{"id":20623,"date":"2018-10-29T12:11:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tipandshaft.com\/?p=20623"},"modified":"2019-03-22T20:52:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T19:52:40","slug":"who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca"},"content":{"rendered":"

As has become our norm before major ocean races\u00a0<\/em>Tip & Shaft\u00a0have gathered a panel of experts to chose who they consider to be the podium favourites for the upcoming\u00a0Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe<\/a>. For this Part 1 our experts cast their eyes over the\u00a0ULTIME<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0IMOCA<\/a>\u00a0classes. We invited\u00a0Michel Desjoyeaux<\/strong>, race winner in 2002 in the ORMA multihull class,\u00a0Jean-Pierre Dick<\/strong>, third in 2006 and fourth in 2010 in the IMOCA class,\u00a0Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec<\/strong>\u00a0fourth in 2014 in the Multi 50, Irish expert\u00a0Marcus Hutchinson\u00a0<\/strong>who has collaborated with several IMOCA skippers over the years,\u00a0Xavier Gilbaud<\/strong>\u00a0the designer from VPLP and leading French journalists\u00a0Anouk Corge<\/strong>\u00a0(L\u2019Equipe) and\u00a0Jacques Guyader\u00a0<\/strong>(Ouest-France) to spill the beans.<\/em><\/p>\n

ULTIME: A Gabart v Josse duel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though there are six Ultimes at the start in reality only five would be expected to be challenging for the three podium places.\u00a0Romain Pilliard<\/a>\u00a0(Remade-Use It Again) has a project which is very different in terms of level, racing the former Castorama of Ellen MacArthur. Among the five in question, our specialists agree that, given the potential of the boats,\u00a0Thomas Coville<\/a>\u00a0(Sodebo) and\u00a0Francis Joyon<\/a>\u00a0(Idec Sport) would normally have trouble keeping up<\/strong>\u00a0with the three most recently launched boats, that is Macif (launched August 2015, with a six month refit this year), Edmond de Rothschild (July 2017) and Banque Populaire IX (October 2017).<\/p>\n

“Both know their boats perfectly, but\u00a0they have a real speed deficit<\/strong>\u00a0compared with the newest boats, that at least is what I’ve seen with Sodebo in training. It was quite obvious”, says Jacques Guyader, an assertion which architect Xavier Guilbaud agrees on:\u00a0“A big step was taken this summer: Sodebo was still in the match last year, now, as soon as the conditions are conducive to foiling, to flying,\u00a0there are immediate differences in speed of 4-5 knots<\/strong>, so unless there are numerous breakages or really horrendous conditions which would not let the foilers exploit their potential, these two boats are likely to be a little off the pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under normal conditions Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec believes that “the record will probably fall,<\/strong>\u00a0with boats potentially much faster than the boat which holds the record [now Idec Sport, former Banque Populaire VII, in 7 days 15 hours 8 minutes and 32 seconds, Editor’s note] “.\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Gabart<\/a>,\u00a0S\u00e9bastien Josse<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Armel Le Cl\u00e9ac’h<\/a>\u00a0therefore are considered to be in a class apart, perhaps\u00a0Le Cl\u00e9ac\u2019h a little less<\/strong>\u00a0so as he has been playing catch up since his capsize last April which really compromised his preparation. “These are complicated boats so many settings and trim combinations to test and evolve, \u00a0but also a lot of data to acquire and you really only learn that and acquire that data on the water,” says Xavier Guilbaud, of VPLP which designed Banque Popular IX and Macif. Journalist Guyader adds: “Armel has that deficit in his learning his boat<\/strong>, in mastering it and we feel is still on the learning curve but with him, you never know what he can produce, he can do anything”.<\/p>\n

And so that leaves us Fran\u00e7ois Gabart and S\u00e9bastien Josse, a duo which the cognoscenti have a hard time splitting up to the point that when their respective strengths and weaknesses are aggregated they come out equal!\u00a0Their respective strengths?<\/strong>\u00a0In Josse\u2019s corner an undeniable strength is\u00a0the boat, Edmond de Rothschild\u00a0<\/strong>which by all accounts has impressed all observers during the group training sessions in Port-la-For\u00eat: “The advantage that Gitana has is especially in her pace with stability close reaching and reaching”, notes Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec, Xavier Guilbaud also confirming: “Gitana has made a lot of progress, it is a bit worrying as it is the most powerful boat, with the most righting moment. From 18-20 knots (of windspeed)\u00a0\u00a0it is a bit more comfortable than the others\u00a0<\/strong>and Seb now has accumulated good experience of flying “.<\/p>\n

What does Michel Desjoyeaux think?: “A few months ago, I would have put Macif on top, today I would err towards Edmond de Rothschild”. Still, Macif is lighter and therefore more comfortable in the transition phases which is of course complemented by the skills and experience of skipper Gabart who has a 42 days round the world passage under his belt.\u00a0“In itself that is a tremendous advantage,” says Xavier Guilbaud, “Fran\u00e7ois has the most experience of high speed sailing for days upon days<\/strong>, he has held incredible averages and goes to sleep when the boat is doing 40kts under autopilot. Unlike the others, he has that level of confidence and knowledge”. For Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec who that is the winning difference: “If I had to bet the farm it would be on Fran\u00e7ois<\/strong>, he has the most assets going for him”.<\/p>\n

And so the podium according to our experts:<\/strong>\u00a01. S\u00e9bastien Josse and Fran\u00e7ois Gabart, 3. Armel Le Cl\u00e9ac’h.<\/p>\n

IMOCA: Charal the Unknown Beast, A Four Way Match<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that our experts are divided on who could win the record sized IMOCA fleet.\u00a0Charal<\/a>, the only new generation Vend\u00e9e 2020 boat yet launched is the most contentious issue. Some think it is too new and unproven to win. Others consider the potential speed and power advantage to be so great that if skipper J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou holds it together and finishes in good shape he will win. Jacques Guyader is very much in the latter camp.
\n“The difference of speed and power seems to me so huge that if\u00a0J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou<\/a>\u00a0manages to hold out \u00a0even if it is only at 80% and it does not break, I only see Alex Thomson to stopping him from winning,\u00a0the boat is a rocket<\/strong>”.
\nMichel Desjoyeaux agrees “if he gets the finish in largely favorable conditions, it will be impressive. And remember J\u00e9r\u00e9mie has done a lot of multihull racing which is a big help to in managing so much power.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Charal needs to finish<\/strong>\u00a0and be able to be sailed at something near her potential to beat the likes of Riou and Thomson, that is not a given according to Jean-Pierre Dick who recalls,
\n“When we launched Saint-Michel Virbac in back in September 2015, I really did not have a handle on the boat how to really make it work and so I started gently”. That November, as with other new boats, he had to abandon on the Transat Jacques-Vabre.
\nThat is what J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou and his team want to avoid at all costs in this race. “It’s good for him and especially for his sponsor to be in the Rhum, but at\u00a0two years before the Vend\u00e9e, you’re not going to risk everything<\/strong>.\u201d says L\u2019Equipe\u2019s Anouk Corge. Adds Xavier Guilbaud: “J\u00e9r\u00e9mie wants to benefit from having launched his boat earlier than the competition so he can plan and execute the changes this winter, so\u00a0he needs to complete this round trip, that is his first, top priority<\/strong>. A podium finish would be like a victory for him”.<\/p>\n

And so on balance our experts put him in second place on the podium behind the redoubtable\u00a0Yann Eli\u00e8s<\/a>\u00a0and ahead of\u00a0Alex Thomson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vincent Riou<\/a>\u00a0who, they have balanced together on the third step.
\n“Yann is a safe bet\u00a0<\/strong>he knows the game and how to win it” says Marcus Hutchinson, while Jean-Pierre Dick, who collaborates with Eli\u00e8s on the project, believes that the experience of the Transat Jacques Vabre win last year gives him an edge.
\n“The boat is reliable, comfortable in windy conditions,\u00a0Yann knows he can push on hard<\/strong>“. As for Anouk Corge, she highlights Eli\u00e8s psychological resilience: “Yann is hungry<\/strong>, he must find his budget for his Vend\u00e9e Globe. He knows how pivotal this may be and so he is never as strong as when he is in this situation”.<\/p>\n

All agree, however, that both Hugo Boss and PRB \u2013 which has been fitted with foils for this season\u00a0 – have a higher potential than Ucar-St Michel which could not be developed further (it will be sold to Giancarlo Pedote at the end of the year).
\n“PRB has quite impressive appendages<\/strong>\u00a0that make it a very powerful boat close reaching and reaching ,” says Jean-Pierre Dick. Marcus Hutchinson, however, is not so convinced:
\n“Vincent has not sailed with his foils in strong winds.\u00a0He has had a lot of technical problems in the past<\/strong>. How will he work with the different loads of the foils? ”
\nThese loads and the operation of the foils were of course well tested by Thomson on Hugo Boss, second in the last Vend\u00e9e Globe, and in training since, not least on a crewed 24 hour record across the Atlantic in the summer, VPLP\u2019s Xavier Guilbaud sees the Briton as a very serious candidate for the win: “This is the most successful boat of the last generation<\/strong>, Alex really wants to finally win a big\u00a0offshore race and most of all, he does not have much pressure, because he has a new boat on the way. \u201c<\/p>\n

If these four sailors rather dominate the thinking of our panel, some don\u2019t rule out the \u2018outsiders\u2019 \u00a0in particular\u00a0Sam Davies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Paul Meilhat<\/a>.
\nJean-Pierre Dick considers Sam Davies “the revelation of the year<\/strong>“, because she has sailed a lot since March and Initiatives Coeur has progressed a lot since the winter, including the installation of rake control on the foils, allowed after last Vend\u00e9e Globe. This allows to angle of incidence of the foils to be adjusted according to the conditions and so make them more polyvalent (all-rounder) across the wind range.
\nAnd the weather could conspire to benefit Meilhat and SMA, which has no foils: “If there is a lot of wind and sea, hard on the wind, say, for two days and then maybe VMG running after, well Paul could do well, but\u00a0he really needs a weather pattern that matches his boat’s configuration<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0Marcus Hutchinson concludes.<\/p>\n

Our experts\u2019 cumulative IMOCA podium:<\/strong>\u00a01. Yann Eli\u00e8s, 2. J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou, 3. Vincent Riou and Alex Thomson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As has become our norm before major ocean races\u00a0Tip & Shaft\u00a0have gathered a panel of experts to chose who they consider to be the podium favourites for the upcoming\u00a0Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. For this Part 1 our experts cast their eyes over the\u00a0ULTIME\u00a0and\u00a0IMOCA\u00a0classes. We invited\u00a0Michel Desjoyeaux, race winner in 2002 in the ORMA multihull class,\u00a0Jean-Pierre Dick, third in 2006 and fourth in 2010 in the IMOCA class,\u00a0Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec\u00a0fourth in 2014 in the Multi 50, Irish expert\u00a0Marcus Hutchinson\u00a0who has collaborated with several IMOCA skippers over the years,\u00a0Xavier Gilbaud\u00a0the designer from VPLP and leading French journalists\u00a0Anouk Corge\u00a0(L\u2019Equipe) and\u00a0Jacques Guyader\u00a0(Ouest-France) to spill the beans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-design.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-route-du-rhum-en"],"yoast_head":"\nWho will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca - Sailorz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca - Sailorz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As has become our norm before major ocean races\u00a0Tip & Shaft\u00a0have gathered a panel of experts to chose who they consider to be the podium favourites for the upcoming\u00a0Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. For this Part 1 our experts cast their eyes over the\u00a0ULTIME\u00a0and\u00a0IMOCA\u00a0classes. We invited\u00a0Michel Desjoyeaux, race winner in 2002 in the ORMA multihull class,\u00a0Jean-Pierre Dick, third in 2006 and fourth in 2010 in the IMOCA class,\u00a0Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec\u00a0fourth in 2014 in the Multi 50, Irish expert\u00a0Marcus Hutchinson\u00a0who has collaborated with several IMOCA skippers over the years,\u00a0Xavier Gilbaud\u00a0the designer from VPLP and leading French journalists\u00a0Anouk Corge\u00a0(L\u2019Equipe) and\u00a0Jacques Guyader\u00a0(Ouest-France) to spill the beans.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sailorz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tipandshaft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-29T11:11:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-22T19:52:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/BanquePop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BERNARD VANESSA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TipShaft\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TipShaft\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BERNARD VANESSA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BERNARD VANESSA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0fb0914faad7ac3305e2062ffb38e6ba\"},\"headline\":\"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-29T11:11:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-22T19:52:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1694,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/BanquePop.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Route du Rhum\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sailorz.com\\\/en\\\/route-du-rhum-en\\\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca - 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For this Part 1 our experts cast their eyes over the\u00a0ULTIME\u00a0and\u00a0IMOCA\u00a0classes. We invited\u00a0Michel Desjoyeaux, race winner in 2002 in the ORMA multihull class,\u00a0Jean-Pierre Dick, third in 2006 and fourth in 2010 in the IMOCA class,\u00a0Yves Le Bl\u00e9vec\u00a0fourth in 2014 in the Multi 50, Irish expert\u00a0Marcus Hutchinson\u00a0who has collaborated with several IMOCA skippers over the years,\u00a0Xavier Gilbaud\u00a0the designer from VPLP and leading French journalists\u00a0Anouk Corge\u00a0(L\u2019Equipe) and\u00a0Jacques Guyader\u00a0(Ouest-France) to spill the beans.","og_url":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/","og_site_name":"Sailorz","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tipandshaft\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-29T11:11:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-03-22T19:52:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/BanquePop.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"BERNARD VANESSA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TipShaft","twitter_site":"@TipShaft","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BERNARD VANESSA","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/"},"author":{"name":"BERNARD VANESSA","@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0fb0914faad7ac3305e2062ffb38e6ba"},"headline":"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca","datePublished":"2018-10-29T11:11:08+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-22T19:52:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/"},"wordCount":1694,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/BanquePop.jpg","articleSection":["Route du Rhum"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/","url":"https:\/\/sailorz.com\/en\/route-du-rhum-en\/who-will-win-the-route-du-rhum-ultime-and-imoca\/","name":"Who will win The Route du Rhum, Ultime and Imoca - 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