Golding new ECOVER launched at Southampton

by PR on 18 Sep 2007
HRH The Princess Royal officially named the newly built Open 60 ECOVER which is to be skippered by Mike Golding within the IMOCA Open 60 class - His first race will be the Transat Jacques Vabre in November this year.

Ecover was christened in the traditional manner, by breaking a bottle of Champagne on the bow this morning at the Southampton Boat Show.

Designed by the British-based architects Owen Clarke, the new Ecover was built to exacting standards in Wellington, New Zealand by Hakes Marine. The boat is a development of the Owen Clarke predecessor with which Golding scored eight podium places from ten starts in major offshore races within the IMOCA Circuit.

18 new IMOCA 60's have been launched in the past year and the subsequent influx of a new band of talented sailors - the challenge to succeed grows ever stronger.

All these boats and sailors, including Ecover and Golding and are building towards the Vendee Globe (the solo non-stop around the world race that starts in November 2008) but will compete in all the IMOCA World Championship circuit events starting later this year with the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race to Brazil.

The new boat is the synthesis of the design ideas of principal architect Mervyn Owen to a careful brief born from Golding's nine years of solo ocean racing experience, and pushes every aspect of open 60 design and engineering forward.

'I am delighted and honored that The Princess Royal agreed to christen Ecover. The Princess, a keen sailor herself, has always been a knowledgeable and loyal supporter of British sailing and we are over the moon that she has given her time today as well as becoming the godmother to the boat.

¨The design and build process of a new boat is a long and stressful period. It is great to now be here at the Southampton Boat Show with what we think Is a definitive IMOCA Open 60 and looking as good as she does. The next phase will be sailing trials - that will begin on Wednesday 19th and we just can't wait to she what she can do! Today is very much the start of an exciting new chapter for the team.' Said Mike Golding today.

'The objective was to make a fast boat.' Explains designer Merfyn Owen, 'Not just the fastest in terms of straight line speed, but also the fastest in terms of ergonomics to reduce the wear and tear on the sailor. We wanted to keep all the strong points of the old Ecover, In particular her stunning upwind and downwind performance - perhaps make them just a little better - but also I wanted to improve the reaching aspects of the boat where previously Mike felt we were less efficient. This is especially important for the Vendee Globe race.¨

The new boat will now undergo comprehensive sailing trials and testing before competing in her first race the Transat Jacques Vabre In November 2007.