Ventilo M2 numbers have doubled in the last 12 months

We get an update on the small but highly potential lake catamarans from class President Rodolphe Gautier

While Decision 35 and Volvo Extreme 40 catamarans are not showing great signs of expansion at present (although we wait to hear an announcement about what the VX40s will be up to now the Volvo Ocean Race is all but over), one catamaran class that is blossoming at present is the M2.

Last year, in the first season of the new class we had a look at how the AM2, as the M2's class association is known, had joined the disparate elements of the Swiss small cat scene together (see this article here). While last year their championship was competed by eight of the new Ventilo M2s, this year 19 of these boats are now regularly competing with 22 boats making most starts including two Ventilo 27s and an RC27.

While this in itself is impressive what is causing a stir in multlihull circles in Switzerland is that these 28 footers are giving the very much more serious and expensive Decision 35s a run for their money in light conditions, as was demonstrated at last weekend's Bol d'Or warm-up, the Geneve-Rolle-Geneve race.

"The M2s were first and secand at the downwind mark in Rolle," enthuses class President Rodolphe Gautier. "Then you had Okalys [the Decision 35] with Loick Peyron in third place and there were then 15 other M2s and then the rest of the D35s. Then on the way back to Geneva, Okalys managed to accelerate and won the race, but they were followed by five M2s and then Alinghi...That was not very well received by the D35 owners!"

See the results here:

Gautier believes that the M2's speed in the 0-5 knot range comes from being able to use their gennikers upwind and this could cause a few upsets come tomorrow's Bol d'Or Rolex, when again the forecast is very light as it was last year.

The reason for the big take up of the class, is that many owners - groups ownership is popular within the class - have graduated up to the new boat from Formula 28s or Formula 30s, both classes now all but dead. "We are not bothering ourselves with too many rules," continues Gautier. "We have a gentleman’s agreement between all the owners so that all boats delivered by the yard will remain exactly as they are. It is not closed rules, but we have an agreement so that it will remain equal."

The price of Ventilo M2 is high for a 28ft catamaran, but not outrageous for such a state of the art piece of high speed racing weaponry. Gautier says the price tag for a new Ventilo M2 is around 90,000 Euros. "About the same as a cabriolet!" he quips. "And the design of the boat is beautiful and it is easy to rig and to sail. All those factors are leading people to want to sail them."

Being an eye-catching high performance class, sponsorship is also increasing within its ranks and a quick look at the results reveals a majority of boats having corporate names now. "Almost every single boat has a sponsor, but they don’t pay for the boat, they only pay for the costs. The budget is very low compared to other ones," says Gautier, who races on Star Logistique, currently third in the overall 2006 championship after Team New Wave and Banque Piguet. The latter moved into a new Ventilo M2 this year having campaigned a Ventilo 27 last year.

Crews are still mostly good amateurs, although the level is inevitably increasing and many of the top teams take with them one 'pro', be it a sailmaker, an Olympic sailor or a champion from another catamaran class. Charles Favre, the Tornado sailor for example races on Tilt while Orusia xtrem-Pub [ what is an xtrem-Pub? I want to go there, Ed] sail with two 470 sailors, and the leading crew on Team New Wave have a strong background in Mumm 30s. On board Star Logistique last year they had Bruno Peyron sailing with them. "He is still interested in coming at a later stage again this year, maybe after his record attempt," says Gautier.

From here, Gautier says they are keen to internationalise the class, but is this possible with a boat designed primarily for lake racing? "We really want an English team to come and join us. We are talking to two - the owner of Full Pelt, is in close contact with us and also another person who is working in London. We have a Spanish team, who joined us this year on Winning Spirit. They have a leading catamaran sailing school in Spain and are here for one month taking part in our competition." Gautier is very keen to line a Ventilo M2 up against a Seacart 30.

What seems most likely is that owners from northern Italy or the south of France will start getting into the class and at this time Gautier reckons they might move the class en masse out of Switzerland temporarily for some racing on Lake Garda or on the Med. "The other idea is to find a main sponsor who is interested and buys eight boat and we can do something like the Volvo Extreme 40."

Anyhow, on Sunday we will watch the results with interest - will an M2 nail the Decision 35s? We think it is unlikely even in really light conditions given the length of the race course, but stranger things have happened on Lake Geneva.