The Imoca are 60-foot Open monohull yachts mainly intended to race in the Vendée Globe. Find here the latest news and investigations from Tip & Shaft on the subject.
In Brest on Wednesday Bertrand Quéguiner and Elodie Bonafous formalized the launch of Horizon 29 Offshore Racing team which is aiming for the Vendée Globe 2028 with a new Verdier design which expected to launch in January 2025. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
After racing the third leg of the Pro Sailing Tour on Viabilis with Pierre Quiroga, Pascal Bidégorry is training this week with Tom Laperche on SVR Lazartigue whilst also awaiting the launch of Macif, Charlie Dalin’s new Imoca, at the end of June. He will sail with Dalin this season, notably on the Transat Jacques Vabre. Tip & Shaft spoke to him this week.
Between taking part in The Ocean Race with Team Malizia and a double-handed season with Yoann Richomme, Yann Eliès is in demand. Next week he will be at the start of the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race aboard the new Imoca Paprec Arkéa, Tip & Shaft spoke with the triple winner of La Solitaire du Figaro.
Britain’s five times Vendée Globe skipper Alex Thomson has put together a potent project which keeps Clarisse Crémer in the race for the 2024 Vendée Globe, he opens up to Tip & Shaft about France’s ‘worst kept secret’…..
A little over two months after announcing Banque Populaire’s decision to part company with her, Clarisse Crémer is once again focused on the Vendée Globe 2024, with a boat, the ex-Apivia, a team, Alex Thomson Racing, and a partner, L’Occitane en Provence. Tip & Shaft tells you the story of this express return from the brink.
Finishing up with Team Malizia’s victory ahead of Team Holcim-PRB, the third leg of The Ocean Race was full of twists and turns, a giant stage – the longest ever-lasting more than 35 days. Meteo ace Christian Dumard, Imoca skippers Charlie Dalin and Thomas Ruyant, designers Quentin Lucet (VPLP Design) and Hervé Penfornis (Guillaume Verdier), Antoine Mermod, president of Imoca, as well as The Ocean Race director Johan Salén, speak to Tip and Shaft to give us their first assessment.
The Saem Vendée held a press conference last Monday in Les Sables d’Olonne to announce the list of 28 candidates who, to date, have finalized their application for the Vendée Globe 2024 and also to announce the appointment of Hubert Lemonnier as Race Director of the Round the World Race. Tip & Shaft spoke with Lemonnier.
Designed by Antoine Koch and the Finot-Conq studio, Thomas Ruyant’s Imoca For People was launched last Thursday in Lorient. It carries the colors of both Advens and Leyton, who are combined in a twinned project which links Ruyant the winner of the Route du Rhum 2022 with the Briton Sam Goodchild. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
On Friday February 17th Banque Populaire announced their withdrawal from the Vendée Globe 2024, as a result of the “Clarisse Crémer affair”. Tip & Shaft has tried to find out more about the reasons for this decision.
Paprec Arkéa will be launched on February 22 in Lorient. It was designed by Antoine Koch and the Finot-Conq studio as was the new Imoca for Thomas Ruyant, launched in March. And so this is a timely opportunity for Tip & Shaft to discuss with the engineer/architect Koch.
Between the “Clarisse Crémer affair” and The Ocean Race, Imoca is top of the news agendas at the moment and so a good time for for Tip & Shaft to speak with the president of the class, Antoine Mermod.
Banque Populaire announced on Thursday noon that they have been “forced to change skipper” for the next Vendée Globe thereby confirming the information revealed a few minutes earlier by Clarisse Crémer. Their decision, motivated by the Cremer having fallen behind in the race for qualifying miles due to her maternity plus the “inflexibility” of the organization of the Vendée Globe despite the sponsor’s requests has provoked a big reaction. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
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