by Anne Hinton
Further to
the April Fool concerning IMOCA and MOD70s, which seems to have been rather
popular, we wish to make two points:
1. It is never a good idea to modify a
one design class in any way whatsoever; so-doing immediately turns the boat
into a hybrid, rather than a one design. Yann Guichard also expressed
disapprobation for any modification to the MOD70 one design when it was proposed
to him by Pierre-Yves Lautrou at the Café de la Marine du Télégramme last
night.
2. The current economic climate means
that costs are all important in regard to getting boats on the line. Sailors
have commented to us that they do not believe that a one design IMOCA will be
cheaper, but, rather, more expensive, than the present option. An MOD70
campaign is far more expensive again than an IMOCA60 one. Indeed, the crewed
MOD70s are in need of a sponsor, as Guichard also pointed out at the Café de la
Marine du Télégramme last night.
Hopefully
the article did serve to give some exposure to the IMOCA60 and MOD70 classes.
The
intention with the MOD70 was always to provide crewed one design multihull
racing around the world with stops, in similar fashion to the present monohull
Volvo Ocean Race. However, the class has not yet been able to race worldwide,
for lack of the necessary sponsorship.
One day,
when the economic climate is a lot better, there may be a possibility of an
additional single-handed multihull race around the world, in which case a race
in parallel would see the multihulls eating the monohulls for lunch, speed-wise,
as is rather over-dramatised in the image above from the Round the Island Race
in the UK, with the Prince de Bretagne 40 multihull. However, today, we hope
that the Vendée Globe, in monohull IMOCA60s, will continue from strength to
strength.
The second
article, written by Poisson d’Avril (the French for April Fool), stemmed from a
wish to mention the achievements of Vestas SailRocket, which has the potential
for 70 knots in its present set-up, if rumours are to be believed. The word SpinDRIFT
(pétole – on ne bouge pas) contrasts strongly with SailROCKET (Aller LA plus
vite possible ! – as imagined from Jimmy Pahun at the Café de la Marine du
Télégramme!!), and of course Spindrift carries out part of its racing programme,
in the D35 Ladycat, on Lake Geneva, where the Hydroptère is challenging for
speed records.
