The boat imagined and designed by VPLP, thanks to the joint initiative of Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (France), the Royal Ocean Racing Club (UK) and the Storm Trysail Club (USA) is scheduled to make its debut afloat at the end of the year to participate in Easter 2023 races in France and UK.
Their objective is for this boat to become the preferred choice as an introduction and for the training needs of offshore racing, as well as one-design sailing. It is scheduled to make its debut afloat at the end of the year with the aim for the first Class 30 One Design.
As regular Afloat readers will recall, RORC & UNCL launched the €100,000 yacht design last December 2021.
After nine months of study, research and development by VPLP and Multiplast, the final project designs have been finalised and signed off. It is now possible to order this new exciting class boat as the detailed study phase is complete and final purchase orders are now being sent to all pre-bookers.
One Design versions are CE approved in the A4 category; a valuable configuration in ocean or offshore events such as the Rolex Fastnet Race
It was of course the tip of the iceberg, but its importance is paramount for the future of the whole class: "Our choice was to take a little more time for the study part so that we could start building directly with the series,” explains Yves Ginoux, General Secretary of UNCL and Project Leader. The boat is now fully technically and commercially defined (base price of the Club version without sails 94,500 euros excluding tax, One Design version without sails 132,500 euros excluding tax + options).
The construction schedule has been validated. Thanks to its power and stability the Club and One Design versions are CE approved in the A4 category; a valuable configuration in ocean or offshore events such as the Rolex Fastnet Race, for example. For speed and fun, the reduced displacement of 2,700 kg associated with a large spinnaker area of105 m2 makes it possible to anticipate beautiful surfs.
The 25 confirmed pre-bookers who have secured their place in the production sequence will receive a sales contract proposal at the beginning of May. The first boats will be delivered at the end of the year and the production flow rate will then be of one boat per week from January 2023 onwards.
