Though the IMOCA class is usually a design race between ever-more technologically advanced foilers, two brand non-foiling IMOCA designs were built in 2024. Andi Robertson finds out why?
Despite their lack of foils, Eric Bellion’s and Jean Le Cam’s Raison-designed Non-foiling IMOCA sisterships (Stand as One Altavia and Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor lux respectively) were actually the newest IMOCAs in the Vendée Globe.
After his remarkable 4th place finish in the 2020 Vendée on a 2007 design, veteran racer Jean Le Cam contended that a non-foiling IMOCA could perform competitively at a fraction of the €7m-plus cost of a latest generation foiling boat.
Eric Bellion – who finished 9th in 2016 as first ‘rookie’, and was returning for 2024 – agreed. He was seeking an easier to sail design which could potentially be built as a mini series, giving younger skippers and SME companies backing them a way into the IMOCA game at a lower entry price with a modern, good looking boat.
Bellion and Le Cam both wanted a super-simple, super-light boat. Although they spoke to several different design studios, they settled on Raison who, over a decade ago, revolutionised Mini 650 sailing with his Magnum scow design. He has also pushed boundaries in the Class 40 with his 2019 Max40 scow Crédit Mutuel.
Though all recent IMOCA designs have fully enclosed cockpits, Le Cam and Bellion wanted theirs open to the air at the back. Sloping side decks give fast access to the outer deck. Photo: Photos: PKC Media
Le Cam and Bellion found a worthy partner in Raison. “He was available and hungry, had brought scows into racing in the first place and was keen to do his first IMOCA,” recalls Bellion. “Every time we went to see other naval architects they said ‘maybe just small foils…’.”
Support from Bellion’s sponsors Altavia got the project off the ground and Persico’s advanced build methods and their capacity to take on two Non-foiling IMOCA in quick succession made it possible in a tight time frame, with the boats shipped to CDK in Lorient for fitting out.
“We were originally inspired by Hubert, Le Cam’s much-modified 2007 Farr on which he finished 4th, and Theophile (2011 Verdier/VPLP, ex-Macif, sailed by Benjamin Ferré in 2024).
“We wanted to build the best daggerboard boats ever, a pair of boats which were on average 1.5 knots faster on all points of sail, that was the target. So this boat is very simple, very easy to sail and very light: 1.3-1.4 tonnes lighter than any of the newest boats with foils – the foils and structures cost so much weight. And they have very low electrical consumption: the screens are all small, there is no big innovation. When you are alone at sea the easier it is, the faster it is to sail.”
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Reducing complexity includes a proven simple rudder system, flat decks, minimal carbon use, a low consumption 6Ah electrical system including no complex fibre optic sensors, and single skin hull bottom. “The daggerboards are just 30kg each and we don’t have as much structure,” Bellion adds.
“Most of the hull is monolithic, the deck is a honeycomb carbon sandwich.” “The boat is a little less than €5 million all in, ready to go – all sails, ropes, electronics.”
Jean Le Cam’s Tout Commence en Finistère – Armor lux is a sistership, with a marginally lighter keel. Photo: Eneour Lost
Max power
“The boat is an evolution of the Max 40 with the waterline adapted to the IMOCA rule,” explains designer Raison. “Below the waterline the boats are very light and so the hull depth is actually about the same as in Class 40. The lines are very, very straight and quite flat – we have the flattest boat in the IMOCA fleet.
“We are not so wide; Jean asked for that. The idea was to be not so wide and very light and so we matched two records (narrowest and lightest) with these two boats.
” There are very small differences between them. Eric’s boat is closest in the fleet to the maximum righting moment allowed – his was 25.499 tonne/metres so had just 1kg/m more to be at the maximum – he has something very powerful there. And Jean Le Cam has the lightest IMOCA in the fleet with a lighter bulb.”
The most obvious features of the Raison hull are the flat, slab sides and the full length chine which generates a side force like the rail on a windsurfer or catamaran. Le Cam notes, “The chine of the hull gives good stability to the boat. The actual heel angle depends more on the slope of the hull and thus also depends on the point of sail. Upwind or reaching we try to go for 20° of heel and it works well.”
Skipper’s seat positioned forward in the covered cockpit area with main trim controls to hand. Photo: PKC Media
Non-foiling IMOCA are ‘lightly proven’
Bellion began building in the spring of 2022 and went into the water in June 2023, while Le Cam was up against it with fitting out beginning in August 2023 before launching in September. He was not ready for the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre and instead had to deliver his boat to Martinique to complete the solo Rétour à La Base, which he started late. Meanwhile Bellion retired early from the TJV with a structural issue. Le Cam completed the December 2023 solo transat in ‘delivery mode’ to keep on track to qualify for the Vendée Globe.
So as well as being newest, both boats had sailed fewer ocean miles than the rest of the fleet when they started last November’s Vendée.
Wily veteran Le Cam showed well in the early part of the descent of the Atlantic – staying well east and leading the rankings for a couple of days. He was left behind at the Canaries and the Cape Verdes in very light winds. But the best indications of his radical scow boat’s potential were in the Indian Ocean when he either held pace or was quicker than the foilers of Alan Roura (Hublot) and Isabelle Joschke (MACSF).
The straight boards are simple to handle and a fraction of the weight of a foiling board. Photo: PKC Media
All the time Le Cam’s was the first non-foiler boat, nearly 1,000 miles ahead of Benjamin Ferré. But the Atlantic climb and more sticky light winds were cruel to 65-year-old Le Cam. He had to climb the mast four times to fix halyard hook problems and lost miles.
Bellion proved a slower starter, initially spooked at the enormity of what he had taken on again. But he too found his feet in the south, although never pushing as hard as the ultra-experienced Le Cam. He ultimately had to abandon into the Falklands due to a problem with the J2 stay deck fitting.
Simple B&G H5000 system, solar and keel ram controls, PC screen, webcam, AIS and VHF. Photo: PKC Media
Non-foiling IMOCA’s offer great performance
Back in Les Sables d’Olonne Bellion told us: “The boat really was great at times, making 26-knot averages for 24 hours straight in the Indian Ocean when the seas were really crossed. We could see Jean was very fast then.”
Le Cam also reported that the boat performed well in waves. “Downwind, 140-145° to the wind, we were very fast with the FR0, the J3 and with one or two reefs.
“In comparison to Monnoyeur (Benjamin Ferré) we were faster most of the time.”
He concludes, “The boat needs to be fairly light. As she was a new boat, I think we put too much food and gear aboard and that was a handicap. We could have been much faster!”
Ultimately Le Cam finished 20th in the Vendée Globe, the third daggerboard boat. Benjamin Ferré was first non-foiler in 16th, followed just 16 minutes later by Tanguy Le Turquais (Lazare).
The slab-sided hull with full length chine is Class 40 inspired. Photo: Qaptur
It will be interesting to follow what happens next with these two radical designs. Raison feels they are still yet to see the best of the boats and has received enquiries from teams interested in building more. Bellion is intent on doing The Ocean Race Europe and believes the lighter winds and many transition zones of the Mediterranean may play to its strengths.
Looking forward to the 2028 Vendée Globe, which will likely see at least 10 more new foiling IMOCAS built, there could be a potential pool of 35 foilers in a limited field of 40. For younger skippers and lower-budget campaigns the cost savings of getting Non-foiling IMOCA are considerable.
Daggerboard boats may still have their place on the start line – though some observers and skippers, a militant Jean Le Cam included, have suggested a separate fleet should be considered – but they will have to work hard to qualify, and the competitive potential is not yet proved.
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