Video tour of Paprec-Virbac 2

Shore manager Luc Bartissol shows us the ropes on the Barcelona World Race winner

Aside from having sailed in two Whitbreads (aboard Rucanor Sport and La Poste), Luc Bartissol has been one of France's leading preparateurs for the likes of Isabelle Autissier and Catherine Chabaud and currently for Jean-Pierre Dick's Farr-designed PaprecVirbac 2. In the following video Bartissol kindly showed us around the Barcelona World Race winner, looking at the gear they use and the latest trends in the class. The following video amounts to about 30 minutes total, but the one you should definitely watch is of the unique rotating chart table arrangement down below (final clip...)

In this clip Luc describes the foredeck arrangement, the furlers (including the one that sheared in two) and the sails.

Clip two has him describing their choice of mast (similar to Mike Golding's Ecover 2), her twin foredeck hatches, why they have a conventional boom arrangement and why they have gone for carbon C6 rigging (the first boat to go around the world with it).

In clip three Luc demonstrates how the giant movable cabin top works and discusses their choice of helm and their kick-up rudder arrangement.

Clip four sees us looking at the pit area with all the lines running through the cabintop directly back from the mast, how they have specced their winches, the hydraulics they use on board and demonstrates how they use the trim tabs.

In this final clip Luc shows us down below and we look at the boat's extraordinary chart table/stack arrangements that rotate as one in their entirety. Radical... Luc also talks about how they come to rely on just one ram to cant the keel.