SolOceans

Let us recall that the Veolia Oceans^® one-design has been built for the SolOceans, the first single-handed oceanic round the world race to follow a Lower Normandy - New Zealand - Lower Normandy course. It will be sailed on equal footing on totally identical sixteen-metre (52.5') high-tech one-design monohulls. The initial starting date has been set for 25 October 2009 and the SolOceans race will then be run every two years. The first Veolia Oceans^® will sail around the world for reconnaissance purposes from November 2007 to March 2008.

"The puzzle is taking shape and it's very satisfying", revealed Yvan Griboval, President of SailingOne and Designer of the SolOceans, at Caen, yesterday evening: "It is the fruit of a great deal of work carried out by many talented people, whether from our closest partners and suppliers, such as the JMV Industries yard or V1D2, or from the SailingOne team themselves. We are at the exciting stage of the construction of the first model of the class. Every evening, we see the carbon parts increasingly resembling what will be the Veolia Oceans^® one-design. It is also the most stressful period, since we are racing against the clock and the finishing line is getting closer. This ocean racing one-design will surprise more than a few and we are impatient to see it sail".

"More than 18 months ago, we said that we wished the launch to take place during the summer, which is coming to a close, and that the start of the Reconnaissance Tour around the world would be on 25 October 2007", explains Yvan Griboval. "We have voluntarily delayed this theoretical schedule for two good reasons. We have left the designers of the Finot-Conq and Associates Group time for thought in order to be able to benefit from the studies carried out on their three IMOCA 60 prototypes for the Vendée Globe 2008: Generali, Hugo Boss and Brit Air. We will therefore be able to launch a new generation of the one-design class and not a substitute of the 2004 IMOCA 60 prototype. This is important for the future of the Veolia Oceans^® one-design class. The second reason is that the JMV Industries yard has designed a new oven especially adapted to the series production of the Veolia Oceans^®. In reality, the small amount of time lost this year - about a month in relation to the departure date of the around the world Reconnaissance Tour sail - will be quickly caught up. Now we can reduce the completion time for each Veolia Oceans^® and therefore increase production between now and summer 2009."

The next important date for the SolOceans is Friday 5 October at 16h00 in Paris. Mrs Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, will reveal the name of the New Zealand stopover city for the SolOceans in the New Zealand Embassy in Paris, in the presence of Her Excellency Mrs Sarah Dennis, the New Zealand Ambassador for France.