Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

I

don’t know where the Volvo Ocean

Race is going but any change to

IMOCA completely removes it from

its DNA.” So spoke a prominent

Newport-based colleague just before

this edition of the race arrived. he new

owners of the race should be known at

some point this month. My information

(as we went to print) was that there were

two bids from diferent entities, the result

of which was due to be settled mid-May.

And both entities had the IMOCA 60 as

the weapon of choice for the next edition.

It is hard to predict exactly how

the future of the race maps out with

IMOCA. For sure there is a certain

mutual requirement, even call it a

marriage of convenience. Having lost

the Barcelona World Race for the

meantime, IMOCA needs a second

pinnacle event to complement the

Vendée Globe. And Volvo needs an

exciting, cutting edge, foiling class

of proven ocean racing yachts. hey

need an option which returns the

challenge of design and development

to the performance mix, which piques

outside interest and intelligence such

as the IMOCA Open 60 racing does.

Clearly there are pros and cons for

both sides and right now I remain

among the fence sitters. I have worked

on the last four Vendée Globe races

and it is, and always has been, a unique

event. To hope that the Volvo could

somehow tap into that magical elixir,

that sheer sense of adventure, the

on-the-edge performance, day upon

day, mile upon mile, I think is just

an unrealistic hope or expectation.

Fundamentally I believe that a round

the world race yacht which does not

have substantial protection for the

crew is inappropriate. Just because the

Volvo designs have always had water

irehosing the crews does it mean

that has to go on forever? Dilemma!

Does the level of protection François

Gabart and homas Coville have on

their Ultime multis devalue their

performance, or Joyon’s team on IDEC?

he Vendée Globe is about solo

A change of ownership of the Volvo Ocean Race is rumoured to be on the cards

with an IMOCA link-up likely. The potential impact could be far-reaching

Andi Robertson

YACHTS

What was once a form of masochistic

voyeurism is now commonplace.

he convergence of the two round the

world genres has been happening for a

while. here is a vision of teams running

an IMOCA boat and team through the

Globe Series, competing four or ive-up

in the Volvo and their star solo skipper

doing the Vendée. Alex homson for

one has been pulling and pushing to

globalise IMOCA more and is a great

ambassador for that cause. Come to the

point, I’d love to see Alex lead a British

lagged Volvo efort and reading between

the lines I suspect there is some interest.

But that said, Alex and the team have

had extraordinary success with Hugo

Boss and now Mercedes in sailing, but

they really are the exception rather

than the rule. here is a new regime in

charge at IMOCA and they, for sure,

see diferent new horizons, but it is

essentially a French organisation which

right now has lost its biggest brands and

they were all French - Banque Populaire

and MACIF have moved to Ultimes - but

all of the new companies backing new

builds for the next Vendée Globe so far

are French companies who can get the

return they want within France. Will

they want to expand their programmes

to a Volvo? I think that is the diicult

question which IMOCA and the new

Volvo owners have to be sure of; they

need exciting sailors and premium

brands to make it work. Here’s hoping.

Few people

can match Andi

Robertson’s insight

into the big boat

world, both in the

UK and globally

racing non-stop around the world.

he discussion within IMOCA is how

many crew would race the Volvo on

anIMOCAandtheanswerfromthem

seemstobefourorive.Tomethat

dilutes the human interest - but I would

love that to be wrong. From the sailing

standpoint you immediately need what

the French call ‘polyvalent’ sailors,

all-rounders who can do everything

well, drive and trim. Would you

then still have a dedicated navigator?

hinking out of the box, why not then

put the navigator on shore? It is against

the IMOCA philosophy perhaps as it

takes the strategy and meteorological

element of the boat, but it makes that

router or routing team accessible to the

race media, and it reduces data costs.

For sure the Volvo needs an injection

of new blood in terms of approach

and sailors. My immediate sailing peer

group are not following this race daily

but tuning in for starts and inishes if

it its their schedule, watching replays.

And I confess I don’t really have the

answer why that is. It is ironic that the

French have taken the Volvo race so

much to their hearts, with Groupama

and now Dongfeng, for two editions,

and I think the interest in the anglo

saxon world is perhaps not so strong.

Perhaps the ‘always on’ access and huge

volume of media coming of the boats

has kind of inured us to the images

of big waves sweeping over the boats.

The volume of media coming of the boats has kind of

inured us to images of big waves sweeping over boats

Above

Could the

merger bring

Alex Thomson’s

Hugo Boss to

the next Volvo?

THIERRY MARTINEZ/SEA&CO

14 July 2018 Yachts & Yachting yachtsandyachting.co.uk