The M34 elected OD of the Tour!

This morning, during a press conference, William BOREL - Director of the "Tour de France" à la voile (Around France Sailing Tour) was proud to announce that the new Archambault M34 had been chosen as the next One Design boat of the "Tour de France".

The "Tour de France" has been previously raced for the last decades on several One-Design. The most recent one was the Farr 30

Very honoured by the results, the Owner of the yard Emmanuel ARCHAMBAULT the Designer Alexandre MERCIER (naval architect with Joubert Nivelt) declared : "This is an incredible news for the shipyard and the architects. We'd like to thank everyone who had contributed to the choice of this boat including the "Tour de France" organizer, all the sailors who helped us on this project, and our France and International distribution network."

This is a huge challenge as the boat must be equal to the expectation of the sailors on the 2011 Tour.

The moulds of the M34 will be made in September 2009. Next spring 2010, the first prototype will be tested in order to market this new One-Design during summer 2010.

Meanwhile, every people involving in this challenge - including the Organization of the "Tour de France", the French Sailing Federation, the racers, the architects and the builder with their network - will meet all together to ensure that the new M34 will become the one and incontestable One-Design of the "Tour de France" for the next 10 years. This larger and faster boat will be a trill for any international sailing team who wish to register in this challenging and wonderfull race around the coast of France every summer.

Main Specifications :

Length :                       10.34 m / 33'92
Beam :                         2.98 m / 9'78
Ballast :                        2.400 kg / 5.291 lbs
Draft :                          1.70 / 2.50 m - 5'58 / 8'20
Sails area :                   72 m² / 807.29 sqf
Spinnaker :                   130 m² / 1.400 sqf