Now that the start of the Transat Jacque Vabre is getting closer (only 10 days) more and more Open'60's are being shown using their new foils. Now we can have a look at Jean-Pierre Dick / Fabien Delahaye boat, a serious candidate to victory with two great sailors aboard. Everybody knows Jean-Pierre Dick but Fabien Delahaye is not so well known, a kid from the new generation with already a big list of accomplishments. Looking only at victories: 1st Transat Jacques Vabre (Class40 - 2013), 1st Tour de France (2012), 2012 French champion crewed offshore racing, 2011 Champion of France Solo Offshore, Winner of the Transat AG2R La Mondiale (with Armel Le Cléac’h - 2010). Their boat looks good and even with moderate wind the first 1/3 of the boat sails out of the water for considerable periods:
Also a look at some great images from"Le souffle du Nord", Thomas Ruyant / Adrien Hardy Open60, one without the new foils and even if with two great sailors from the new generation (with many victories on smaller ocean classes) I don't believe the 2007 sailboat will allow them any chance to win. That's right, on many offshore races a top 2007 boat is still a boat to be considered for victory, here is just a 2 generations older boat, considerably slower then the new ones or even than the ones from the last generation. That is a measure of the speed of boat development and improvements on design on this class. Compare that with the Volvo racers where the boats from the previous generation where faster then the new ones.
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