A new Vendée Globe in 2024 and a new foiler
When he returned from the Vendée Globe in 2021, Thomas Ruyant had a strong desire to participate in the next Vendée Globe in 2024. In agreement with Advens, the skipper from Dunkirk has just validated his third participation in the solo round-the-world race. And like many other skippers in the circuit, he will do it on a new hydrofoil boat. A project worth 7 million euros for construction and 3 million euros for operation, an increase of 20% compared to the previous IMOCA.
The design was entrusted to Antoine Koch - naval engineer and navigator - in collaboration with Finot-Conq, who had until now been absent from the new IMOCA class designs.
"Antoine and I met during the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2019. To succeed in designing the right boat, so that it is the most coherent with my way of sailing and with the Vendée Globe race, I needed an architect, but also a good sailor, who knows the IMOCA boats well explains Thomas Ruyant.
This is a real change for Thomas Ruyant, who until now had entrusted the construction of his former boats to Guillaume Verdier.
A boat that is faster over time and less demanding
The boat will then be built at CDK in early 2022, for delivery in late 2022/early 2023, after the Route du Rhum. If the team did not want to reveal more about the design of the boat, we know nevertheless that the hull drawings are being finalized. The boat will have a new hull to improve average speeds, but above all to be able to live better on board, the new IMOCA boats being extremely engaging. In the words of the skipper, it will be very different from what is done today and different from the one he currently has.
"We're going to explore all the possible options to make every 10th knot we can. We are also working hard on comfort and ease of use. This is a sailor's boat, for sailors. The aim is to make the task of a solo sailor in a Vendée Globe - which is already a difficult race - easier with a better passage at sea and higher average speeds, but above all with boats that are much more livable. In particular with less water on deck and therefore slightly higher freeboards. " explains Antoine Koch.
"LinkedOut is a high performance boat, which can still win IMOCA races. She is capable of breaking 24-hour speed records, but we are not really looking for the fastest boat over a given distance, but the fastest boat around the world. There is still a lot of work to be done to improve and increase the average speeds on a round the world race, especially single-handed.
The key points are to go faster over time, to be easier to handle and less hard. On my old boat, you need to be on the edge all the time to go fast. It's an incredible boat and very complex. We're going to go for that with the next boat. To give ourselves the means to break into the IMOCA circuit, we need to move towards the evolution of the hulls we have today. I am convinced that the winner of the next Vendée Globe will be on a new boat, concludes Thomas Ruyant.
