A career start in the hands of a virtuoso
This 60-foot boat was designed by the architectural firms VPLP and Guillaume Verdier. Built in the Foncia 2 mold at the CDK Technologies shipyard in Port-la-Forêt, she benefited from Michel Desjoyeaux's experience and was meticulously tuned.
For his first race on Macif, François finished 4th in the 2011 Transat Jacques-Vabre, double-handed with Sébastien Col, then won the Transat B to B, the "return" event of the Jacques-Vabre and qualifier for the Vendée Globe.
From the start of the 2012 edition of the Vendée Globe, Francois has been in the leading group. He broke the 24-hour solo sailing record twice: first on November 30 (482.91 miles at an average speed of 20.1 knots) and then on December 10 (545.3 miles at an average speed of 22.72 knots). Neck and neck with Armel Le Cléac'h, François won the 7th edition of the Vendée Globe, becoming at 29 years the youngest winner of the event and setting a new record, improving by six days the time set by Michel Desjoyeaux in the 2008 edition.
François will once again take his IMOCA boat to the top of the podium in the 2014 Route du Rhum.
An incredible rescue
Taken over by Paul Meilhat, this 60-foot boat will have to abandon the 2015 Jacques Vabre race after its keel sail broke. Repaired in the West Indies, Paul will take the start of the Transat Saint-Barth / Port-la-Forêt.
But he seriously injured himself during a maneuver and had to be evacuated, leaving his IMOCA boat abandoned off the Azores. The racing yacht was to drift alone for nearly three weeks, before a team led by Adrien Hardy managed to get on board off Ireland.
After a 1200 mile drift, the rigging was damaged and the 60 footer took on a lot of water. But the structure is intact and Paul will manage to restore it to its original state to line up for the 2016 Vendée Globe. Alas, the rupture of his keel cylinder will force him to abandon the race in the middle of the Pacific, and to divert to Tahiti.
Paul will finally manage to express his talent on board this IMOCA by winning the 2018 Route du Rhum, ahead of Yann Eliès and Alex Thomson.
Clarisse at the helm for the 2020 Vendée Globe
Taken over by the Banque Populaire team, the boat underwent a major refit at the Lorient base. In duo with Armel Le Cleac'h, Clarisse finished in 6th place in the 2019 edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre. In order to validate her qualification for the Vendée Globe, the sailor is doing her first solo transatlantic race with her IMOCA boat, linking Salvador de Bahia and Lorient.
In order to maintain a high level of reliability, the boat remained in its original configuration, with straight daggerboards. The team focused on improving the boat's ergonomics:
" We changed the winch column direction. Instead of looking forward or backward when maneuvering, I'll be on the starboard/port axis, which allows me to develop more strength. We also installed slide systems to make it easier to get on and off the deck, which makes it smoother. We also added two batteries to avoid any electrical problems "says Clarisse.
If she can't keep up with the foilers, Clarisse has all the tools she needs to be in the top tier of daggerboard boats.
