Gone to last. This would be the new logic of Imoca boats built for major sea expeditions. At the start of the Vendée Globe 2024, this Sunday, November 10, 40 boats will hoist the sails to conquer the world. Among them, thirteen new boats are committed to the “Everest of the seas.” » Twenty-seven of them will therefore return to service.
In 2024, the average age of 60-foot Imoca boats will show a slight decline compared to the previous edition, standing at 8.95 years. “With an average age of boats of nine years, we are a bit above the 2020 figures, analyzes Antoine Mermod, president of the Imoca class, but in the 1990s and 2000s, it was half as much. This means that today, boats are used twice as long. »
In detail, thirteen boats over 15 years old are at the start this year, where there had never been more than four before. “Ideologically, those who campaign for degrowth absolutely do not want us to build new boats, judges the ruler, but in 2008, we built 21 boats and we see that in 2024, these 21 boats are still there. » In fact, the proportion of new boats, from 2010 to 2024, has significantly decreased. In the early 2000s, they represented at least half of the fleet, with a peak in 2008, when new boats represented two-thirds of the monohulls in competition.
2008, the turning point edition
This development can be explained by several factors, according to Antoine Mermod. “In 2008, among the 21 new boats, only three crossed the finish linehe remembers. There was some thought behind it and it also marked the end of an era where boats were built cheaply and fairly quickly. We realized that for the exercise in reliability required by the Vendée Globe, we had to persevere with reliable construction. »
Added to this is the financial crisis from 2008 to 2012, which strongly affected many industrial sectors such as sailing. Finally, a rule change, made by the Vendée Globe organization and stipulating the installation of one-design masts and keels, allowed the manufacturers to review their copy. “Since then, all the boats have had the same masts and the same keels. With this, we have, in a certain way, standardized the boats. The research focuses only on the chassis, explains Antoine Mermod. No matter what boat you build, the performance has smoothed out a lot. Arriving with an old boat does not mean being out of the game. »
Stay competitive
If this development has helped boats go out of fashion much more slowly, the naval engineer and navigator Ulysse David readily admits: “There is always a premium on the latest boats that are built, as general knowledge of the system evolves. The last person to build a boat is able to better compile all the good ideas and be more competitive. » However, the last edition of the Vendée Globe, in 2020-2021, saw navigator Yannick Bestaven win at the helm of a boat built in 2015.
To remain competitive, sailors know: the regulations do not require a boat to modernize. Security updates are regularly implemented, but concern the entire fleet. Other checks on the solidity of the masts or the aging of the keels mainly relate to the usual maintenance of a monohull.
“There is a maintenance cost which is never trivial to remain competitiveestimates Ulysses David, but apart from for less experienced sailors for whom the search for sponsors proves more difficult, this cost does not represent much and, in any case, even if you own a new boat, you are very quickly overtaken by these same problems . » For the specialist, it is up to the teams surrounding the sailors to “make sure to modernize a boat for reasons of comfort”but the search for “brand new”is no longer “a priority”.
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