Refit

Bernard Stamm's Open 60 undergoes surgery in La Rochelle

From his new base in La Rochelle, Bernard Stamm is planning to carry out a large amount of work on his Open 60 prior to this year's events and, most notably, the Vendee Globe in November. Supported by Partner & Partners, the Swiss skipper has formed a team composed of Guillaume Le Fur, technical director and Christophe
Lebas who remains his co-skipper, plus Erwan Lemeilleur, Alain Pelletier and
Catherine Rouge,

The first job will be to work on the movable ballast system which broke early on in the Transat Jacques Vabre last autumn. "We’ve taken away what was broken and thankfully when we opened her up we didn’t find any bad surprises. We’re going to make over anything that’s not perfect," explains Christophe Lebas.

Another major job will be the electrics."Originally when we built the boat the fact that she is made of carbon was not really taken into account. Carbon is a conductor and
with time there have been various modifications made here and there without really examining the whole system thoroughly. We’ll be doing that as a precautionary measure. Bernard cannot leave on a Vendée Globe without being 200% certain of such essential elements," continued LeBas.

Finally, the rudders are going to be changed. Until now, Cheminées Poujoulat/Armor Lux has been sailing with rudders originally built for Alain Gautier’s ancient Open 60 Vendee Globe winner in 1993. "They have been modified, and improved upon...but it is another way of making the boat perform better."

Translated by Kate Jennings