Imoca 60: new details unveiled

The Imoca 60 class is gearing up for the Vendée Globe 2024 and there are a lot of new launches taking place, week after week, especially in Lorient.

On the water, the newly launched Imoca 60s include Kevin Escoffier‘s new PRB, then in quick succession came Maxime Sorel’s VandB, Jérémie Beyou’s Charal 2, Boris Hermann’s Malizia Sea Explorer, and Samantah Davies’ new Initiative Coeur. The various new Imoca 60s are not finished here; also on the way is the highly anticipated Apivia 2 of Charlie Dalin, currently perhaps the strongest skipper in the fleet.

Imoca 60 – new design trends

The new Imoca show literally huge foils. However, size aside, differences are noticeable. While many skippers have chosen soft-angled L-shaped foils, Englishman Samantah Davies has opted for a different option, at least at this stage.

Indeed, Initiative Coeur shows C-shaped foils, or at least not quite L-shaped ones, reminiscent of those on the last Hugo boss. The reason for this choice may lie in the possibility of portraying the appendages in very difficult weather conditions.

Different choices were made for the other Imoca 60s, which showed L-shaped, soft-edged foils, but it remains to be seen whether different choices will be made in the future. L-shaped foils, however, cannot be completely retracted in bad weather. They do, however, offer more vertical thrust and straightening.

Imoca 60 – a matter of bow

The most improtant innovation is, however, in the bow. Almost every yacht has embraced the ‘Manuard trend’, which was seen at the last Vendée Globe with the old Occitaine (now owned by Louis Burton). The submerged curve of the hull is not almost completely flat as in the past, but rounds and rises towards the bow. The new bows of the Imoca 60 are really high on the water, at least in certain gaits. While this will decrease performance upwind, which with less waterline length is penalised in certain conditions, it gives an advantage downwind.

The Achilles’ heel of the old Imoca 60s was the bow-boats. The boats would go from 25-30 knots to 10, with enormous risks for the rig and mast. With the bow up these abrupt braking will be rarer, the boat will tend not to dive the ‘nose’ or do so less. The choice seems to be similar on almost all the new boats, less evident on Maxime Sorel’s and PRB’s, but nevertheless the trend is clear.

The debut of the new Imoca 60s will be at the Route du Rhum that will start on 6 November from Saint Malo, although in this first race it is possible that the new designs will still be running in and not at their full potential.

Mauro Giuffrè