Cédric de Kervenoael: "Med Max Occitanie-Saïdia Resorts boosts the Mediterranean circuit"

Cédric de Kervenoael: "The Med Max Occitanie-Saïdia Resorts is boosting the Mediterranean circuit".

News, Spotlight, Class40

With its more manageable dimensions and a smaller budget than its Imoca big brother, the Class40 is nonetheless a machine packed with technical innovations and exhilarating performance. Portrait of a boat, designed in 2004, which appeals as much to professional skippers as to enlightened amateurs. Just like the crews who have come from the four corners of the globe to compete in the MED MAX Occitanie-Saïdia Resorts.We take a closer look at Class40 with the association's president and racer, Cédric de Kervenoael. Interview with our editor, Jean-Loup Robertier.

240416 - Lorient - Class40 Crosscall - Skipper : Aurélien Ducroz - ©Yann Riou / polaRYSE

Class40 is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. How was this boat conceived?

CdK : In the early 2000s, a handful of amateur racers, mostly in their forties, wanted to continue ocean racing, but felt that the Mini 6.50 had become a little too wet and that the other classes of boat were a little too professional to have access to it. Through the association, they came up with a simple rule: one length, one beam, one draught, one mast height. For boats designed to take part in all the major ocean races (Route du Rhum, Transat Jacques-Vabre, etc.) and incidentally to be able to sail fast cruising, with a few minor adjustments to make them more or less liveable. In 2004, the first production boat saw the light of day.

With immediate success?

CdK : From the 2006 Route du Rhum onwards, a lot of racers, especially amateurs, who didn't have the means to buy the right boats to take part, whether in Imoca (editor's note: 60-foot monohulls) or ORMA (60-foot multihulls), turned to the Class40. It's been a huge success, with twenty-five entries for this legendary solo race!

And technical developments are equally rapid...

The first professional skipper to enter Class40 was Giovanni Soldini who, by exploiting the class to the full, built a true ocean racing prototype. From then on, things went from strength to strength, with boats that were less and less habitable, faster and faster, and more and more technical. But always with maximum cost containment: no carbon except for the mast and bowsprit, no canting keels, no foils, and the same goes for sails, to curb the desires of some. The architects finally got round to working on the hulls. And in 2019, the famous 'scows' arrived, with very wide fronts, while remaining within the width of the rules. The result is extremely fast, extremely uncomfortable boats, with incredible performance and speeds.

The DNA of the class has always been to have a mix between the amateurs behind the project and the professionals. That's why there are quite a few boats with an amateur and a pro on board. It's imperative that the amateurs always have their place. So today we have two categories of Class40: the sharps, the old generation boats, which are still very technical and quite advanced technologically. And the 'scows', which have enabled us to move up a gear in terms of performance.

With all this, is the original amateur spirit still favoured?

CdK :The DNA of the class has always been to have a mix between the amateurs behind the project and the professionals. That's why there are quite a few boats with an amateur and a pro on board. It's imperative that the amateurs always have their place. So today we have two categories of Class40: the sharps, the old generation boats, which are still very technical and quite advanced technologically. And the 'scows' (editor's note: exactly scow bow!) which have enabled us to move up a gear in terms of performance. While remaining controlled by the gauge. Particularly with regard to the measurement weight, which is 4.48 tonnes, which means that the boats have to be structured, rather than hyper-fragile 'rags'. And imposed unsinkability volumes to ensure that these boats don't sink. Which is not to say that only professional skippers sail scows.

This development is also reflected in the increase in offshore races specifically for Class40s.

CdK :What was interesting about multi-class racing was that it attracted sponsors because of the media coverage of the events themselves. Then we decided to organise races dedicated to Class40s. Transatlantic races, like the Niji40, or offshore races, like the Normandy Channel Race, Les Sables-Orta. And now the MedMax. There are more and more, and the calendar is terribly full now, a real headache.

And now the MedMax is added to the Mediterranean circuit.

CdK:The MedMax is totally in line with what we want to do, to develop and energise the Mediterranean circuit. And I'm really pleased that Kito, who has been campaigning for this for a long time, has succeeded in organising this race, with a very strong field, mixing pro and amateur sailors, with a nice but technical course, an ideal format, with a slightly exotic finish. The difficulty of organising such a race is to be applauded. In terms of logistics, it's much easier to run a race with a start and finish in the same port. With the MedMax, there's a notion of voyage, of discovery. And I can imagine that it's not easy. I really like the idea of arriving in Saïdia. You have to make the most of these countries, which aren't necessarily familiar with sailing. And I'm well aware that there's a craze in Morocco, with a superb welcome awaiting the competitors. And then we're going to share this race with the Ocean Fifty. Between them and the Class40s, there's a lot of overlap, with a lot of former Class40 racers moving on to multihulls, and above all the same philosophy of limiting costs, controlling budgets, with a human dimension.