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IMOCA 60 vs VO65: Everything you need to know about the two classes in 2021-22

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Open 60 : What makes the Imocas class so special

Andreas Fritsch

, Jochen Rieker

 ·  05.11.2023

An Imoca 60 can be characterised by a few key figures. Its hull length is limited to 18.28 metres, which corresponds to the 60 feet indicated by its type designation. With bowsprit, it must not exceed 20.12 metres. The width is also limited to a maximum of 5.85 metres. But these are just three of a multitude of other limits.

To prevent an arms race, the mast may only reach up to 29 metres into the sky and the keel a maximum depth of 4.50 metres. The ballast, whose minimum and maximum weight is also specified, can be swivelled to the side electro-hydraulically in order to use the weight more effectively. Even the angle is limited: up to 38 degrees to starboard or port, not one degree more.

20,000 to 35,000 working hours go into the development of a top boat, around 40,000 to 50,000 hours into its construction

In addition to the keel, an Imoca may use a maximum of four other attachments under water. In the latest designs, these are two rudders aft and two foils amidships - hydrofoils that lift the boat out of the sea at a speed of 12 to 14 knots, thereby helping to reduce water resistance.

Most read articles

These and other parameters are regulated by the class so that man and machine do not become a danger to themselves. Otherwise, designers, boat builders and skippers are relatively free in the design of the racing yachts. This is also what makes them so appealing - and their reputation as one of the most innovative classes of all.

In the beginning, before the first race in 1989, the technical rules were extremely simple. There were hardly any requirements. As a result, the International Monohull Open Class Association (Imoca for short) quickly became a haven for free spirits. This is still the case today, even if the degrees of freedom have been repeatedly restricted in recent years.

The design rules are an expression of a complex, sometimes erratic development. When almost anything was still permitted, there was a technical arms race at the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s that pushed designs ever closer to their physical limits, sometimes even beyond them.

As a result, spectacular failures became more frequent: Extremely narrow keel fins laminated from carbon fibre tore off, carrying ballast bodies weighing several tonnes at their ends, some of which were made from materials as exotic as tungsten. Masts broke in rows as they were designed to be lighter and lighter in order to develop less leverage. As the boats became increasingly wider and the superstructures ever flatter, some constructions remained keel up after capsizing, even in heavy seas. Several maritime emergencies forced skippers to be rescued by nearby competitors, helicopters or even naval vessels.

The "Ecureuil-d'Aquitaine", the first boat to win the Vendée, weighed 13 tonnes. Today's foilers come in at 8 to 9 tonnes

Another consequence of this inventiveness was a huge explosion in costs and an exorbitant drop in the value of boats from previous generations - neither of which was conducive to keeping the class attractive for less well-financed teams. Dizzying budgets in the millions combined with the growing risk of technical failures made it increasingly difficult for many skippers to find sponsors.

In order to mitigate these two trends, the Imoca class association, on whose committees the skippers have the say, but where designers, experienced team managers and marketing specialists also have a voice, gradually adopted new rules in a pioneering process from 2008 to 2013. Their aim: to enable innovation while avoiding excesses.

The members therefore decided to intervene at the design stage in future. To reduce costs, a standardised mast, a standardised keel and the necessary hydraulics were decided in 2013. In addition, they agreed on keel fins made of forged steel with a lead bomb, probably the safest and most durable solution to date.

A new Imoca building with foils costs 5-7 million

And yet: While a normal cruising sailor considers the keel of his yacht to be the most stable component that will last the life of the boat without grounding and hardly needs any attention, the underwater appendages of the Open-60s have to be regularly dismantled and serviced. They undergo extensive sonic or even X-ray examinations to check for the slightest damage to ensure that skipper and boat can sail as safely as possible. Nevertheless, there are always failures, at least in the hydraulics for tilting the keels, which is why all newer boats must have a device for fixing the keel in the neutral position.

In order to solve the problem of yachts drifting upwards after capsizing, it was decided that the ships must right themselves up to an angle of 110 degrees. To do this, they undergo an elaborate test procedure:

The large teams have 35-50 permanent employees for the construction of a boat.

After completion, all new Imocas, including Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer", are moored in the harbour basin with the rig upright and brought into a lateral position by a crane until the mast is horizontal above the water surface, at 90 degrees to the vertical. Electronic tension scales then statically measure how high the righting moment is at the top of the mast. Computer simulations are then used to determine other safety parameters that are important for approval. This and the subsequent calculations take several days. The shape of the hull and deck is also taken into account - this is one of the reasons why "Malizia" has a superstructure that extends all the way aft; this is intended to support the turning of the hull after capsizing and thus helps to save weight in the keel bomb.

There are also many other requirements set by the class. For example, the number of sails that can be on board during an Imoca regatta is limited: no more than eight sails are permitted. Even the maximum mast drop is limited. After the Vendée Globe 2020/21, it was regulated to between 2 and 6 degrees, which is intended to help minimise the bow dropping in the Southern Ocean when the boats are sailing at high speed into the back of large waves.

• We explain the sails of the Imocas in detail here

The same applies to the water ballast systems. Previously, some teams had up to eight trim tanks, which could be filled in seconds using valves while travelling. Now there are a maximum of six. The reason for this is that filling the tanks upwind causes the boat to develop a lot of additional righting moment, which can overload the structure and the single mast. The stern tanks are filled for room sheet courses where the wind blows from astern in order to lift the bow out of the swell via the leverage effect and prevent it from diving away.

The hydraulic cylinder of the tilting keel can withstand 40 tonnes of pressure

However, the foils have been the centre of attention since 2015. This is now the fourth generation of aerofoils, narrower and more expansive than before. There is a dimensionless upper limit for the area calculation that must be adhered to. However, the designers have come up with impressive and very different shapes.

They catapult the Imocas into a whole new realm. Even the 2020 generation sailed around 50 per cent faster than the Open 60 monohulls from 2015/16 in optimal conditions - with half the wind and flat seas - an unprecedented gain in ocean racing. Speeds of 25 to 35 knots are then possible.

And there is no end in sight. Because now the designs will start flying even earlier, and they should also stay on the foils longer in rougher seas. Boris Herrmann hopes to raise the average speed in the Southern Ocean from 18 to 22 knots. For the first time, a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in less than 70 days seems possible - provided the boats and skippers can keep up the sometimes extreme pace right to the finish line.

The IMOCA members could not resist the temptation to optimise and further develop this new, exciting technology. After the brute performance of the boats had to be reined in for a long time, and after the previous generation of foilers had to undergo major structural improvements, it now looks as if a new evolutionary stage has been reached: flying earlier, longer, faster. Once again, the class underlines why it has such a legendary reputation - for being the world's most high-bred racing yachts on the offshore scene!

• To the class rules and the IMOCA page

Limit dimensions of an Imoca

• Depth: 4.5 m max.
• Torso length: 18.28 m max. (60 ft.)
• Overall length with bowsprit: 20.12 m max. (66 ft.)
• Mast height: 29 m max.
• Profile mast: Carbon fibre wing profile, rotatable, maximum aft tilt adjustable from 2 to 6 degrees, one-design component
• Deckssaling: Carbon fibre, one-design component
• Keel fin: Steel, one-design component.
• Bomb: Lead, weight between 2.2 and 2.85 tonnes
• Underwater attachments: maximum 5 - 2 rudders (foldable), 1 keel (swivelling), 2 foils (retractable and rotatable)
• Sail: maximum 8 pieces, one mainsail, 7 headsails, aramid fibre laminates
• Colour: Rudder and keel in signal colours so that the ship can be seen more easily by rescue services when floating upwind in a storm

More about Boris Herrmann and the "Malizia - Seaexplorer":

• Virtual tour of Boris Herrmann's " Malizia - Seaexplorer "
• The sails of the Imocas explained in detail

Most read in category Regatta

Published on August 9th, 2021 | by Editor

11th Hour Racing unveils IMOCA 60

Published on August 9th, 2021 by Editor -->

After 24 months of research, development, and construction, 11th Hour Racing Team has unveiled its new IMOCA 60, the first of a new era of boats designed to compete in fully crewed, short-handed and solo offshore sailboat races.

With the U.S. sponsored program focused on The Ocean Race 2022-23, the team sees this as a new era for the 60-foot class which previously had been designed specifically for shorthanded sailing.

A product of Guillaume Verdier’s design studio and built at CDK Technologies in the home of offshore yacht racing in Brittany, France, the new IMOCA 60 blends sporting performance with sustainable construction practices, and state-of-the-art boat building technology.

Where IMOCA 60s are traditionally designed for the typical downwind course of the solo Vendée Globe, the 11th Hour Racing Team boat has been optimized for the broader range of conditions expected in The Ocean Race which will cross the equator four times.

The first impression is of a hull with a super-slick aero treatment with a scow-type profile to its bow, a pronounced chine, and with a large and almost completely enclosed cockpit with minimal side decks.

The closed cockpit design will allow up to five sailors to live and work under the protection of its cover for the majority of time spent offshore with near-360 degree visibility. The boat is further enhanced via a refined auto-pilot, navigation system, cameras, and marine mammal deterrence system.

The cockpit layout and the layout down below has been designed to allow a full crew to work together during maneuvers with enough space to do so efficiently. Verdier says the boat, which features more winches than recent IMOCAs, feels far more spacious than all other boats in the class.

“It is not hugely different,” he said. “But there is a little more functionality. There are more winches and a bit more room – you will be surprised how spacious it is. It looks like a big boat when you are inside and it feels like a much bigger boat than the other IMOCAs.” Skipper Charlie Enright was excited about the launch: “We’ve designed a version of the IMOCA 60 that no one has ever built before. Our boat should be able to withstand the toughest conditions in the most remote corners of the world, but is also able to compete in various shorthanded configurations.

“Hopefully the hull shape is an evolution of the good work Guillaume has already done. I think we will see a foil package that is pretty radical and different to a lot of other boats out there today.

Enright said the foil package included the ability to draw the foils in when not required so that, when the hull is upright, they are clear of the water. “There are some boats that are still dragging part of their foils in the water when fully retracted at zero degrees of heel. It was important to us that this was not the case, but we can’t get rid of the whole things.

“I hope we’ve got the big things right – hull shape, foils, aero package – all that. The detail, as it relates to the fully crewed stuff, are pretty unproven. The cockpit volume, the cockpit layout, the crew mechanics and ergonomics certainly played a big part in it.”

The bow profile is all about trying to keep the boat clear of the water. “We are trying to keep the bow up and out of the water while we are VMG running, but trying not to lose the power in the waterline length and the reaching ability that has made Guillaume so successful in the past,” explained Enright.

The goal was to produce an IMOCA that can be competitive in a range of conditions. “We were not designing the boat for the Vendée Globe, so we have tried to make it an all-round boat basically,” continued Enright. “You only have to start and finish the Vendée once each race, whereas throughout the course of an Ocean Race you have 10 starts and 10 finishes.”

Another area where the boat is different is in the stacking system, something Enright remarked on. The design seems to have thought-through ways to make moving dead weight around easier. “We have also emphasized the stacking system,” he said, “the ability to move weight, not only left and right but fore and aft.”

Verdier also emphasizes the versatility of this boat. “I hope there will be more (like it),” he said. “It’s a smart way to go. I hope it will open the door to the Ocean Race. It’s smart because if you use it single-handed, you just remove a winch or two, some hydraulics or whatever and you remove a bit of weight and on you go…you’ve got nearly as strong a boat and you’ve got more space.”

Talking to both Enright and Verdier, you sense a huge amount of work has gone into this project. Take, for example, the sail wardrobe, where the team has carried out detailed work on sail crossovers, sail weight and sail structures. The net effect, they hope, is a boat that proves hard to match, whether raced fully-crewed or short-handed.

The boat’s race schedule includes the upcoming Défi Azimut (raced double-handed with a non-sailing onboard media crew member), the Transat Jacques Vabre (double-handed), and The Ocean Race 2022-23 (four sailors and one sailing onboard media crew member).

Leading up to the new boat’s naming ceremony scheduled for September 13, 11th Hour Racing Team will release a series of content features, including videos and photos, giving detailed insight into the new IMOCA 60’s unique design, artwork, and innovation processes.

Source: 11th Hour Racing Team, IMOCA

Event details – Route – Teams – Facebook

Here was the plan prior to the 2022-23 postponement: The Ocean Race 2021-22 (formerly The Volvo Ocean Race) will be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race. Entries in the IMOCA 60 class will compete for The Ocean Race trophy, while those racing the VO65s will chase the Ocean Challenge Trophy.

Ten Stopovers for 14th Edition: • Alicante, Spain : This historic Mediterranean port will host the start for the fifth consecutive edition in the autumn of 2021.

• Cabo Verde : More accustomed to having offshore teams sail by, or stop for repair, this archipelago of ten volcanic islands in the central Atlantic Ocean will become just the second African venue the race has ever visited and the first West African nation to host the event. Details .

• Cape Town, South Africa : Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town, as the oldest urban area in South Africa, was developed by the United East India Company (VOC) as a supply station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Located at latitude 33.55° S, it’s approximately the same as Sydney and Buenos Aires and equivalent to Casablanca and Los Angeles in the northern hemisphere. Details .

• Shenzhen, China : Located in the southeast, the city is a modern metropolis that links Hong Kong to China’s mainland. It’s known for its shopping destinations and features contemporary buildings, such as the 600m-tall skyscraper Ping An International Finance Centre, and a number of amusement parks. The city is a leading global technology hub and was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world in the 1990s and the 2000s. Details .

• Auckland, New Zealand : European, Polynesian, Asian, and strong Maori heritages give Auckland its distinctive culture. Located in the North Island of New Zealand, it is the most populous urban area in the country with an urban population of around 1,570,100. Details .

• Itajaí, Brazil : To the south of Rio de Janeiro, Itajaí was founded in the mid-19th century by German and Italian colonists, and is now the commercial centre and Atlantic port for an agricultural region drained by the Itajaí River and its tributaries. Details .

• Newport, USA : Located on Aquidneck Island, Newport is 74 miles south of Boston and 180 miles northeast of New York City. It is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. It was the location of every challenge to the America’s Cup between 1930 and 1983. It is also the home of Naval Station Newport, which houses the United States Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and an important Navy training center. This is the third consecutive edition of the race to stop in Newport. Details .

• Aarhus, Denmark : The course comes to the east coast of the Jutland peninsula during the spring of 2022, following a popular ‘Fly-By’ of the city during the final leg of the 2017-18 edition of the Race. Details .

• The Hague, Netherlands : This city along the North Sea coast will welcome the race for a third consecutive time, first coming as a ‘pitstop’ on the final leg of the 2014-15 edition and as the final finish port for the 2017-18 race. Details .

• Genoa, Italy : As the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, this first-time race host is Italy’s largest sea port yet remains full of grandeur as the gateway to the Riviera while offering weighty architectural heritage. Details .

Tags: 11th Hour Racing Team , The Ocean Race

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Steps toward The Ocean Race 2027-28 →

Jack Bouttell: Repairing a boat mid-ocean →

Pirates in the Indian Ocean →

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11th Hour boat build details finally revealed

11th Hour Racing Team is one step closer in our ambition to win The Ocean Race 2022-23 with the announcement of the design and build of a brand new IMOCA 60 taking place in Brittany, France.

They have brought together three of the most experienced and successful offshore racing expert organizations to conceptualize, design and build this new boat for the Team.

The designer, Guillaume Verdier is one of yacht racing’s most prolific naval architects in the sport with America’s Cup winners, Ultime record-breakers and was involved in the design of four of the last five Vendée Globe winners. Verdier brings together the very best minds in the offshore sailing world to work collaboratively across all areas from structural design to routing, and engineering to computational fluid dynamics.

The strategic partner for the technical and performance aspects of the new boat build is MerConcept, led by offshore racing veteran François Gabart who won the Vendée Globe in 2012. MerConcept, an Entreprise à Mission [purpose-led company] more recently led the build of Apivia – the latest generation foiling IMOCA, which is a front-runner for the upcoming single-handed round the world race.  A group of nearly a dozen engineers, designers and analysts are working on the analytics and data for the performance analysis of the new design.

The boat is being built by CDK Technologies, based out of Lorient and Port-la-Forêt (France) who have constructed many of the leading offshore sailing boats in the sport, including the last three winners of the Vendée Globe and the largest racing trimaran ever built, the Maxi Banque Populaire V.

Charlie shared what inspired this next step in the team journey, “When we learned that The Ocean Race was going to be open to a development class we jumped at the opportunity. We’ve done two laps of the planet now in the one-design Volvo Ocean 65s and are very excited to take this next step in the Race with a custom design and build process.”

The team CEO, Mark Towill agrees, “The challenge that we have in front of us now is taking an IMOCA 60 and turning it into a fully crewed Ocean Race boat and integrating sustainability at every step in the process. It’s something that no-one’s ever done before and that to me is the most exciting part of our campaign.”

The Ocean Race co-owner Johan Salen spoke in July 2018 about his vision for teams to embrace the design challenge. “By opening the next race to the IMOCA 60 and the VO65, we intend to attract the very best sailors, designers and teams in the world to take up the challenge of competing in the pinnacle fully-crewed around the world race. The introduction of the IMOCA 60 brings a design and engineering element to the race that keeps us at the cutting edge of technology and performance and will be appealing to the most competitive performers in our sport.” 

The boat is being built to fit The Ocean Race’s unique racecourse with up to 10 stopovers (including two additional equator crossings with a leg to Asia), which includes more upwind and tight-reaching sailing angles. Additionally, it was designed to meet the strict rules incorporating a crew of five (four male, one female) and one Onboard Reporter (OBR), and a heading-only autopilot. The new 11th Hour Racing Team IMOCA 60 will be the first of its kind in the Class.

Sounds relatively easy? Well not really! Designing the new 11th Hour Racing Team boat has provided some real challenges. Charlie explained more, “IMOCA 60s are typically built for single-handed racing therefore teams are allowed a smart autopilot which uses additional boat data, including wind angle and heel of the boat, to help keep the solo sailors on track. These boats are built with a tiller-system and sailors hand-steer less than 5% of the time, and are reliant on the autopilot for the rest. Whereas in The Ocean Race we are restricted to a heading-only autopilot which is not as accurate so it’s more effective to hand-steer our boat 100% of the time. As a result we have had to design our boat with twin steering wheels. A lot of thought and time went into the cockpit and deck design to ensure that our helmsmen and women have line-of-sight to the front of the boat and can see the sails, the wind conditions and sea state.  This is all part of the exciting design challenge that entry into The Ocean Race 2022-23 has brought us. It keeps the Race true to its DNA which is sailors helming their boats around the world,” he added.

 They started this new design process in June 2019 and are now at the stage of having a completed hull with the deck structure currently underway at CDK Technologies.

Armand de Jacquelot, the Project Engineer for this new build, at MerConcept, “One of the interesting challenges for us was to merge the two cultures: the single-handed French one with The Ocean Race. The 11th Hour Racing Team boat will be the first IMOCA 60 of this generation; that’s an exciting situation but also brings a lot of questions." 

“We have spent maybe three times the normal time working on the answer to some of these questions like the cockpit configuration. We built a full-scale mock up in the yard so the Team could come and ‘play’ inside the boat. We’ve changed it three times and pivoted from one concept to another. It’s been quite a tough job to achieve the answers and to find a solution for this cockpit, the livability and the requirement to be driving nearly all the time, but I believe we have done it successfully.”

Over the course of the build, the sustainability team, including a team member on-site in France, is measuring and evaluating the environmental impact of the entire build process, while also researching alternative materials and techniques including the use of flax in low weight-bearing structures in the boat. This is part of the overall ambition to leave a positive impact on the environment at the end of the campaign.

All these sustainability learnings, driven by Damian Foxall and Amy Munro, will identify key impact hotspots through life cycle assessment. The team is working with the IMOCA Class to develop and set sustainability standards for future builds and will be publishing and sharing resources with the maritime industry and sailing community to encourage the implementation of sustainability plans.

Damian shared a little more about these learnings, “From the outset as a Team we decided we wanted to have a neutral impact on the environment, but doing less bad is not good enough. We want to make all our areas of operation and influence net positive and regenerative.”

The Défi Azimut 48 Hours: Dalin reminds his rivals that he’s fast on all points of sail

It was the last race before the start of the 2024 Vendée Globe and this year’s Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération 48 Hours solo race, which finished yesterday in Lorient proved a superb final work-out for the 19 IMOCAs th…

Vote for the Best Content!

Dive into the heart of the adventure with this unique contest, showcasing the most stunning photos and videos captured by the OBRs (Onboard Reporters) during the Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération. Each year, these embedd…

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€199,000

VAT excluded

• Reference ID 660
• Builder IMOCA
• Humphreys / Owen Clarke design
• Location Spain
• Engine type Single
• L.O.A. (mtr) 18.28
• Beam (mtr) 5.20
• Draft (mtr) 4.50
• Displacement (Kg) 8500
• Material Composite
• Engine LOMBARDINI (2020)

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Yacht description.

For sale after a complete refit and preparation for Vendée 2020/2021. Ex Kingfisher - 2000 Owen Clarke design built at Marten Yachts in NZ. Major awards including 7 world tours (VG 2020, 2016, 2004, 2000 and BWR 2007, 2010, 2014)

Ideal and very reliable boat for a new Vendée Globe 2024 project. Boat complete with lots of spare material. Easy to use

Check ups/tests

• Ultrasonic test + survey Futures Fibers (Done by David Barnaby)
• FIX mast 7/8 in carbon 3 spreaders levels, length: 26,5m - 416 Kg
• Standing rigging: Future Fibers: PBO 2020, mast surveyed in June 2020
• Ultrasound special test and validity for high performance racing

Refit/renewal/maintenance 2020/2021

• New Lombardini engine
• Ballast modifications
• Cockpit modification
• Removal of old daggerboards
• Keel, jacks, hydraulics
• Latest generation electronics B&G H5000
• Complete sanding of the boat and new painting
• Substantial weight gain (about 800kg)
• Quantum Sails 2020 sail set (MS, J1,5, J2, J3, FR0, A5)
• 2020 Imoca Class Certificate
• PBO 2020 rigging
• Mastervolt lithium batteries
• Hydrogenerators
• Solbian Solar Panels
• Ultrasonic mast and boom test June 2020
• Evolutions still possible with a consequent gain in performance (new mast, angled daggerboards/foils, bow, etc.).

CONSTRUCTION :

• Hull: Epoxy Carbon Nomex and Airex core sandwich
• Superstructure: Epoxy Carbon Nomex and Airex core sandwich
• Deck: Epoxy Carbon Nomex and Airex core sandwich
• Hull: Grey / Blue
• Superstructure: Grey / Blue
• 29m Southern Spars carbon mast
• Carbon boom
• Standing rigging: PBO (Future Fibers)
• Runnig rigging: LANCELIN and MAFFIOLI
• Furlers: Profurl 
• Main Genoa Solent (QUANTUM)
• Jib Staysail
• A2 -A3 Fractional
• Main North Sails 3DL
• J2 North Sails
• A5 North Sails
• Code 0 Incidences
• A2 Incidences
• J3 Incidences
• J1 North Sails
• A5 incidences
• Storm sail Incidences

Accommodations

• Nav station with all the electronics near by
• 4 single bunks
• Heater: Webasto
• Small galley with sink  and gas burner stove
• Water Tanks
• Bilge pumps
• Water maker Katadyn 

Deck and Cockpit

• HARKEN winches, 5x
• 1 pedestal 
• SPINLOCK jammers 
• Full IMOCA jauge mooring
• Spare anchor + chain and rope
• 2x Alternator
• 1 x 100 Amp MEGA LIGHT Gel for engines start, AGM 2020
• 2 x 170 Amp MEGA LIGHT Gel for service, Lithium Mastervolt 2020
• Hydrogenerator X2
• Battery charger mastervolt
• LOMBARDINI 30 HP (2020)
• 7,5 knots cruising speed
• Consumption: 4L/hrs
• Saildrive and racing propeller
• Fuel Tanks: 150 L

Electronics and Navigational Gear

B&G H5000

• Self-steering: 3 autopilots
• Gyrocompass: B&G
• AIS Class B: B&G
• Computer: one computer system with Adrena Software, one for communications
• Screens: 17"
• Iridium phone
• VHF radio: B&G
• meteo: VION barometer
• GPS: B&G
• 1 container

Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.

Contact Details

• Name Site Broker | Racing-Yachts.com
• Email [email protected]
• Phone 1234567
• Instagram -

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• L.O.A. (mtr): 15.20 Meters
• Horsepower: 110 hp

• Displacement (Kg): 14500
• Beam (mtr): 5.70
• L.O.A. (mtr): 21.50 Meters

• Horsepower: 75 hp

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Charal: On board the radical IMOCA 60 that takes foiling to the next level

• Helen Fretter
• July 22, 2019

Charal is a next-generation foiling IMOCA 60, designed by VPLP and newly launched for solo skipper Jeremie Beyou

In St Malo for the start of the Route du Rhum in early November , every inch of the IMOCA 60 pontoons was packed with fans trying to get a close up look at the huge variety of designs taking part.

But one boat needed serious crowd control around it – Charal , the aggressively styled foiling design launched just a couple of months earlier. The scale of Charal ’s foils alone would have drawn attention, but videos of Beyou test sailing his new boat literally leaping from the water made Charal a hot topic in St Malo. We talked to designer Vincent Lauriot-Prévost of VPLP about the concepts and technology behind it.

Charal is not just the newest IMOCA 60, she marks a ‘next generation’ step for the class because she is the first IMOCA 60 designed entirely around the foils.

Most of the IMOCA 60s carrying foils in the 2016 cycle were retrofitted with them. Even those that were built anew were designed to be competitive without the foils ( Alex Thomson ’s Vendée Globe 2nd place after shearing the starboard foil less than two weeks into the race proving the sense of this policy). In truth, nobody really knew if the foils would be reliable and effective across enough of the wind ranges experienced in a round the world solo race.

“In the last edition of the Vendée we proved foils on the conventional boats, which were on boats designed for power and righting moment,” explains Vincent Lauriot-Prévost.

The results of the last Vendée Globe: 1st Banque Populaire , 2nd Hugo Boss , Maitre Coq 3rd, all VPLP-Verdier foiling designs, proved conclusively that this was the future of the class. So for Charal , VPLP took a different approach.

Article continues below…

Why do the new Vendee Globe IMOCA 60 yachts have foils?

Foils are the newest phenomenon on the Vendée Globe race and one that looks as if it is set to…

Record fleet sets off for 40th Route du Rhum, with 40-knot conditions forecast

Along a three-mile start line off St Malo, 123 boats set off on the 40th Route du Rhum singlehanded transatlantic race…

“We have decided to make the new boat as a pure foiler. Instead of looking for a powerful hull we are looking for a less draggy hull, taking into account that the foils are going to be the element that gives the power.”

This means a big shift from trying to balance weight reduction and power, to working towards a lightweight and minimum drag hull form. One of the challenges has been that the new generation foil packages – longer foils, and casings that are stronger and more complex – come with a weight increase.

“We know that all-in the package of the new foils, including the reinforcement of the hull and so on, are just about half a tonne extra weight [over the last generation foils],” explains Lauriot-Prévost. “So how can we make the boat half a tonne lighter to compensate for this?”

Charal can be up on her foils in just 15 knots of wind. Photo: Damien Meyer / AFP / Getty Images

Hull volume has been reduced wherever possible, retaining it forward and amidships but cutting away great angular sections of bow and topsides, then sloping down to a low transom to create what Lauriot-Prévost describes as ‘a very bumpy sheer’.

Overall, the changes are significant and achieving them while remaining within the IMOCA stability rule was a challenge. “The hull is completely different. It’s a narrower waterline – we don’t want to be a cigar, but we accept to lose 15-20% of righting moment to be within the stability rule,” explains Lauriot-Prévost.

During the design process they discussed with the Charal team whether they wanted the boat to remain competitive even if they lost a foil (as did Thomson). The decision was made that the boat would not be have enough power to be seriously competitive in non-foiling mode – although it would be stable enough to be safe.

The scale of Charal ’s foils is impressive – they are wider than any other boat’s so far, with a long shaft and tip and an angled elbow. They are also surprisingly thick. The trade-off for the increased foil size and power is that they cannot both be retracted simultaneously.

The size of Charal ’s foils mean that they cannot both be raised at the same time

“We accept [we can’t] have them fully up at the same time, because we want them big. We want to create the righting moment as far out of the hull as possible, and we want a foil which creates vertical lift but which creates side force at the same time,” says Lauriot-Prévost. The shaft creates vertical force, while the oversized tip generates lateral and vertical forces.

The other key difference is that these latest generation foils have adjustable rake, using bearings fore and aft, which allow Beyou to alter the angle of attack by 5°.

How frequently the rake will be adjusted remains something to be explored but, says Lauriot-Prévost: “You can imagine maybe that instead of playing with sail sheets you play with the foil controls, and tune the boat to the reaction in the water more than the reaction of the sail forces.”

There is one significant limitation to the power even the latest generation IMOCA 60 can generate: the class-restricted rig. “There is one fuse on the boat, which is the mast,” explains Lauriot-Prévost. “The mast has been designed for [loads of] 32 tonne metres (Tm) and fully foiled, fully canted, fully raked and fully ballasted we are more 43-45Tm.”

Finding the limits

The pedestal grinder is placed right in the centre of the pit area for direct connection to winches

To monitor these loads, Charal is covered with fibreoptic sensors; five per foil with additional sensors in the foil rake adjustment bearings, as well as on the outriggers and backstay.

“During the trials it happened several times that we had alarms, because we were overloaded compared to the designed load,” says Lauriot-Prévost.

Given that potential, the adoption of the IMOCA 60 class by the Volvo Ocean Race will be a serious test of restraint. “That’s a really strong discussion that we had with the Volvo teams, because the Volvo teams have not got the same approach as a single-handed sailor, and when they push, they push!”

The other limiting factor is of course the human on board. As with any IMOCA 60, Charal has been customised around her skipper, the hugely experienced Jérémie Beyou, and his personal preferences.

“One thing which is evident on this boat is that Jérémie doesn’t want to stack the sails inside,” says Lauriot-Prévost. To make moving the sails on deck easier, there is a sloped scoop abaft the cockpit.

The cockpit is sheltered by a fixed cuddy made with Mylar film windows rather than a retractable coachroof – sliding components would be heavier. A pedestal grinder is placed under the cuddy, right in the middle of the pit.

To keep weight low all the lines coming from the bow or mast base are led through two tunnels to the pit area. The pit area has four in-line winches, directly connected to the pedestal for the easiest transmission system possible, with no gearbox or T-junctions necessary. This offers big savings in weight and complexity, but does make for a very compact working area.

The 2018 Route du Rhum was Beyou’s first racing test for Charal – he retired with steering issues. Photo: Charal Sailing Team

“You do end up with a cockpit that is not designed for crewed sailing, at all!” points out Lauriot-Prévost. Down below was out of bounds – the inner workings of Charal’s foil controls are too new to be shared.

Many of the IMOCA skippers have talked about wearing helmets or body armour on the new foiling 60s, so extreme is the motion. Was protecting the skipper a factor in the design?

“It’s going to be the priority before the start of the Vendée,” says Lauriot-Prévost, “But Jérémie needs to find out where it is important to protect. He needs to get a bit bruised first!”

Specification

LOA: 18.29m (60ft 0in) Beam: 5.60m (18ft 5in) Draught: 4.50m (14ft 9in) Displacement: 7.40 tonnes Sail area upwind: 300m² (3,229ft²) Sail area downwind: 600m² (6,458ft²)

First published in the Jan 2019 edition of Yaching World – Charal is due to take part in next month’s Rolex Fastnet Race .