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IMOCA 60

Boat for The Vendée Globe & Ocean Race 

60-foot monohulls are among the fastest modern racing monohulls. Built using composite materials, they are designed to be as light as possible (speed gains) while at the same time being solid enough to withstand the worst conditions you can find when racing on the open seas.

 

As a development class these boats are at the forefront of single handed round the world racing. 

By pushing the limits the boats have evolved through engineering by incorporating and inventing new technologies in an attempt to find a speed advantage for the Vendee Globe.

 

The safety requirements imposed by the Class on sailors and designers have contributed a lot to the success of the boat. Since 2000, in order to be able to line up at the start of a race, boats must prove their ability to right themselves without any external assistance and prove they are watertight inside and are extremely buoyant when they capsize or suffer an ingress of water.

 

Alan Roberts Racing IMOCA 60

Boat spec

  • Length: 18.28 meters (60 feet)

  • Width: 5.85 meters maximum

  • Draft: 4.50 meters maximum

  • Air Draft: 29 meters maximum

  • Light weight: around 8 tons

Races

 

2019- 2020 Season

Vendée Globe - November 8, 2020

 

2021- 2024 Season

Fastnet 2021

Route du rhum - 2022

Transat Jacques Vabre - 2023

Transat - 2024

New York to Vendée 2024

Vendée Globe - 2024

 

 

Alan Roberts

The Vendée Globe

Alan Roberts Racing The Vendee Globe

 

THE CONCEPT OF THE VENDÉE GLOBE IS SIMPLE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND: YOU HAVE TO SAIL AROUND THE WORLD ALONE WITHOUT STOPPING AND WITHOUT ASSISTANCE. THESE THREE PARAMETERS MAKE THE RACE WHAT IT IS BY ESTABLISHING ITS DNA. THEY ARE CLEARLY LAID OUT IN THE RACE INSTRUCTIONS.

 

The event followed in the wake of the Golden Globe which had initiated the first circumnavigation of this type via the three capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn) in 1968. Only one out of the nine pioneers who had set off in 1968 succeeded in returning to Falmouth, the major port of British Cornwall. On 6th April 1969, after 313 days at sea, British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston finally reached his goal. Twenty years later, after having won the BOC Challenge twice (solo round the world with stopovers), navigator Philippe Jeantot introduced the idea of a new race around the world, but..non-stop! The Vendée Globe race was born. On 26th November 1989, thirteen sailors took the start of the first edition which lasted over three months. Only seven returned to Les Sables d'Olonne. 

The eight editions of what is now called the Everest of the seas by the public have enabled 167 contenders to take the start of this extraordinary race. Only 89 of them managed to cross the finish line. This figure alone shows the extreme difficulty of this global event in which solo racers are confronted to freezing cold, gigantic waves and heavy skies which sweep the Great South! The Vendée Globe is first and foremost a journey beyond the seas and deep down oneself… It has rewarded great sailors: Titouan Lamazou in 1990, Alain Gautier in 1993, Christophe Auguin in 1997, Vincent Riou in 2005, François Gabart in 2013 and Armel LeCléac'h in 2017. The skipper from Finistère became the new record holder of the race in 74 days. Only one sailor has won it twice: Michel Desjoyeaux, in 2001 and 2009. The 9th Vendée Globe will leave Les Sables d'Olonne on Sunday 8th November 2020.

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