Vendee Globe 2028 (Brit bias)

[John_Silver]

From race control:

 

[John_Silver]

Jeremie, on Charal 2's design concept, back on launch day in 2022. Courtesy of SailorZ (nee Tip&Shaft). Plus post launch drone footage, of performance trials, ahead of the Route du Rhum.

 

[John_Silver]

Live from Charal’s external deck spreader cam. Plus some bon mots from a freshly shaven Jeremie.

 

[John_Silver]

Sam G & Lois v Frankie & Will. Four hundred miles to Fort-de-France. Side by side. Trading gybes. Battle of the Brits!



(earlier pic, and it’s Juju abeam, but you get the idea….)

 

[John_Silver]

FB update, from Sam G & Lois. “A picture is worth…..,



…..a thousand words:”

 

[John_Silver]

Jeremie 25nm (an hour or so) from Fort-de-France. Frankie & Will leading Sam G & Lois by 34nm (2ish hrs). Stand by for Live Stream:

 

[matt1]

11 days for an IMOCA. Insane.

I crossed from Gran Canaria in 17 days (which I considered fast) many years ago. To go from Le Havre to the Caribbean in 11 days is just incredible. Shame Sam didn’t get this. Just because drag race in a consistent breeze that I guess he wasn’t optimised for. Big fan of him and Will
So great to see two Brits lined up to take 2&3

 

[John_Silver]

Final gybe for Frankie & Will? Should be ‘home’ by tea time:

 

[John_Silver]

Frankie & Will in. Equalling the career best placing for their boat:



Sam G & Lois rounding Diamond Rock. To complete the podium. Live Stream here

 

[John_Silver]

Cafe l'Or debrief from SailorZ: The source of Jeremie's 'Little bit extra,' Frankie & Will's Canaries coup, Sam G's MACIF 'still the benchmark.' The Ultims, Fifties & Class40s too.

 

[John_Silver]

Down to the wire, between the (previous gen) Manuard sister ships of Sam D & Violette and Louis Burton & Clement C:



Stand by for incoming.

 

[John_Silver]

Analysis here of Charal’s winning edge. Confirming that her unique-in-class V rudders played a part in her newfound downwind pace. Over the summer the original rudders were made ‘deeper’ to improve their lift. The day of the fully foiling IMOCA edges closer? Wonder if any of the 2028 VG new builds, currently in the pipeline, will adopt V rudders?

EDIT: Charal's designer, Sam Manuard, is interviewed in a (pay walled) article in Voiles et Voiliers . He says that the rudders have been lengthened.(I had taken ‘deeper’ to mean with greater chord.) So that the windward blade remains immersed, to provide lift, at higher angles of heel.

Top pic is of Charal’s original rudders. Second is of Charal in full flight, post optimisation:





Some thoughts (in the first linked article) too, on the role of co-skipper Morgan Largraviere, in transferring sail configuration innovations, from Thomas Ruyant’s 2024 Vendee Globe campaign, to Jeremie Beyou’s camp. (Although, as Sam G & Thomas Ruyant ran open book joint 2024 VG campaigns, Sam G, if not the wider fleet, is likely also aware of these).

Plus, of course, full credit to Jeremie, for a race (and preparation) run with his trademark tenacity and guile. With a section devoted to Jeremie’s ‘Long Quest for Victory.’

 

[John_Silver]

Will Harris interview in Sailorz this week (below Mini Transat article):

The role of 11th Hour Racing's V3 foils, and tactics born of experience, in his & Frankie's Cafe l'Or performance. "Finishing second was higher than....we had imagined."
On Charal: They are "fully foiling.....from 13kts.....everyone should look closely at...... the work done on their rudders." (post #72)
What next? "My primary goal is to be on the starting line in 2028....to be the first foreigner to win the Vendee Globe."​

 

[John_Silver]

Cole Brauer explains the impact of 11th Hour’s (ex Malizia) V3 foils. Referred to in Will’s interview above.

 

[John_Silver]

Tough times, even in the heartland of offshore racing, reports Voiles et Voiliers:





But the Vendee Globe countdown clock ticks on. Registration opens 16.2.2026, 1000 days before the 2028 start. (See post #2 for qualification criteria)

 

[AllWinds]

Tough times, even in the heartland of offshore racing, reports Voiles et Voiliers:

View attachment 202456

View attachment 202457

But the Vendee Globe countdown clock ticks on. Registration opens 16.2.2026, 1000 days before the 2028 start. (See post #2 for qualification criteria)

More end of the line than "Go Circular"!

 

[John_Silver]

SailorZ picks the bones out of: The 2028 Vendee Globe Notice of Race, its launch press conference; and the reactions of IMOCA skippers.​

 

[John_Silver]

From the IMOCA Class Association:

Cafe L'Or highlights and standings in the 2025 IMOCA Globe series:



Good year for the Brits:

 

[John_Silver]

Pip still fighting hard to be on the 2028 start line. About to sail the boat home to Poole (link to FB video), using the last of the £ which she has raised, Whilst still in search of sponsorship to fund a Vendee Globe campaign:



From the video: "We're far from back to sailing condition, but.........I'm feeling quite hopeful........its the Route du Rhum next year......one of the qualifiers for the 2028 Vendee Globe.......There is no British team competing in the IMOCA class.......its the first time, in a really long time.........We need to get a British team out there......." Go Pip!

 

[John_Silver]

Meanwhile, the game, of sponsorship snakes and ladders, continues across the Channel.