It’s the story of an eclectic architect and one of the most acclaimed designers of hulls for ocean sailing – from the small Mini 6.50 to the famous Imoca. Meet Sam Manuard, a passionate naval architect with a knack for everything.
What is your relationship with Brittany and why did you settle there?
First of all, I liked the region. It’s one of the most beautiful places to live in France, and that’s already an important consideration. Before I moved here, I lived in the south of France, between Montpellier, Nîmes and La Grande-Motte. That was very good, but for what I’m passionate about and what I’m involved in, i.e. ocean racing, most of it takes place in Brittany, particularly the southern part. So it was interesting for me to reconcile professional life and family life in the same place, in Brittany and in Treffléan to be precise.
You worked on Bureau Vallée, Initiatives Cœur and Charal, who completed the last Vendée Globe. What technical feedback do you have from this latest round the world race?
We were able to observe a relatively academic Vendée Globe in the sense that those who managed to open up big gaps were those who managed to push their machine slightly faster and longer than their neighbours at a few key moments. This succession of weather systems gave rise to this big gap between the leading trio and the rest of the pack. It’s interesting because the Vendée Globe 2020 had somewhat muddied the waters. The gap between the foiling and daggerboard boats was reduced. The 2024 edition is much more consistent with the classic approach of naval architects, where the important thing is to manage to go faster than the neighbour in order to stay in favourable conditions for longer. To achieve this, you need boats in which you feel confident, which have a dynamic behaviour that helps you feel confident so that the skipper can push the machines for more than two months.
What can we expect for 2028?
It’s not impossible that there will be a slight specialisation. That is to say, on the one hand, boats that are slightly more The Ocean Race and crew orientated and on the other, boats that are slightly more Vendée Globe orientated, even if it is possible to build a boat that performs well in both areas. However, given that we won’t be seeing any major changes to the rules, the Imoca boats will undergo changes that are more of an optimisation nature. For example, this could be seen in the specific design of the foils. We can imagine foils that perform better but are a little less forgiving for the crew. In The Ocean Race, they are able to regulate the sail and keel settings consistently, which is not the case in solo sailing. Not to mention the differences in ergonomics between the two types of boat.
Can you tell us about the Nicomatic Mini 6.50 project you’re involved in?
It’s a really exciting project. Caroline Boule and Benoît Marie have thrown themselves into it wholeheartedly. They liked my vision of the boat. It was more or less what they expected. I helped them give shape to the project. Quite quickly we were on the same wavelength. Caroline and Benoît set up a special team to manufacture it at the Multiplast yard. The basic idea was to ask ourselves what could be done faster on a 6.50? We wanted it to be roughly equivalent to a classic 6.50 in light airs, but with ten times the speed when conditions were right for flying. We’ve managed to design a boat that’s amazing in terms of its performance and the sensations it gives you. It’s very exciting to sail on it, and it’s capable of relatively stable flight in certain conditions. To my knowledge, it’s the only one in its class to be able to do so.
What are or will be the changes in Class40?
This class has undergone relatively few changes in its measurement over many years. Since the advent of scows, there have been no major revolutions, just slight optimisations from one generation to the next. Each architect fine-tunes his ship. The ones I’m building with JPS in La Trinité-sur-Mer are on the 3rd generation of scow, the Mach 40.6. The boats continue to improve in terms of ergonomics, performance, behaviour at sea and reliability. This is due to extensive feedback. A lot of them were built before the last Route du Rhum. The level of competition is also getting quite high. There are fewer and fewer differences between the boats. From now on, it’s done at the margin by choosing to type a boat for specific conditions. Everyone is making progress at the same time. The sailmakers on the design of their sails, the architects, the electronics in the pilots and of course the skippers. They can count on training structures, such as Orlabay in La Trinité, Lorient Grand Large… All these elements contribute to increasing the average level, there is a global emulation which benefits everyone.
What was your involvement and what was your role within Team Alinghi Red Bull Racing for the America’s Cup?
I was involved in the shape of the hull, in questions of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. As naval architects, our added value is to have a global vision of a yacht. We need to have a good understanding of all the balances on the boat. So I had to discuss all the performance parameters, foils, rudders, rigs, sails and so on. There were a lot of cross discussions with excellent specialists in each field, in aero, hydro, structural calculations, etc. There were choices to be made and I took part in the decision-making process.
What other major projects do you have coming up?
We’ve just launched a new IRC racing boat, the Pogo RC, with the Pogo yard in Combrit, which can be used for double-handed, solo or crewed racing. In addition, JPK has just launched a competing boat, so there should be a lot of emulation to come. We’ve also just launched a fairly interesting boat with Beneteau, the First30, which is designed to be affordable. It goes straight to the essentials, is simple, fun to sail and can accommodate a family without getting too expensive. Sailing is becoming a bit of an elitist activity, as the boats are relatively expensive because of their equipment and sophistication. People in their thirties need to have access to these boats. Finally, we are currently building a 50-foot carbon monohull with a canting keel and side daggerboard at the JPS yard. It will be cutting-edge enough to take part in races such as the Fastnet, Middle Sea Race, Sydney-Hobart… It should be launched in July, and will be a good synthesis of everything we’ve developed in the 6.50, Class40 and Imoca classes.