11th Hour Racing’s new IMOCA gets rolled out of the shed at MerConcept in Concarneau for launching and measuring. For the team, the outcome was a fast boat that also moved the sustainability needle for the marine industry. (Amory Ross/)
A little over 20 years ago, Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm and three crew blasted across the Atlantic on the front edge of a winter storm, and set a new monohull record for the New York to Lizard crossing: 8 days 20 hours and 56 minutes. They did it in Stamm’s IMOCA 60, beating a record that had been held by Bob Miller’s superyacht Mari Cha III by more than four hours. At 44.7m length overall, Mari Cha was almost two and a half times longer than the IMOCA 60 and the new record spoke volumes for the future.
A possible future: an IMOCA 60 with four crew could have been the replacement for the aging Whitbread 60, the boat then used for the Volvo Ocean Race. The IMOCA 60 could have slashed crew numbers (and therefore cost) and ramped up performance and spectacle. Surely this new record was the harbinger for a remarkable future for offshore racing? Well, it’s taken 20 years, but the future is finally here, with the launch of 11th Hour Racing Team’s new IMOCA 60 – the first to be purpose-built for a four or five-person crew. Personally, I can’t wait to see what she can do – and not just on the water. This boat was built with more than just speed in mind…