The forerunner of the new generation
With Charal, Jérémie Beyou opened the great ball of flying IMOCA boats. Impressing all observers during its launch, Charal will forever remain as the first IMOCA to fly on foils. With this narrow hull, the VPLP cabinet put an end to the extra wide hulls sliding like sledges. The hulls are no longer serrated, but have regained a little roundness, with the foils providing extra balance.
His spirited behaviour in the breeze raised many questions during his first outings. Where several competitors had completely closed their cockpits, Charal preferred a conventional solution, choosing a semi-open cockpit.
He trustees the podiums
Jérémie takes the start of the Route du Rhum 2018, but has to turn away from Lorient due to helming problems. He set off again, but gave up the next day due to energy problems. The winter refit enabled him to carry out several structural reinforcements and improve ergonomics. Charal is untouchable in the races at the start of the 2019 season. He won all the races in the Defi Azimuth and then won the Fastnet.
Largely at the head of the Transat Jacques Vabre off the Cape Verde archipelago, the Doldrums were terrible for the Beyou-Pratt duo, who found themselves stuck in the doldrums and were overtaken by five IMOCA boats, before taking third place on the podium in Salvador de Bahia thanks to a spectacular return along the coast of Brazil.
In 2020, Jérémie confirmed the potential of his machine by winning the Vendée-Arctique and then won again on the 48h Azimuth.
Foils that have evolved
Charal tried out three versions of carrier designs before setting out on the Vendée Globe. It has taken a good year for Jérémie and his team to succeed in taming this machine with its atypical behaviour. With the first version of his foils (the V1), Charal had a strong tendency to pitch up and was unable to maintain a steady flight. The manufacture of a V2 considered too wise, then a V3 allowed Jérémie to find the balance of his spirited machine.
Today, Charal is sailing lower, but on a much more stable flight. The V3 has been developed to favour reaching and downwind points of sail, which dominate over 80% of the Vendée Globe course.
With this in mind, and the fact that Charal flies lower, the bow has been modified to facilitate planning. The general balance of the boat has been modified with a new distribution of ballast tanks. The cockpit has been more closed, while maintaining a wide field of vision to the outside.
A big favourite of this 2020 edition
Charal is the most reliable IMOCA today, and the boat/skipper duo is the most experienced. The confrontation with the Manuard and Verdier designs will be intense. Barring any damage, Jérémie will finish on one step of the podium, but which one?
Charal- Jeremy Beyou
- Sail number: 08
- Architect : VPLP
- Job-site: CDK Technologies
- Launch date: August 18, 2018
- Width: 5.85m
- Displacement (weight): 8t
- Presence of foils: Yes
- Sail area upwind : 320m2
- Sail area downwind: 600m2
