up to 100% and two-year waiting lists for new Series-built boats.

Yet the front of the fleet is no longer an economic place to go racing. Typical fully equipped prices for new Series builds are around €150,000, while the bill for new one-off Protos is well over double that figure, reflecting the costs of full carbon one-off boats that incorporate build knowledge gained from America’s Cup campaigns, plus in some cases the enormous cost of foils.

Innovation hotbed

Historically the class has been a hotbed of innovation. It’s here that twin rudder designs and canting keels were first refined and proven to be reliable, even if some of the latter initially had problems when scaled up to much larger yachts. However, for the past few years almost all new development has been in the lower-powered Series fleet, where scow bows have been the norm for several years.

In contrast to the IMOCA 60 fleet, foiling designs have so far been slow to take off, but that’s changing rapidly. This year sees nine new Proto boats set to be launched, many of which push the boundaries of yacht design.

Carlos Manera’s Xucia is designed to be a low-riding foiler with the transom just maintaining contact with the water. Photo: James Tomlinson

Unlike foiling IMOCA 60s, Minis are allowed T-foils on their rudders, which opens up the prospect for a full flying boat. This was the approach taken by the early foiling Minis, including Seair’s David Raison-designed #747 in 2017 – the first-ever flying offshore monohull – and the Verdier-designed Pogo Foiler that launched in 2019.

When I visited Lorient-based Seair back in 2018 development engineer Hugo Feydit told me they were seeing speed advantages of up to 30% compared to the Archimedes Protos of the time. This boat was originally intended as a proof of concept, so it was judged imprudent to build both foils at the outset, in case testing showed a different foil shape was needed and as a result it could only foil on starboard tack. Funding was not forthcoming to build the other foil, which means the boat never raced so direct comparisons with the fleet could not be made.

However, the Pogo Foiler is a different matter. Although Covid forced a break in his early racing schedule, Tanguy Bouroullec, skipper of the first boat, produced some stunning results in 2021, winning the first two races of the season. However, he’s yet to convert the boat’s obvious potential into a Mini Transat win. Although his is a full-flying boat, Bouroullec is very conscious of avoiding heavy splashdowns and when I sailed with him a couple of years ago we kept the leeward corner of the transom just in contact with the water. Nevertheless, it was an exhilarating ride, with boat speed hovering around 17-18 knots for extended periods in 18-20 knots of true wind.

With retracted C-foils. Photo: James Tomlinson

Low riding option

One of the most recent of the new boats is Xucia, sail #1081, a Sam Manuard design for young Spanish skipper Carlos Manera that’s been professionally built at the Sinergia Racing Group’s yard in Cartagena. Manera says he and Manuard shared a similar vision and philosophy for a low-riding foiling boat with retractable C-foils that would offer a significant speed boost in medium and strong winds, without being at a disadvantage in light airs.

This is notably a different philosophy to that of another new Manuard design, Caroline Boule’s #1067 Nicomatic (aka Bill), which is a full flying boat. It was launched last year, but foils weren’t fitted until autumn 2022, so we can’t infer anything from race results to date. A full-on flying Mini is arguably still a risky strategy, but it’s one that Boule, a Franco-Polish nuclear engineer with a background in team racing and foiling Moths, is well placed to capitalise on.

In the past Mini sailors were renowned for getting their hands dirty building their boats, but the popularity of series designs means that’s far less common today. Instead the focus is on maximising time afloat, honing skills and gathering data. Bucking the trend, both Carlos and his sister, Elena, helped hands-on with the build of Xucia, spending six months at the yard. “Some bulkheads and many of the smaller parts were done only by me,” he says, “and we have been learning from the professional team at the yard all the time.”

A clearer view of the C-Foils deployed. Photo: James Tomlinson

Although the boat is a one-off, all tooling was made using CNC moulds – believed to be the first time for a Proto Mini 6.50. “We used the same technology as INEOS Britannia and other America’s Cup teams,” says Manera. Close attention to detail during the build means the boat came out a little lighter than expected, despite the additional weight of the foils and associated structural reinforcement compared to a conventional design.

Clear vision

Manera, who completed the last Mini Transat in an 11-year-old Series boat, started this project with a crystal clear vision of what he believes to be necessary for such a tiny foiling boat to perform reliably in an oceanic race. His overriding priority is avoiding the big loss of speed, and decelerations that can be damaging to both boat and skipper, when a boat suddenly drops off the foils. Instead, his boat is not intended to fly high and the transom will always be in touch with the water. The foils therefore help increase righting moment and reduce wetted surface area to an absolute minimum.

“The main idea was not to fly,” he told me. “Sam Manuard originally proposed the same design as Caroline’s boat to me, but I turned it down because I don’t want to fly. The reality at the moment is we are too far away from being able to cross big waves in hard conditions and stay flying. Maybe it can be achieved in the future, but I don’t believe it’s possible right now.

Gooseneck, boom and mainsail are all designed to boost end-plate effect to maximise the power that can be derived from the bottom of the sail. Photo: James Tomlinson

“The human factor means we need to be relaxed and need to have constant good mental strength. When you are full flying, it’s difficult to rest, it’s really difficult to keep the trim right, and it’s really stressful for you and the boat.”

Xucia therefore has relatively small retractable C-foils that boost righting moment, while producing a bows up attitude. This reduces the propensity for the boat to nose-dive into a wave, giving a smoother ride, while the extreme scow bow shape offers a lot of reserve buoyancy if the boat does splash down.

Manera says this means good control of the boat is maintained all the time: “You are not flying, so the autopilot can manage and you can rest, because the boat doesn’t smash into waves, it just passes over them.”

The now-standard scow bow shape provides both form stability and reserve buoyancy forward. Photo: James Tomlinson

Getting the bows well up also reduces wetted surface area by up to 80%, which creates a massive speed boost compared to conventional boats. When the C-foils aren’t needed in light airs they can be retracted clear of the water – a big gain compared to the big foils of flying boats whose drag can never be eliminated.

High averages

I first spoke to Manera four weeks after the boat was launched, during which time he’d been training in mostly light to moderate winds of up to 20 knots. “The feel of the boat is really, really good,” he says, “and it has the behaviour we wanted from the design, with a very soft ride on the foils and no big bursts of speed. But what’s really interesting is the speed is always very constant. That was the main goal – to maximise the average speed, not peak speeds.”

He also reports the boat is “really balanced and smooth” and that the pilot – currently an NKE GyroPilot 3 while waiting for the HD version to be available – works really well.

In lighter airs the C-foil (left) can be retracted, to sail with canting keel and twin daggerboards. Photo: James Tomlinson

Key priorities before the first Classe Mini races this season are to continue testing to build a full set of data that will identify the fastest mode in all conditions. Despite their diminutive size these are complex boats, with a myriad of sail plan permutations and many options for fine tuning the foil settings, so this is far from a trivial task.

Accurate instrument calibration, for instance, is critical for a good pilot response and to build the data needed for sail selection. Given the complexities of measuring variables such as upwash angles at the top of the rig over a full range of wind speeds and angles, this takes a huge amount of effort at the highest levels of racing. So for most, perfect calibration is a distant goal you’re always working towards.

It’s even more complex for foiling vessels, whose boat speed sensor – one of the four critical components needed to calculate true wind speeds and angles – regularly lifts out of the water. This whole area is one that Feydit told me was “a huge challenge that required a vast amount of work” for the Seair boat.

Slick twin-winch layout saves weight and borrows cockpit ideas from IMOCAs and Class 40s. Photo: James Tomlinson

Manera has only limited time to achieve this before the first races in the Atlantic season, starting with the 250-mile two-handed Plastimo Lorient Mini race, in which he will compete with Elena as co-skipper, just after this issue goes to press. While others are struggling to get a place on this autumn’s Mini Transat (starting September) Manera has already secured one of three spots reserved for boats measured for the first time during the year of the race.

Xucia is not the only entry with C-foils in this year’s Mini Transat. Geoffrey Morel’s #945 Tartine, a Marc Lombard design from 2018, was designed at the outset to be retrofitted with foils. However neither of her first two skippers, Axel Tréhin and Fabio Muzzolini – who finished 2nd in the last Mini Transat, took the plunge. The boat’s new C-foils have a very large chord measurement and again provide plenty of stability while also lifting the hull just above the water.

Given the two different schools of thought among foiling boats – full flying or low-riding – plus five new non-foiling Protos from the same mould as the winner of the last two Mini Transats, it will be interesting to compare their respective performance both in the shorter races this year and in the Mini Transat. The history of the Mini class tells us the outcome of the battle between the different styles of foiling boats and the latest Archimedes designs will have big ramifications for future developments in the wider offshore racing world.

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“I’d like to be able to say the AC40 [Women’s and Youth America’s Cup foiler] because hopefully – fingers crossed! – I will be in it and it’s definitely the coolest boat that I’ve ever seen,” says Rogers. “But the Waszp dinghy is what’s got me into foiling and has got a lot of other younger sailors into foiling.”

The Waszp is a one-design foiling dinghy designed to be more accessible to a wider range of sailors than development classes like the International Moth. It is raced in over 20 countries and has two smaller rig options for youth crews from just 40kg.

Photo: James Tomlinson/Waszp

“It’s just awesome coming off the line flying with 80 other boats,” says Rogers.”The Waszp is a really good boat for learning to foil in. It is a bit tricky sometimes for the girls in bigger wind, because it is a fairly deep sail – they’re 8.2m2 and quite powerful. But it is a really good boat and has set me up well for other classes. There’s a lot of lessons I’ve learned from the Waszp that, if I’d tried to learn in the Moth, I probably would have broken a lot!”

Make sure you check out our full list of Coolest Yachts.

Waszp stats rating:

Top speed: 24 knots
LOA: 3.35m/11ft
Launched: 2016
Berths: 0
Price: €15,500
Adrenalin factor: 90%

Hattie Rogers

Hattie Rogers was named this year’s YJA Yachtsman of the Year, the youngest ever winner of the title aged 22. Having previously competed in youth classes to a high level, she won the SailGP Waszp Inspire Grand Final in San Francisco in 2022 and is a part of the Athena Pathway Programme to develop a British Women’s America’s Cup team.

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As with beauty, coolness is in the eye of the beholder. While for some, speed is secondary to function or comfort, inherently any list of coolest catamarans and multihulls is likely to tip towards the high performance designs, whether they are historic trend setters or modern record holders.

We’ve asked a plethora or personalities from the sailing world, from top designers to racer for their thoughts on the coolest catamarans and multihulls. Each selection holds a special place in the heart of one of sailing’s biggest names. Reading about their favourites demonstrates it isn’t always the absolute latest technology that makes some of the boats the coolest catamarans and multihulls out there.

The Coolest Catamarans and Multihulls

Phaedo – MOD 70

“In terms of complexity for speed, there isn’t anything else which has such a good ratio as a MOD 70,” says British pro-sailor Sam Goodchild. “We’ve been over 40 knots [boatspeed] on them, and with Phaedo we used to sail for up to 200 days a year, all around the world, with just two shore crew. We were sailing offshore with just five people, so you’ve got super high performance for relatively easy upkeep.

“We’d be doing the Caribbean regattas against boats like Comanche, they’d have 20-something people on the rail and we had five, doing circles around them! Then we did all the transatlantic races – for me it’s an amazing boat.

Gitana 17 – Ultime

“The Ultimes to me are the most technologically advanced and fastest boats that you can still go offshore with, at incredible speeds and at the same time a robustness and all round performance: 30 knots upwind on the ocean! So I think they are technically the peak of sailing at the moment,” says Co-Owner of The Ocean Race, Johan Salen, who nominates the giant trimaran Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, also known as Gitana 17.

Gitana 17 is a 32m fully foiling trimaran built to a Verdier design to compete in both crewed (by a team of six) and solo races and record attempts. Skippered by Charles Caudrelier, it has won the Rolex Fastnet Race, Transat Jacques Vabre and Brest Atlantiques.

Aerial images of Francois Gabart onboard Ultim MACIF, training before the Round the Word Solo Handed Record, off Belle Ile, on October 16th, 2017 – Photo Jean-Marie LIOT / ALEA / MACIF

MACIF – Ultime

“This is a boat only a handful of people have ever been aboard but it’s a boat all the cool kids would really love to sail,” says Dee Caffari – the first woman to sail non-stop round the world in both directions.

“It’s the coolest yacht in the world because it’s very, very fast and because François Gabart set the 24-hour record of 851 miles all on his own.

“And he is very cool himself!”

PHOTO CHRISTOPHE LAUNAY / DPPI – Alain Theabault and his crew ( Jacques Vincent – Yves Parlier – Jean Le Cam – Robert Douglas )

Hydroptère – Speed record breaker

“I thought Hydroptère was the most incredible boat for a long time,” says Vendée Globe solo sailor Pip Hare of the groundbreaking 60ft (18m) foiler. “It was the first flying boat we’d ever seen. It crossed oceans and also was going for the 50-knot record.”

The experimental hydrofoil was the brainchild of skipper, helmsman and project founder Alain Thébault, together with design studio VPLP. It was built on principles Thébault proved as early as the Nineties and launched in 2008 – over a decade decade before the Ultimes evolved into the foiling offshore multihull class we know today.

Photo: Thierry Martinez

B&Q Castorama – Round the world record breaker

“For me ‘Moby’, as Ellen MacArthur’s trimaran was known, is one of the coolest yachts,” says top yachting photographer, Thierry Martinez of Ellen’s B&Q Castorama.

“In this photograph Ellen is 100 miles off the finish line at Ushant just before she broke her solo round the world record in 2005. I wasn’t working for Ellen at this time, but I had followed her from the boat’s launch in Sydney to the end of successful broken record.

“The trimaran was extra cool because it had two sides: one blue side with a French sponsor, and an orange side for an English sponsor. To shoot both sides was a challenge.”

USA 17 – 2010 America’s Cup winner

“I’d have loved to sail on the America’s Cup AC72 cats in San Francisco in 2013, they were so invigorating,” says Thomas Coville – one of the world’s most successful ocean racing skippers. “Those boats were when Larry Ellison just let free in the America’s Cup and pushed the limits. But perhaps even cooler was the big trimaran challenger, USA 17 [in 2010]. When you saw the size of the wing and the size of Jimmy Spithill steering the boat, and flying on one hull, I think it was totally amazing.

“We should give a medal to the generation who was on the America’s Cup in San Francisco for creating so many new ideas and new dynamics, but for me the first step of sailing by flying was when those guys arrived with a trimaran with wings. Today we are trying to recreate that kind of a step by foiling around the world.”

Foiling F50 – SailGP‘s foiling catamaran

“Without question the SailGP F50 is the best boat that I have ever sailed,” says America’s Cup skipper, 49er gold medalist and foiling Moth world champion, Nathan Outteridge. “The headline top speeds of over 50 knots are impressive, but there is so much more to these incredible boats.

“The boats are inherently unstable, and so require constant adjustment of the foils to keep them flying at optimum levels. Initially the boats were very hard to sail; the foils are very unstable and not as forgiving as were used in the Bermuda America’s Cup, but with the help of sophisticated computer aided flight controls and user-friendly flight controller hardware the boats are now far easier to sail, which makes for better, closer racing.”

Biscuits Cantreau 2 – Revolutionary trimaran

Biscuits Cantreau 2 was a Formula 40 trimaran designed for Jean Le Cam in 1987. “Formula 40 was a class born in France with a very simple rule for multihulls for offshore racing,” explains Lauriot–Prévost, co-founder of VPLP yacht design. “The boat had to be 40ft long, about 40ft wide, the mast height was 21m, with a sail area of 90m2, and weigh 2.3 tonnes minimum.

“In 1986 the majority of the fleet were catamarans, but we started with a trimaran. For 1987 we sat down with a blank sheet of paper. The challenge was to be at the minimum weight with a trimaran. We wanted to go for a trimaran which sailed like a catamaran, flying a hull. That was really something very new.

“Most trimarans sailed on the main hull, with floats to balance the boat for transverse stability. We had the crew on the windward float, three rudders, and aimed to sail flying a hull. She was faster than all the catamaran fleet, and beat them all.”

Olympus Photo – The original modern multihull

“The late Mike Birch’s Olympus Photo, designed and built by Walter Greene, sits at the root of all modern multis,” says Guillaume Verdier – one of the most talented and successful naval architects of the modern era. “Mike and his boat began the legend of the Route du Rhum and made offshore racing so popular. With his 12m-long yellow trimaran he beat Michel Malinovsky on his 21m (69ft) monohull Kriter in 1978, by less than two minutes – extraordinary considering they didn’t know each other’s position at the time.

“Greene’s design was a cold moulded wooden-epoxy coated boat with small longitudinal stringers. At the time it was a very original way to build boats, developed by the Gougeon brothers.”

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As the 2024 Vendée Globe draws ever closer it looks like British fans will have plenty to shout about in the next edition as a bumper number of British skippers are preparing to take on the solo non-stop round the world race. Despite long-time British Vendée contender Alex Thomson retiring from the event, the 2024 race is set to feature one of the strongest British contingents ever fielded in the Vendée.

So, who are the skippers flying the flag for Britain in the Vendée Globe?

Photo: Yann Riou

Sam Davies

English-born Samantha Davies has the rare status of being loved by both French and British sailing fans, having made France her home for many years since breaking into the Figaro class, a traditional feeder for the IMOCA 60.

Davies, 48, is now among the most experienced IMOCA 60 skippers in the fleet, and well known for being one of its best communicators, also being bilingual. Davies trained for many years at the prestigious Port La Forêt, and has more than 25 transatlantic races under her belt as well as three circumnavigations.

Davies is a long time Vendée Globe competitor having first taken on the race in 2008/09 on Roxy, crossing the line in 3rd place and finishing 4th after redress was awarded to other competitors (for the rescue of Jean le Cam).

She was dismasted in the 2012 Vendée Globe, but went straight on to the all-female Team SCA entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, in which she was made skipper. The Volvo Ocean Race has since become The Ocean Race and Davies is currently competing onboard Biotherm alongside Paul Meilhat on an epic 12,000 mile Southern Ocean leg. Sam has spoken about how this year’s crewed Ocean Race is an opportunity for skippers to really accelerate their learning on how the latest generation IMOCAs handle big ocean conditions, and optimum trim and foil settings.

Davies’ first ever brand new IMOCA 60 on launch day. Photo: Marin LE ROUX – polaRYSE

Sam Davies missed out on the 2016 Vendée Globe, but returned for 2020 with the 2010 generation IMOCA Initiatives-Coeur, raising awareness for a campaign that funds life-saving heart surgery for children in developing nations.

Initiatives-Coeur suffered a collision in the South Atlantic with an unidentified floating object, and Sam Davies was forced to head to Cape Town to make repairs, which put her out of the race. She repaired her yachts and completed the course, though not racing, in order to continue fund-raising.

For the 2024 Vendée Globe cycle, Davies has her first custom-build new IMOCA, also backed by Initiatives-Coeur. The Sam Manuard design was launched in 2022 and is the second hull to come from the mould originally used for Armel Tripon’s former L’Occitane en Provence (now Bureau Vallée 3), a concept which was widely admired by skippers in the 2020 Vendée Globe for its ability to handle large seas and maintain high average speeds. Davies will be looking to compete at the very sharp end of the fleet in the 2024 Vendée Globe.

Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

Pip Hare

Pip Hare is a British professional sailor and solo skipper, and the 8th woman ever to finish the Vendée Globe. She needs little introduction to regular readers of Yachting World, as a regular writer and boat tester.

Pip Hare set out to join the hallowed ranks of Vendée skippers in 2018, committing to take part in her first Vendée Globe aged 46, at the time with no sponsor and no IMOCA experience, and an old, early generation boat which she had chartered.

Hare’s incredible determination got her to the startline of the 2020 Vendée with a tiny budget and a support team made up of volunteers and friends, winning her legions of fans on the way. In June 2020, just months out from the start of the race, she secured Medallia as a title sponsor for her campaign, allowing her to finally recruit a small team in preparation for the start in November 2020.

In her own words, Pip says she had to: “just make it happen, force a campaign into existence and not be fussy about what I had. I just wanted to experience the [Vendée Globe] and show potential sponsors that I was worth backing.”

Hare sailed an impressive 2020-21 Vendée Globe, despite the challenges of her 2000-vintage IMOCA 60 (the former Superbigou built by Bernard Stamm), which was well known to be one of the hardest to sail in the fleet – with halyards led to the mast base, a block and tackle canting keel system, no foils, and little in the way of cockpit protection.

She finished in 19th position, with a final time of 95d 11hr. Despite sailing the second-oldest boat in the fleet she finished within a few hours of two foilers ahead (Alan Roura’s La Fabrique in 17th, and Stéphane le Diraison on Time for Oceans).

Pip Hare’s new Medallia at the start of the 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race © Paul Wyeth/RORC

Following the huge success of their original partnership, Medallia backed Hare again for a second Vendee Globe in the 2024-25 race and shortly after finishing the 2020-21 race Hare and Medallia secured the fastest boat ever to complete the Vendée Globe.

Launched in 2015 as Banque Populaire, the new Medallia comes with an impressive history. It was one of the first generation of yachts that were built specifically to foil, and it won the Vendée Globe for Armel Le Cléac’h in 2016, setting an unbroken course record of 74 days.

Over the winter of 2022-23 this boat has gone into the shed for a number of updates including a new boat – closer to the scow-bow style that has become increasingly popular within the fleet and new internal structure for the foils, ready for a more powerful set of new foils to be fitted.

Sam Goodchild

Sam Goodchild

Pip Hare and Sam Davies will be well-known names for followers of the Vendée Globe, but one to watch in the 2024-25 edition of the event is sure to be Sam Goodchild. Goodchild has been skippering an Ocean 50 trimaran for the Leyton Sailing Team and earlier this year the it was confirmed that Leyton would be supporting him in a move into the IMOCA fleet.

Sam Goodchild was born in Britain and spent his early years living aboard a yacht in the Caribbean. In his 20s he competed in the Solitaire du Figaro, before moving into the Class 40 and Ocean 50 multihull. He has sailed on giant multihulls Sodebo and Spindrift, with Mapfre in the Volvo Ocean Race, and with other high profile teams.

Now 34, he is currently racing in The Ocean Race on Kevin Escoffier‘s IMOCA Holcim – PRB. The crew has won the first two legs of this crewed round the world race with stopovers, ahead of the four other IMOCA boats entered in the race. This experience on the latest generation IMOCA 60 alongside the very experienced Escoffier is bound to stand him in good stead.

“Kevin has set the team up in a very open way,” says Goodchild of the opportunity, “He’s very communicative about why the boat was designed the way it was, and the theory as to how it works. It’s not just ‘this is your trim book, do this.’”

“Going into the Southern Ocean on an IMOCA before my first Vendée Globe is kind of gold dust,” he adds, “You can sail around Brittany in the summer and then do a transatlantic, but it’s not at all the same. This is the best training you can get.”

Sam Goodchild will take on LinkedOut in the next Vendee. Photo: Sailing Energy / Ocean Race Europe

If The Ocean Race experience is gold dust, then his recently announced boat purchase and partnership could possibly be considered platinum dust. In early February 2023 it was announced that Goodchild would join the “TR Racing” team alongside skipper Thomas Ruyant and would take over Ruyant’s previous boat LinkedOut (one of the fastest and best optimised boats in the fleet from the last Vendée cycle).

Sailing LinkedOut, Ruyant was 6th in the 2020 Vendée Globe and won the 2022 Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe. He will be working alongside Goodchild with the team fielding two skippers at the start of the next Vendée Globe.

While Goodchild will take the helm of the former LinkedOut, Ruyant will soon receive his brand new IMOCA boat, a Koch – Finot Conq design, scheduled for mid-March. This two-skipper configuration will allow for a pooling of skills in the team and will allow them to optimise performance between the two boats, while Goodchild also has his own continued financial backing from Leyton.

Phil Sharp demonstrating hydrogen fuel cell technology aboard his Class 40 OceansLab. Photo: Olivier Blanchet

Phil Sharp

Another name who might be new to followers of the Vendée Globe is Phil Sharp, but he is far from a new name in the ocean racing world with a long career in Figaro and Class 40 racing.  Sharp, now 41, has announced a new Manuard-designed IMOCA currently in build for the 2024 Vendée. The new generation foiler OceansLab will uniquely utilise hydrogen power.

Phil Sharp has been building a solo racing profile for nearly 20 years, since competing in the Mini Transat in 2004 (finishing 4th), he’s also won class in the Route du Rhum, and 3rd in the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre. His new IMOCA will be a third-generation foiler from designer-of-the-moment Sam Manuard, and is in construction at Black Pepper in France.

Sharp and Goodchild were both part of a cohort of talented young British offshore sailors that took part in the Artemis Offshore Academy, a programme run by OC Sport from 2010-2018 to nurture British ocean racing talent and – perhaps one day – to achieve a British win in the Vendée Globe.

Sharp has been on the Vendée radar for years, and has been talked about as a potential contender in the event. In the Class40 fleet he has won almost everything it’s possible to win, including the Class 40 Championship, which he dominated in 2017. The championship consists of: the Trophée Guyader, Normandy Channel Race, Les Sables Horta, Rolex Fastnet Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre. Easy to see, then, that he certainly has the pedigree needed to compete at the front on the IMOCA 60 fleet.

James Harayda. Photo: Jean-Louis Carli

James Harayda

While the road to a Vendée Globe entry is often a long one, requiring dogged determination, 25-year-old James Harayda is aiming to compete in the 2024 Vendée Globe as one of the fleet’s ‘young guns’.

Former keelboat sailor Harayda has acquired a 2007 Finot-Conq designed IMOCA 60, which was first built for fellow Brit Alex Thomson to take on the 2008 Vendée and is now named Gentoo Sailing Team.

With a relatively old, non-foiler Harayda will be unlikely to trouble the very front of the fleet in the forthcoming edition of the Vendée, but the young skipper has big ambitions, with a stated aim to complete the 2024 Vendée Globe and then come back in 2028 with a new boat at the head of a competitive campaign.

Dee Caffari with James Harayda in the Sun Fast 3300 Gentoo. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Harayda will should benefit from the mentorship of 2008 Vendée Globe finisher, Volvo Ocean Race skipper and the first woman to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world “the wrong way”, Dee Caffari, who is helping with his campaign.  Together, Cafffari and Harayda also won the British Double Handed National Championships on two occasions.

Harayda’s experience in the IMOCA fleet to date extends to only the Défi Azimut, where he finished 19th, and last year’s Route Du Rhum, where he finished a highly credible 14th, both on Gentoo.

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Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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Leg 3 of The Ocean Race was always expected to be an punishing test for the five IMOCAs and their crews, but it’s been a particularly tough start for the teams since the 12,000-mile stage from Cape Town, South African to Itajaii, Brazil, began on Sunday 26 February.

Two boats picked up damage even before leaving Table Bay at the start of the leg.

Then, after just 72 hours of racing, Guyot environnement – Team Europe announced they had to bow out of the rest of the leg after what team team believes to be structural damage to the hull, and yesterday Malizia suffered serious mast damage. Boris Herrmann‘s team has been frantically making repairs today to try and keep themselves in the race.

Meanwhile, Kevin Escoffier‘s team on Holcim-PRB has marched to a substantial lead.

Leg 3 starting problems

During a two-and-a-half lap inshore race off Cape Town before the boats set out offshore, Paul Meilhat‘s Biotherm suffered a broken mainsheet strop during a gybe in strong breezes. This caused further damage to the kicker which forced the team to head back to the dock to effect a repair. They then needed to wait for a minimum two-hour period for receiving assistance.

Just minutes later it was revealed that 11th Hour Racing Team had also suffered damage, having broken two mainsail battens. Though the team could fix the repair onboard they elected to have new battens sent onto the water so they could keep their spares onboard for the leg ahead. They too would need to serve a two-hour wait period before they could get their race underway again.

After a 24-hour period of lighter winds, which at one stage saw the five IMOCAs drifting facing in five entirely different directions on the tracker, the leaders began to pick up stronger breezes as they made miles to the south, while both Biotherm and 11th Hour Racing Team were working hard to hunt down the other three teams. With the increasing breeze and plunge south  the sea state also increased and the damage reports began to file in.

Guyot are now heading back to Cape Town

Guyot environnement – Team Europe announced on the morning of Wednesday 1 March that they had suffered damage. While the boat was racing in winds of 20-25 knots, the crew on board heard two consecutive noises. After an inspection of the boat, they discovered abnormal movements in the hull bottom in the living area.

“The sea state wasn’t easy but it wasn’t too bad conditions, and we were happy with the position of the boat in the fleet,” explained Benjamin Dutreux in a satellite call from the boat today. “When Annie was inside just going off watch she heard two big cracking noises, and then said: ‘Ben, I want to show you – the floor’s moving’.”

After a discussion with the design and technical team, the team came to the conclusion that it was a hull sandwich failure.

“Given the current position of the boat and the distance to the arrival in Itajai, unfortunately it is better for the crew and the integrity of the boat to turn back to Cape Town.” said Thomas Cardrin, the technical director from GUYOT environnement – Team Europe.

Instead the crew are cautiously making their way back to Cape Town, whilst trying to effect some temporary repairs to stop the damage spreading.

“We need to get back to Cape Town slowly, sailing at not more than 10 knots,” said Dutreux.

“It’s too risky to try to fully repair it, but we’ve tried to make a reinforcement with some battens to stop the floor moving such a lot and breaking more parts of the boat.” On the video call he showed where the crew had glued two carbon battens to longitudinals, while the rest of the sole was dotted with marks showing areas of damage.

“Our aim is to get back to Cape Town with no more damage, to repair the boat as soon as possible and rejoin the fleet… I don’t know where right now, but for sure by Itajaii.”

Nicolas Lunven and Rosalin Kuiper assist Will Harris on the foil of Malizia recovering the Code 0. Photo: Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia

Mast problems for Malizia

Meanwhile Team Malizia has had serious problems of their own too, first losing their Code Zero sail over the side, which then became wrapped around their keel and one of their foils leaving the team’s only option to cut the sail in order to free themselves.

They managed to get the shredded sail back onboard, but it will need the repair team at North Sails to ‘work a miracle’, explained team manager Holly Cova today.

But the Code Zero is the least of the team’s worries as Boris Herrmann explained in an update on the morning of Thursday 2 March:

“A very strong metal part holding a sail up broke the evening before yesterday at nightfall [the Code Zero halyard lock].

“When the sail fell down its halyard ripped a 26 cms long hole in the face of the mast at the top (ripping through the carbon fibre structure). With reefed sails we can now continue to sail. And once we have managed to put carbon over the crack we can sail almost back at 100%.”

The team have been working flat out on effecting a repair today. “Will Harris has been up the rig grinding away the damage to create smooth surface, Boris and Rosie have been working on laminate, while Nico’s basically been driving the boat,” explained Cova.

The large crack in Malizia’s mast. Photo: Team Malizia

She reported that Harris was exhausted from working at the top of the IMOCA mast, using power tools to grind the shredded carbon back to a smooth area. Whilst the wind is light, the sea state is messy, and the team have had to partially hoist the main to stabilise the boat.

The next stage is for Harris to go back up the rig this afternoon to laminate the repair patches onto the mast, which will take around an hour and a half, and the team will then leave the repair to cure and dry for around 12 hours to see if it is strong enough to continue racing – and if they’ll be able to return to hoisting their full height headsails and unreefed mainsail.

“We are pretty confident at the moment that we will be able to continue, maybe even in full race mode,” commented Cova.

If the repair does not hold, clearly this double points leg could be over for Herrmann’s team, but the larger issue may well be finding a spare for the remainder of the race. The one-design masts for the IMOCA 60 are in very short supply. It was reported before the start that 11th Hour Racing Team had a spare, but there are no others available anywhere in the world, and mast build slots are all pre-sold to teams with new IMOCA 60s currently in build.

11th Hour Racing Team have also had damage to repair, with a video yesterday (advisory: some swearing) showing the frustrated crew trying to fix a critical control line failure.

Holcim-PRB march to solid lead

Having charged south immediately out of Cape Town, much of the racing has thus far has seen teams trying to work out how much risk they are willing to take. There has been a significant low pressure system lying just to the south of the fleet which likely would offer conditions that are closing in on the limit of being too extreme for these boats – certainly at this stage in the race.

The key concern here is not so much the wind but the sea state that will be kicked up by the storm. The semi-foiling IMOCA 60s sail at their fastest in relatively flat water so one of the main routes to fast passages is to try to find decent, but not huge winds in relatively flat water.

Gone are the days of more wind = more speed.

So despite the teams being well north of the ice boundary, few are risking heading too far south. The team that did dip furthest south (probably experiencing the worst of the waves) was Guyot, who have since retired with hull damage…

Holcim-PRB are storming away in the lead of Theo Ocean Race Leg 3. Photo: Sailing energy

There is also the factor that it’s easy for the IMOCAs to be pushed harder by the fully crewed teams, than when the solo Vendée Globe skippers are racing in the Southern Oceans.

Guyot sailor, Robert Stanjek explained: “You’re never putting the boat into that a halfway easy mode to find sleep or rest, there’s always some one on deck trying to find the optimum performance. But that’s part of it: the boats are very quickly over powered and if you want to break a boat you can do that very quickly here! You have to tread a very narrow path.”

Winner of the first two legs of The Ocean Race, Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB have been leading this leg since day 1 and show no signs of slowing down. On video link through The Ocean Race HQ’s comms system earlier today, Holcim-PRB was flying along at 19 knots in sunshine, with Escoffier and team looking relaxed and confident (sadly they were just going too fast for the audio link to let us speak to the crew onboard today).

Escoffier’s team have now a near 300-mile advantage over their next closest competitor, 11th Hour Racing Team and are expected to be able to extend that to 500-600 miles as they hang onto the tail of the low.

It’s going to be a case of the rich getting richer in the coming days – the question for PRB-Holcim will be how many miles of advantage do they need to feel comfortable enough to take their foot off the gas and sail in a more conservative mode?

Keep up to date with the race via The Ocean Race live tracker. And see all our latest stories at our The Ocean Race homepage.

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