Since the last Vendée Globe, the Imoca class has welcomed new skippers, most of them from Class40. Ambrogio Beccaria and Nicolas d’Estais led the way last year, followed by Pierre-Louis Attwell, Robin Marais, William Mathelin-Moreaux and Jean-Baptiste Daramy. On Thursday, Aurélien Ducroz announced the acquisition of the former Acciona as he prepares to make his own Imoca debut in 2027. Sailorz spoke to him and Jean-Baptiste Daramy, who explain their respective projects.
Fresh blood in the Imoca class! At a time when many skippers who have been established in the class for years have left the circuit, at least temporarily, for lack of partners – Thomas Ruyant, Yannick Bestaven, Romain Attanasio, Giancarlo Pedote… – a number of sailors in their thirties and forties are arriving after, in most cases, cutting their teeth in the Mini 6.50 before racing for several seasons in Class40. After Ambrogio Beccaria and Nicolas d’Estais last year, Pierre-Louis Attwell officially launched his Resilient project in March (read our interview), while Robin Marais announced his Respire project this summer (read our article). All three are setting out in boats with daggerboards.
Last week, William Mathelin-Moreaux also emerged with a new project, this time aboard a foiler in Invincibles colours (read our article). A little earlier, Jean-Baptiste Daramy revealed the partners supporting him for the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, while on Thursday, Aurélien Ducroz announced his acquisition of the former Acciona.
The 44-year-old Chamonix native’s project, named Ocean Peak, aims to “bring together his two passions”, the sea and the mountains, combining the 2028 Vendée Globe with the ascent of 82 Alpine peaks over 4,000 metres (read our interview from last December). By acquiring the Owen Clarke design from Canadian Scott Shawyer, originally launched in 2012 for Spain’s Javier Sanso (who capsized towards the end of the 2012–13 Vendée Globe after losing his keel), Aurélien Ducroz has taken the first step. “I’m absolutely delighted,” he tells Sailorz. “It means I can say that I’ve got a foot in the door and encourage partners to come on board with me.”
“A boat that hasn’t completed
five round-the-world races”
Why choose this boat? “I’ve looked over quite a few, including Violette (Dorange)’s, Guirec (Soudée)’s and Manu Cousin’s… but in the end, I fell for the former Acciona for several reasons,” explains Aurélien Ducroz. “First, because it’s a very straightforward boat, which has been extremely well maintained, including a major refit in 2020. She has also suffered less wear and tear than others because she hasn’t completed five round-the-world races [she has only competed in one Vendée Globe, ed.]. Conversations with sailors who have sailed her, especially Benjamin Dutreux [winner of The Ocean Race Europe 2021 with Offshore Team Germany, ed.], convinced me.” The Chamonix native did not seriously explore the foiler option: “They were at least twice the price.”
The launch date was also a factor, as the Imoca class considers whether to phase out some of its older boats (read our article). “Obviously, the fact that this boat belongs to a more recent generation than the 2008s weighed in its favour,” the skipper confirms. “We have no idea yet what decisions will be made, but it adds a little extra security to the project, even though we’re fully aware that the next Vendée Globe could potentially be her last.”
The purchase was finalised on Tuesday 6 October – he does not wish to disclose the price – and was financed partly by the sale of his former Crosscall to Thomas Lurton, through a bank loan, and with the backing of Thomas Riboud-Seydoux, a childhood friend of the freeride champion. “He really believes in the project and has invested alongside me, taking a 50% stake,” Ducroz explains.
Not such a big step up
The next step is to secure the operating budget, no easy task in the current climate. It will be “around €1 million a year, including depreciation,” for the next two seasons. “It’s difficult to get below that, and it’s quite daunting because it involves major commitments. Even though we’ll remain a small team, Imoca projects still require manpower, which means a fairly substantial wage bill,” says Aurélien Ducroz.
He is looking for a title sponsor from among a group of long-standing partners, including Helly Hansen, Compagnie du Mont-Blanc and a hotel group in Chamonix, with the aim of getting his dual project underway as soon as possible. “We want to launch the boat in early March so we can properly prepare for the 2027 season, which will include the Course des Caps, the Fastnet, the Défi Azimut and the two transatlantic races at the end of the year (Café L’Or and Retour à La Base).”
The other new arrivals in the Imoca class, most of them coming from Class40, will follow more or less the same programme. “It’s a real change compared with the previous Vendée Globe to see so many projects coming from Class40,” comments the Chamonix native. “I think it’s linked to the professionalisation of the class, particularly with the arrival of scow designs, which has made the step up between the two classes much smaller. Financially, too, the gap between a new Class40 and an old Imoca is no longer that significant. Pierre-Louis (Attwell) and Nico (d’Estais) have managed to keep the same ecosystem and make the move to Imoca.”
A boat found
on… Sailorz
The financial step up is almost non-existent for another newcomer to the 60-foot class. Jean-Baptiste Daramy is preparing to compete in his third Route du Rhum (after two Class40 campaigns) with a budget of… €250,000, “less than I had four years ago in Class40,” he says. He continues: “It’s possible this year because we’ve done a lot of things ourselves and we’re running a bit of an old-school project, with volunteers helping us. But we can’t carry on like this for the next two years: we’ll have to pay people, buy sails and we also want to optimise the boat. Personally, I’ll need to free up more time for my sporting project, too. I can’t stay on unpaid leave until the start of the Vendée Globe.”
A composite materials engineer at CompositAdour in Bayonne, the 45-year-old Basque sailor has two Mini Transats and two Route du Rhums under his belt. He took leave at the beginning of September to compete in the 2026 Route du Rhum aboard his daggerboards Imoca, having initially set his sights on a foiler. “I had started out with a more ambitious project financially,” he confirms. “I looked at quite a few foiling boats: those belonging to Giancarlo Pedote, Romain Attanasio and Damien Seguin, Isabelle Joschke’s former MACSF, and Benjamin Dutreux’s boat, before Arnaud (Boissières) bought her. Ultimately, partly because of the war in Iran, I realised that my operating budget was going to be very limited, so I opted for a boat with daggerboards.”
Like Aurélien Ducroz, he went from one boat visit to another: “I looked at Guirec (Soudée)’s boat, (which was eventually bought by Nicolas Rouger), Arnaud Boissières’ boat before he sold her to Manu Cousin, and the Canadian’s boat (Scott Shawyer), but we couldn’t reach a financial agreement.” He eventually found Oliver Heer’s former Tut Gut! (the Farr design launched in 2007 as Gitana Eighty) through… the classified ads on Sailorz. “Oliver said he was making a big price reduction on his boat, so I replied to the ad by email. Marcus Hutchinson got in touch with the asking price, and I thought it might fit my budget.” That price was €400,000. The purchase was finalised last May and made possible by opening up the capital of his company to investors, each contributing around €50,000.
Learning the ropes with Manu Cousin
Since then, Jean-Baptiste Daramy, who gained his first Imoca experience alongside Manu Cousin in 2025, has worked hard to bring the boat up to date on a limited budget. “We bought second-hand sails, thanks in particular to Arnaud Boissières and Alain Gautier (MACSF team manager), who gave me prices that were hard to beat. Manu Cousin did the same for some spare parts.”
The Basque sailor initially planned to change boats further down the line, but has since had a rethink. “When you buy a foiling Imoca, you need to be able to invest for at least three or four years to amortise the cost. If you tell a business owner that today, they’ll say: ‘I have no visibility beyond six months, so how do you expect me to commit to four years?’ In the end, we’re very happy with this boat; she suits us well.” He will therefore set off from Saint-Malo on 1 November at the helm of this boat, in Anett and Kalhyge colours – Kalhyge was acquired two years ago by the Anett Group, France’s second-largest textile rental and maintenance company. Daramy hopes to convince his partner to increase its commitment in the future.
“This is their first sailing partnership, so we’re introducing them to our world. We hope that next year they’ll be convinced that continuing to support me is a good idea and that we can move to a larger budget. We need to do a good job and show them that we’re building a serious project.” What budget does he envisage for the next two years? “If we continue doing a lot ourselves and don’t depreciate the boat by much because we bought her cheaply, it would be at least €600,000 a year,” replies Jean-Baptiste Daramy, whose project is based in Hendaye.
He is also delighted to be reunited on the Imoca circuit next year with former Class40 “colleagues”, including Aurélien Ducroz. “We both did the 2011 Mini Transat and raced together in the Class40 Route du Rhum. It’s great to find ourselves back in the same club. He has a fantastic boat and he’ll be a great competitor.”
Photo : DR
