Route du Rhum: Overpriced boats and insurers seeking to be safe
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It's man against nature. Skippers know that they risk either collision or the sinking of their boats at any time. In the background, insurers are teeth-gnashing.
The sums involved are in millions of dollars and the slightest loss can be tremendously costly.
Route du Rhum: How much does a racing boat cost?
The price of a racing boat depends not only on its size but also on its architecture, the materials used for its construction and on-board technologies.
| Class | Sailboat-types | Price in thousands USD | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sailboat | Mast | Full set of sails | Foil (1) | ||
| Ultimate | Maxi-trimaran | 11 500 - 13 700 | 800 | 400 | 500 - 800 |
| Imoca | 60-foot monohull | 5 700 - 7 000 | 230 | 230 | 195 |
| Multi50 | 50-foot trimaran | 2 000 - 2 500 | - | - | 100 |
| Class40 | Monohull | 570 - 690 | - | - | - |
(1) The foil is a submerged wing which lifts the sailboat when it is moving at high speed. This part makes it possible to reduce friction with water, which results in a speed gain.
Route du Rhum: Insurers are risk-averse when it comes to racing boats
For insurers, a sailboat race represents a huge risk and little profitability. Indeed, the cost of damage remains substantially high even if the insurance premium is around 6% of the boat value and even if the damage to the mast, the rigging and the sails is borne by the sponsors.
Few insurers are willing to cover boats intended for competition. In 2002, only three out of the 18 Orma trimarans that participated in the Route du Rhum arrived safely. One of the sailboats sank in the sea.
The rescue of a single-hull racing boat costs 20% of its value. As a result, a catastrophe such as the one that occurred in 2002 causes substantial losses for insurers.
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