Personal Watercraft Insurance, New Yacht Technology Off to a Rough Start
The last place the British sailor Alex Thomson expected to be last week was lying on the ceiling of his new racing yacht in the North Atlantic.
The Transat race may prove that the new yacht technology has been pushed too soon into the ocean racing world. Five of the new VPLP-Verdier designs started the 20-boat race, but only one finished, an attrition rate that has shocked even the most cynical of observers. That boat, Armel Le Cléac’h’s Banque Populaire VIII, was unable to pass a previous-generation VPLP-Verdier model, PRB, which won the Imoca 60 class Wednesday. Banque Populaire finished second, more than eight hours later.
