New Figaro Planned

New Figaro Planned
New Figaro Planned

Video: New Figaro Planned

Video: New Figaro Planned
Video: FALLING FOR FIGARO (2021) Trailer | Singing Comedy, Romance 2024, March
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The new one from Bénéteau: the "Figaro 2003"

It is considered to be one of the most powerful professional forges in the world: the Figaro class. The races there are closer, harder and longer than in most other classes on the globe. The 32 foot keel ships, built in series by Bénéteau, are mostly sailed with one hand.

The class association organizes a racing calendar that does not allow ambitious sailors to take a break all year round and thus practically forces them to pursue a professional career.

The French proudly call their compatriots "Figarists", who sail on boats and are actually more sailors: They spend most of the days - and nights - at sea. Outside of France there are almost no Figaro yachts. And therefore no nicknames for their sailors.

The most famous of the extreme sailors in the world have turned their backs on long and medium distances in the one-size class: Michel Desjoyeaux and Alain Gautier, for example (both Vendée winners), Jean LeCam (trimaran pilot) and many more. The Figarists have just returned from the two-handed transatlantic race AG2r from the Caribbean (the Vendée warrior Hervé Laurent and Minitransat star Rodolphe Jacq won), and things are going on in the Mediterranean: none other than Erwan is currently leading in the sponsored daily regatta Generali Mediterranée Tabarly, nephew of the sailing hero Eric. There is even a semi-public, permanently manned training camp for Figaro sailors in Port lFôret, near Brest. It was brought into being by "Professor" Michel Desjoyeaux, who dominated the regattas like no other.

The class is really in excellent health (apart from the fact that there are almost no non-French sailors). Nevertheless, the sailors are obviously beginning to get bored on the unit boats. Because from 2003 there will be a "new" Figaro. The current nine-meter-long boat was considered extremely modern. However, twelve years ago. At that time the construction had been introduced from the drawing board of the designers at Groupe Finot and had displaced the half-tonne truck.

The king's regatta of French coastal single-handed sailing, the Figaro race, was sailed with one hand according to the IOR formula. Back then - and still do today - it zigzagged across the Bay of Biscay, to Ireland and into the English Channel. This will not change in the future either.

The transition to the "Figaro 2003" boats is eagerly awaited. CAD renderings and blueprints of the new yacht already exist. The Bénéteau shipyard also holds the worldwide sole building license for the new boat and has long been working on prototypes. The design is somewhat reminiscent of mini-transat and open-class racers: it has a vertical stern, a wide stern and a double rudder system.

However, the boats do not pass as high-tech flounders: "That would go against the spirit of the class," says Marc Lombard, whose office designed the epoch-making boat. After all, Figaro regattas traditionally take place in sometimes inhospitable sea areas that require more moderate constructions. With a displacement of 2850 kilograms, the "Figaro 2003" is even heavier than the old yacht (2400 kg), which, however, was three quarters of a meter shorter.

If you are interested in the old Figaro: The Bénéteau First 31.7 is practically a core sister of the standard racers.

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