In early February, France had launched the new boat the Open 60 class (IMOCA) – L’occitane, designed by Sam Manor for the armel Tripon. She was the seventh and last boat of the IMOCA class – built for the race Vendée Globe 2020-21.
The new yacht features a radical design bow – it is made in the spirit of the famous American boats of the “Skow” and becomes in recent years more and more popular in some racing classes the open sea: for example, in the Mini 6.50 and Class 40. (It is interesting in this connection to note that, first, Sam manor has managed to successfully “celebrated” in both of these classes: for example, in the last race his yacht TJV Class 40 took the second, third and fourth place and second in this race, the strength of the fleet of Class 40 yachts with the contours of the “Skow” was already nine pennants.)
Accurate technical data L’occitane, as usual, are a secret. Some commentators noted that the new boat will probably be one of the tightest in the fleet, in addition, it clearly will have a length on design waterline is less than most rivals. But almost all agree that the length of the hydrofoils, the new model will be one of the biggest (if not biggest) in the fleet of Open 60.
The only thing that can greatly let down the team from L’occitane, so it’s time. Time before the first race of the season from Brest to Charleston – there are very few, starting on may 10. If something goes wrong, the time to fixation or revision of the yacht before the start of the Vendée Globe may simply not be enough.
But still more interesting than the main question – how successful will this design now cruise the Open 60 class?
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What do you think?