Thomas Ruyant: "I'm unveiling one of the fastest monohulls in the world"

Thomas Ruyant's new IMOCA touched water in Lorient today, the product of two years of design work, late-night discussions, and an unusually collaborative build process that brought together some of offshore racing's sharpest minds.

The boat is the result of close cooperation between naval architect Antoine Koch and his AKO design office, TR Racing's own design team, GSea and Finot-Conq handling the calculations, and builder CDK.

Notably, the project also involved a degree of resource-sharing with the teams of Boris Herrmann (Malizia) and Loïs Berrehar (Banque Populaire), who are currently building sister ships to the same design.

This latest-generation IMOCA is being billed as one of the fastest foiling monohulls on the planet and is a distillation of everything Ruyant and his Lorient-based team have learned over the years, including two previous IMOCA design-and-build campaigns.

Backed by owner Alexandre Fayeulle, the new boat is now searching for a partner to carry it through to the 2028 Vendée Globe, with TR Racing first having its sights set on The Ocean Race, the fully-crewed round-the-world race with stopovers, which starts from Alicante in January 2027.

At the launch event in Lorient, France, Thomas Ruyant said: "This is the third new IMOCA I've launched, and it never stops feeling special. Really, it represents two years of energy, thinking, and conversations with so many people.

"These are symbolic moments for our TR Racing team and for everyone who worked to bring such a beautiful boat to life. Today, the reaction has been unanimous — we haven't sailed her yet, but a boat this good-looking can only be fast!"