A bold design
When it is launched in August 2019, Alex Thomson's 60-footer will intrigue and fascinate. Designed by VPLP, the new machine of the Welsh sailor, second in the last edition, is designed with a single objective in mind: to win the next Vendée Globe.
Typed for downwind sailing, it was launched with a very light displacement of just 7.6 tons. The main innovation lies in the design of the cockpit. Drawing on the experience of four editions of the Vendée Globe, Alex and his team have designed an IMOCA with a fully enclosed cockpit. Alex pilots the yacht from the inside, where all maneuvers are centralized on four winches. As outside visibility is limited, seven cameras have been installed on deck to give the skipper a wide field of vision via screens inside.
This architectural design lowers the center of gravity and eliminates the volume of water brought into the cockpit by waves, which can quickly reach several hundred liters.
The result is modern and innovative, but the skipper is happy to spend two and a half months in this austere, rough carbon cockpit.
Setbacks and collisions
During the Jacques Vabre 2109, the boat's first race, Alex and co-skipper Neal Mcdonald hit a UFO, severely damaging the keel. The pair spent 24 hours cutting up the remains of the keel head to get rid of it, before heading for Cape Verde.
In the Vendée Globe 2020, Alex got off to a good start and was up at the front of the race, applying his usual strategy. However, a detachment of the stringers on the bow of his IMOCA, followed by a broken rudder, forced the Welsh skipper to make a stopover in Cape Town, where he announced his retirement.
A few weeks later, Alex will announce his retirement from the sport, after five Vendée Globe campaigns, ending with two podium finishes.
Alan Roura becomes new skipper
In October 2021, Swiss skipper Alan Roura buys the foiler with the support of his partner Hublot. For his third Vendée Globe, Alan is aiming to win on this machine with its considerable theoretical potential.
But the initial results have not lived up to Alan's ambitions. The skipper hasn't managed to find his way around this atypical IMOCA. Too much suited to downwind sailing, Hublot is not up to the task in other points of sail. What's more, life on board is very difficult, due to a propensity for violent furling.
The technical team then carried out a major winter refit to improve the boat's performance. Changing the ballast tanks, modifying the bulb, trimming the bow, improving the foils: it was with a Hugo Boss V2 that Alan was to take the start of the Vendée Globe, aboard a machine he now knows perfectly well. And one in which he has regained a great deal of confidence, after completing six transatlantic races aboard her.