The Boats
Like nearly all ocean races, the Vendee Globe is a "class race", meaning that all of the boats, the crews, the teams, subscribe to a specific set of rules which serves to level the playing field. Generally speaking, there are two types of sailing classes, one design and open.
One design sailing rules dictate that the boats be exactly the same, often made by a single manufacturer. The hulls, the sails, the keels, even the maximum weight of the combined crew - all the same. One design racing has been immensely popular around the world for decades and some very desirable, classic sailboats have come from one design racing.
In open class racing the boats do not have to be identical, but most often are designed to what is known as a "box rule" - a set of standard dimensions and features which allow some amount of design flexibility and innovation.
The IMOCA 60 yachts used in the Vendee Globe are designed to such a box rule. What makes the IMOCA 60 rule so interesting is that it's evolutionary. There have been no fewer than six generations of IMOCA 60 yachts and while each generation's base dimensions are all the same, innovation from one generation to the next has seen considerable development of the boats. In the IMOCA class, all generations are allowed to compete and so the Vendee will see racers in each generation of yacht - and in many cases, sailing yachts that have competed previously under a different skipper.
So what makes one of these ocean-going thoroughbreds different from an ordinary cruising boat, or even an "ordinary" racing boat?
The first thing that differentiates an IMOCA 60 is its sheer size. The class rule says that the boats must be 60 feet long overall, with a beam of 18.7 feet and a draft of 14.7 feet. The mast height is 86 feet above the water. They are big, but they're also very light - total displacement of the boat is just over 16,000 lbs. By comparison, the displacement of a Beneteau Oceanis 60, a modern cruising boat roughly the same size as an IMOCA 60 (and sharing some of the same design heritage) is 48,600 lbs.
In addition to being very big, yet very light, an IMOCA 60 is equipped with an unusual number of appendages. Most sailboats have two, the keel and the rudder. Some production sailboats based loosely on racing hulls are beamy enough at the stern as to support the need for dual rudders. The boats of the Vendee Globe are allowed five appendages: the canting keel, dual rudders and two daggerboards (or foils) on either side of the boat, adjacent to the mast. The purpose of the daggerboards, a feature of the fifth generation boats introduced in 2008, is to prevent leeway - the quality of a sailboat to move somewhat sideways through the water under the pressure of its sails.
The sixth generation boats, new for this running of the Vendee, swaps the daggerboards for curved foils - wing-like structures that literally lift the boat partially out of the water when heeled over. This lifting effect reduces the friction of wetted surface of the boat as it moves through the water and allows it to sail faster.
So we have a boat that is very big, very light and built to run at higher speeds than any previous sail-powered vessel. The next, most critical element, then, is safety. All of the IMOCA 60s are built from exotic materials. Their hulls are Kevlar and carbon fiber, the masts are carbon fiber. The hull itself is built around a lightweight, high-strength steel box that contains the support bearings for the canting keel. There are numerous collision bulkheads built into the hull structure and all of the hatches are watertight.
Additionally, the IMOCA 60 is a showcase of modern electronics. There are redundant systems for navigation and piloting as well as the most up to date communications and emergency locator radios. While the boats can obviously be steered from the open cockpit, like any sailboat, the solo Vendee Globe racers spend a great deal of their time monitoring the autopilot from the relative comfort of the navigation station below decks.
Like everything else, the sails of an IMOCA racer are absolute state of the art. There's no more canvas in the inventory of as many as 11 sails (one mainsail and ten headsails, three of which can, in theory, be flown at the same time). Like the rest of the boat, there is a mix of exotic materials used in the sails and a full inventory can cost as much as $350,000. The proper use of these sails in conjunction with the boat's design can net speeds of as much as 25 mph.
The 5th Generation IMOCA 60 'acciona' on on close reach at about 18 knots
The 6th Generation 'SAFRAN'. Note how the downwind foil lifts the hull. Also note the canted keel to windward. This helps keep the boat upright and allows it to carry more sail.
