A first project of his own in IMOCA for Yoann Richomme
This Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the pontoons of Lorient La Base were the center of attention of all those involved in ocean racing. After several months of construction at Multiplast, Yoann Richomme's IMOCA Paprec Arkea finally hit the water. Designed by the architects Antoine Koch and Finot-Conq, this foiler was conceived for the Vendée Globe 2024, which will start in a year and a half. This is the first project for Yoann Richomme in this class, he had already sailed in IMOCA alongside Damien Seguin.
He explains: "I'm obviously looking forward to seeing what she's got in her belly. It's the first time I've had a boat designed for me, and an IMOCA to boot."
Two main design features
At the heart of the design, two important features distinguish the IMOCA Paprec Arkéa. Firstly, its pointed bow, designed to cut through the sea, unlike the latest designs, which are more scow-like.
Yoann Richomme explains we preferred to go back to this type of pointed bow, very high and clear of the water. The deck is very round to evacuate the water quickly on the sides. The previous generation had very hollow decks, called gull wings, but which had the disadvantage of taking on a lot of water. Our bridge is very curved to evacuate water very quickly. Everything is absolutely invisible, there is not a single piece on the deck to work on the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. The central chute brings all the maneuvers to the front. Two big footbraces are used as solid supports to go to the front of the boat if needed, even if today you can't go to the front once launched. Every time we have to maneuver these boats, we have to stop them downwind to have a speed of less than 10 knots probably, otherwise it's impossible to stay in front of these boats."
the boat, in a black box, in which we can't see anything, even though we spend 90% of our time there. We tried to reverse the system, and make sure we were in a bright place with vision to see the sails, the sky, the sea and the foils. Behind the side windows, there is the watch station. We sit there with a view on the computers, the foils settings and the outside. We also hope that it will bring us performance thanks to this very functional ergonomics. The idea is to move very little to make any adjustments on the boat. And to clearly not put on an oilskin."> The other characteristic of the boat is this unique living cell under the cap, with an important forward view for navigation, as the skipper explains:
IMOCA, one of the big issues is the surface area. You want to have as much surface area as possible to take off first. Everything is very important in terms of power management, curvature, trimming systems, the way they go down in the water, but also what's inside. We'll be gathering as much information as possible over the next six months to develop the best performing pair of foils for the Vendée Globe. It's a long process of analysis and development, with a non-negligible seven months of build time."> "We will see if it has the expected speed potential, identify its defects and try to limit them, but also develop new ideas. This will also involve studying the competition. We have some catching up to do with the competitors who have been sailing in IMOCA for 4 years. We have to learn to sail, to make the project more reliable, to work together because the team is young. We're not hoping for sporting results in the first few events, but we're going to try to fight our way to the front as quickly as possible to be clearly competitive in the Transat Jacques Vabre."
