ORMA 60 Class in Trouble?

From a post by Graeme on the Multihulls list( multihulls@steamradio.com ) :
Mark Turner has responded to the comments on PYL's blog: "I can assure you that as of today there has been NO decision whatsoever regarding the classes involved in The Transat for
2008. In fact there hasn?t been a decision as to whether there will be one event (remember we saved it from death in 2004 at the last minute, this cost us a lot of money, and we cannot afford to do this again, so we can only confirm the race if we have a solid financial solution to pay for it). IF there is one, then we will publish a preliminary Notice of Race in February, but at this stage we will not be able to confirm the start or finish ports ? in our preparation work we are looking at a number of them. As regards to the classes, NO decision has been made, we have simply asked for feedback. We have been considering bigger boats like the new large multihulls (Joyon, Coville, ex-Castorama), the existing ORMA 60s, IMOCA 60s, and smaller monohulls as well. And like I say, one final option ? of not doing it at all! The letter that you clearly have not actually seen, that was sent to the ORMA projects simply asked the question ? are you actually likely to be entering if we have an ORMA class? So far we have received only two responses ? but both positive ? from Sodebo and Yvan Bourgnon. We are big fans of the multihulls (as you know ? from Ellen?s sailing in ORMA, to a Jules Verne, a solo record attempt and the new Extreme 40 European Series just launched), and we hope that we can run a great event in 2008, like we did in 2004, but what we cannot afford to do is publish a Notice of Race including ORMA 60?s, only to find there are just 2 or 3 boats ? because by including them in the Notice of Race it immediately limits our choice of port. We do not have ports like those of Le Havre or Saint Malo in the UK ? and we certainly don?t have any towns or regions ready to put much money in, again unlike France! As to the future of the ocean going multihulls, my personal hope is that a new class of maybe One Design, big ocean racing trimarans will emerge, able to race solo and crewed, maybe for the 2009 or 2010 season. These amazing boats remains the most spectacular of all our sports?s creations, and I look forward to their rebirth, regardless of whether they feature in The Transat 2008 or not. A decision which we will of course communicate to you when it is made...?
So it sounds like the ORMAs aren't necessarily going to be turned away, but they sound like they're on probation.
There's a lot of activity with the big trimarans, such as B&Q Castorama, IDEC and Sodebo, and I think that's the direction that the top-end of the multihull circuit is moving in.
Yves Parlier was working on a concept for a one-design 80' trimaran, but that's gone quiet. He was looking at running a round the world race in
2008. Parlier lost his sponsor a few months back (Mediatis cited a lack of media coverage), so I don't know what's happening there."

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Doug Lord

Mark Turner has responded to the comments on PYL's blog: "I can assure you that as of today there has been NO decision whatsoever regarding the classes involved in The Transat for
2008. In fact there hasn?t been a decision as to whether there will be one event ...this cost us a lot of money, and we cannot afford to do this again, so we can only confirm the race if we have a solid financial solution to pay for it). ...

NO decision has been made, we have simply asked for feedback. We have been considering bigger boats like the new large multihulls (Joyon, Coville, ex-Castorama), the existing ORMA 60s, IMOCA 60s, and smaller monohulls as well. And like I say, one final option ? of not doing it at all! The letter that you clearly have not actually seen, that was sent to the ORMA projects simply asked the question ? are you actually likely to be entering if we have an ORMA class? So far we have received only two responses ? but both positive ? from Sodebo and Yvan Bourgnon. ..

So it sounds like the ORMAs aren't necessarily going to be turned away, but they sound like they're on probation.
There's a lot of activity with the big trimarans, such as B&Q Castorama, IDEC and Sodebo, and I think that's the direction that the top-end of the multihull circuit is moving in.

"

We are talking of a race almost two years from now. And there are lots of races in between.
The last one was a big success and I will bet the next one will be even a greater one. That story about money looks like an advertising stunt to me. They are advertising for a big Sponsor, probably one related with France state companies (national public interest).

It looks that the guy doesn't know if the big stars will be the new and bigger tris and cats, or the Orma boats, but in the end the Organizers are just pressing for sailors to get organized and focused on "Their" race.
The Guys with the 50ft tris will be glad to jump in, if the big guys go to bigger boats. They will take their places on the ORMA boats.

It is just a question of definition on what will be the winning multihull. The best sailors will be there. That’s why he only got two confirmations from ORMA boats. The others are waiting to see if they can have a big one for themselves .

[brian eiland]

...courtesy of Scuttlebutt
Your humble narrator's favorite article of the week, another must-read from the fellows at TheDailySail.com. A few bits from this 3400 world piece:

The end of an era

We bid farewell to the ORMA 60 and look at the rise of the new MOD 70 trimaran One of the saddest stories we are having to write this year is that of the demise of our favourite race boat class, the ORMA 60 trimaran.

Over the last 30 or so years the class has brought us some amazing stories - the fight between Apricot and Paragon in the 1985 Round Britain Race. From a British perspective there was Apricot beating all the 75ft competition on one leg of the Round Europe Race, Lawrie Smith, Rodney Patisson and co showing the French competition around the race course aboard Paragon. In France there was Florence Arthaud's victory in the 1990 Route du Rhum (Ellen wasn’t the first female sailor to kick male butt singlehanded offshore...), Laurent Bourgnon’s incredible singlehanded transatlantic record during which he broke the fully crewed 24 hour record, the OSTAR wins of Philippe Poupon Loick Peyron and Francis Joyon, Yvan Bourgnon setting a 623 mile 24 hour record in the Quebec-St Malo race, the dominance this decade of Franck Cammas’ Groupamas…

So why has the class gone to the dogs?

The reasons are numerous but equally very typical of practically all development classes from dinghies through to maxis. In the case of the ORMA 60s, where all apart from the Gitana team are fully sponsored, the reasons have been primarily escalating costs and not enough return on investment for their backers.

Today the general consensus, if there is one within ORMA, is that since the present generation of boats are all virtually one design, they might as well go for a one design trimaran. And so it is that the Multihull One Design (MOD) 70, a design by Vincent Lauriot Prevost and Marc van Peteghem, is now being touted around.
http://thedailysail.com