Apivia, the new IMOCA60 designed by Guillaume Verdier for Charlie Dahn (FRA) and aimed at the next Vendee Globe after her launching and fit-out at the former U-boat base in Lorient, France © Maxime Horlaville
Her first major test will be in the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre - a two handed race where she will be sailed by Charlie Dalin and Yann Eliès who sailed together in the 2015 race across the Atlantic from Le Havre to Brazil.
The video was shot on August 5 in Lorient. The Vendee Globe starts on November 8, 2020 from France. Many of the new foiling IMOCA60's aimed at that event will line up in the Transat Jacques Vabre which proved to be a great leveler for the first generation of the foiling IMOCa60's aimed at the 2016 Vendee Globe, single handed, non-stop around the world race covering 28,000nm.
A feature of the Verdier design is the relatively narrow beam accentuated by the way the forward sections are rolled in at deck level, giving the appearance of tumble-home which hasn't been seen since that days of the RORC Rule. Clearly the approach to the design has been to come up with a boat that is first and foremost a foiling boat, rather than one which foils as an option when conditions are optimal.
That approach places a high reliability on foil structural strength if the foil strikes an unidentified object - be it container, mammal or junk.
The other feature is the distance of her mast step from the bow - allowing some enormous reaching sails to be set.