Phocea, the former boat owned by Bernard Tapie, originally belonged to Alain Colas, who had it built in the Mourillon arsenal in Toulon.
This boat, which has been bought and renamed many times, seems to be out of luck. Its successive owners have almost all experienced setbacks or worse, dramas, like Bernard Tapie or Alain Colas.
The last owner to date, Xavier Niel and his associates do not seem any more vain. Indeed, during the night of 17th to 18th February 2021, a fire broke out on board the 4-masted boat, fortunately brought under control by the Malaysian firemen.
It was while at anchor near Pulau Singa that a fire started on board the vessel. The quick action of the firefighters saved the crew of seven. Unfortunately, the damage to the ship appears to be quite extensive.
According to the information we were able to obtain from the Malaysian authorities, the fire started in the lazarette and spread rapidly to the middle of the boat.
The Malaysian authorities tell us that they have hired several vessels to contain the disaster, including the Malaysian Coast Guard pump boat KM TENGGOL.
The assistance of a Malaysian Navy ship was required on site to secure the entire crew.
Phocea is a 4 masts designed by Michel Bigouin (who notably created Pen Duick V). The boat has successively belonged to Alain Colas (under the name Club Méditerranée to race the OSTAR), Bernard Tapie, Mouna Ayoub and finally to a group of owners headed by Xavier Niel, the CEO of the telephone operator Free.
