IMOCA 60 Press release
18 February 2009
IMOCA's Early Learnings From The Vendée
&xnbsp;* Brits share Top 6 with the French
* 3rd place shared by 2 skippers - both had gone to the rescue of fellow competitors
* Safety, reliability and rule evolution are key
Fifteen days after the arrival of the Vendée Globe winner, Marc Guillemot completed the French podium of the 2008/09 edition of the race with three British sailors filling in the final spaces in the Top 6 rankings.&xnbsp; Never before has there been such a gap in podium arrivals, but it is not the first time 3rd place has been won without a keel!&xnbsp; And also never before has 3rd place been shared by two skippers - both of whom had gone to the rescue of fellow competitors. A symbolic sign reminiscent of a race filled with more adventure than anyone could have expected at the start of the race.
&xnbsp;Whilst this edition of the race has seen the largest percentage of retirements and the reasons are numerous, they have generally been to do with the index appendixes: masts and keels.&xnbsp; As Dominique Wavre, IMOCA Class President explains in the below interview, IMOCA will obviously be looking into all of these issues. Over the course of the last 6 weeks, IMOCA has been consulting the many different people involved in the Class with three objectives: Safety, reliability and evolution of the rules.&xnbsp; Dominique has been clear that his index concern relates to keel problems because they can endanger the lives of the sailors. IMOCA will announce its decisions in the spring, once all sailors have returned and fed back their learnings from their recent experiences.
Dominique also pointed out that, parallel to the boats' problems, there has been an unprecedented amount of publicity and public interest, which has strengthened the character of this unique race.&xnbsp; This has been helped by the diversity of our sport with a mix of men and women competing on equal terms and a broad range of nationalities.&xnbsp; IMOCA would like to congratulate Sam Davies and Dee Caffari who were the only women on the start line, and who finished in a convincing manner in the top 6.&xnbsp; Another satisfying statistic is that assuming the reindexing competitors all complete the race; half the fleet to have finished will be of 'International' (non-French) origin.&xnbsp;
Dominique Wavre's interview (*):
What conclusions do you draw from this Vendée Globe?
"It is obviously impossible to do a complete assessment whilst some of the sailors are still at sea.&xnbsp; So I'm going to talk about it quite generally whilst it is still going on. Firstly, I would like to draw people's attention to the vast public interest this race has seen. It is a good guarantee for the future.&xnbsp; Secondly, even though not all the sailors are back yet, apart from Yann Eliès injury, all the sailors will have got back in good health.&xnbsp; That is obviously the index thing! So from the point of view of the sailor's safety, the results are satisfying. And finally, this Vendée Globe has shown a lot of progress in terms of stability of the hulls - some of them have even sailed hundreds of miles without a keel!"
"But there are also some negative conclusions that we are not pleased with at IMOCA. We know there is still progress to be made. For example Yann has pointed out that we need to talk more about access to the first aide kits; Jean that we need to talk about communication when a boat has capsized and more generally we need to discuss the reliability of keels.&xnbsp; That is the most urgent problem that needs resolving because that puts the sailors' lives at risk."
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How is IMOCA going to deal with these issues?
&xnbsp;"We have already started a series of discussions on safety, reliability and the evolution of the rules and we'll continue in that vein too. It involves talking to a great deal of people that are involved in the Class like the skippers, the project managers, but also the boat designers, builders and the race organisers. No final conclusions will be drawn until all the competitors have got in. The aim is to make our decisions in the spring."
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(*Dominique Wavre is President of IMOCA and skipper of Temenos, who was forced to retire from the Vendée Globe with keel problems.)
&xnbsp;For further information please contact Sophy Williams on +44 (0)7966 444992 or email sw@sophywilliamsltd.com mailto:sw@sophywilliamsltd.com
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