| Teach
'em a Lesson It had been a persistent rumor for a few months, and actually no one bothered to deny it… Michel Desjoyeaux, aka The Professor, was going to enter the next Vendée Globe with a new Farr-designed open 60', sponsored by Foncia - the company behind Alain Gautier's ORMA trimaran effort for the past few years.
Today, Foncia plans on having three boats: the D35, the 60' monohull, and a Figaro. The two monos will be raced by Desjoyeaux - whose brother Hubert created and today still runs the CDK boatyard, where the Farr-designed 60 is currently being built in Riou's PRB (2) moulds. Riou won the 2004 Vendée aboard… Michel Desjoyeaux's Finot-designed PRB (1), which had won the 2000 Vendée. Talk about closed-circuits! Anyway, Gautier and Mich' Desjoyeaux held a press conference together on December 1st to break the news officially, and even though as I mentioned previously this came as no surprise, it was quite impressive to see those 2 monsters of singlehanded racing bearing the same logo. Undoubtedly, you'll hear about that team soon. Side
note: Foncia's giving up on ORMA trimarans for the moment,
as is Géant, Michel Desjoyeaux's sponsor until the end
of the 2006 season. If the Imoca class is definitely flourishing
these days, the 60 multis clearly are going through a crisis
- looks like there won't event be a dedicated Grand Prix circuit
this year, since the Multicup organisers have given up on the
idea (not enough entrants). One has trouble imagining how this
situation could be untangled for 2007, and can only hope that
the future of those machines isn't doomed, since they're the
most spectacular and adrenalin-pumpin' beasts around. You just
can't beat a ride on an ORMA tri, period. Picture ©Y.Zedda/Foncia. |
Now,
some clarification maybe needed here. Alain Gautier (1993 Vendée
Globe winner) is not pushed aside, but teams up with Michel,
and keeps the helm of the company's D35 One-Design, racing
on the Geneva lake (we've seen worse venues). Alain already
had given up the helm of his ORMA trimaran in October 2004,
but kept the role of Team Manager… He came back in business
for the Route du Rhum, since Armel Le Cléac'h, following
his capsize in the 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre, decided he would
not sail the 60' tri singlehanded.