A very active class
The General Assembly of the IMOCA class held in December 2018 in Paris provided a positive assessment of the past year. With in particular a very nice edition of the Route du Rhum destination Guadeloupe as a highlight. The season started at the beginning of May in Douarnenez on the occasion of the Grand Prix Guyader, then continued in the Mediterranean, notably on the Giraglia Rolex Cup before returning to the Atlantic for the Drheam Cup or in September the Défi Azimut, the last dress rehearsal before the Route du Rhum.
The Azimut Challenge was highly anticipated as it was the first race of the latest generation foiler, Charal (Jeremie Beyou), launched in August 2018 in Port La Forêt. If the latter was forced to abandon the race, he won the speed runs.
The year 2018 also ratified changes within the very active class, which now has two major round-the-world races on its calendar. The Vendée Globe single-handed (next edition in 2020) and The Ocean Race 2021-2022 (the former Volvo Ocean Race), which will be raced with a crew. And no less than 5 new boats should be launched in 2019.
The Route du Rhum 2018
This edition of the Route du Rhum was a record edition for the IMOCA class with 20 boats at the start, more than double the number of the previous edition (9 registered in 2014). Of the total fleet at the start in Saint-Malo, 5 had to abandon (Jérémie Beyou, Sam Davies, Isabelle Joschke, Louis Burton and Yannick Bestaven), 11 completed the course without stopping and 4 made stopovers to repair or take shelter. They are therefore 15 sailors to have reached Guadeloupe, a 25% abandonment rate.
This Route du Rhum has been particularly intense with very strong weather conditions. It was marked by the great performance of Alex Thomson, who chose a very northerly route from the start. But in an incredible twist of fate, the latter - while he was assured of victory - ran aground just a few cables from the finish. Forced to unhook his engine to get out of the rocks, he was penalized 24 hours, leaving the victory to Paul Meilhat (SMA).
Arriving 12 hours after the skipper of Hugo Boss, Paul Meilhat achieves the feat of winning this 2018 edition on board an IMOCA without foils! Yann Eliès (Ucar-StMichel) and Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) complete the podium.
Foils, the future of IMOCA boats
The class validated the addition of foils in 2014, but it was the 2016 Vendée Globe that highlighted the potential of foils. Of the 29 boats at the start, seven are equipped with foils: six new "foilers" (St-Michel Virbac, Edmond de Rothschild, Safran, Banque Populaire VIII, Hugo Boss, No Way Back) and one old generation, modified (Maître Coq).
Armel le Cléac'h took 74 days to complete his round-the-world race, four days less than François Gabart four years earlier. It is therefore following this 2016 Vendée Globe that the architects are starting to work on Charal, a "3rd generation" IMOCA.
The Azimut Challenge - run just before the Route du Rhum - thus confirmed foils as a performance solution . We also had architect Vincent Lauriot-Prévost in interview who confirmed that the foil was a must.
But there is still a long way to go, since the question of small or large foils, such as those seen on Charal, is now being asked. The architects are now working on reducing drag in the air, after reducing drag in the water. And even on this last chapter, nothing is finished, since the foil also has its own drag..
What program in 2019 and 2020?
The year 2019 will be rich in events with six races on the program, including the Transat Jacques Vabre, which will bring together between 25 and 30 boats, including at least six foiling monohulls of the latest generation. Indeed, six new boats, designed by four different architects, should be launched throughout the year: Jérémie Beyou (Charal), Sébastien Simon (Arkea-Paprec), Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), Charlie Dalin (Apivia), Kojiro Shiraishi (DMG Mori) and Armel Tripon.
The first major event of the class will be the Valencia Globe Series, a new double-handed event (1000 miles) and single-handed (3000 miles). Then in November will take place the Transat Jacques Vabre, the highlight of the season.
The Globes Series
Six races will take place in 2019 with three races added to the Globes Series, the new IMOCA world championship: the Valencia Globes in July, the Rolex Fastnet Race in August and the Transat Jacques Vabre at the end of October. This last race, contested in double-handed, should bring together an exceptional field of 25 to 30 IMOCA boats, i.e. almost all the participants in the 2020 Vendée Globe.
The 2019 calendar will be completed by some of the IMOCA class' must-see events: the Grand Prix Guyader, the Armen Race Uship and the Défi Azimut.
The Ocean Race
The start of the Vendée Globe - solo race around the world - will take place on November 8, 2020. But it is a new great round-the-world race that is making its appearance in the IMOCA class program: The Ocean Race. The crewed round the world race with stopovers will start from Alicante in October 2021. The crewed IMOCA boats will be very similar to those of the solo version and the rules are currently being studied to be able to easily adapt to both "versions".
