Scoumoune in the PRB colors
This Farr design was launched in 2006 under the PRB colors. Under the stewardship of Vincent Riou, she suffered an incredible number of incidents during her first years of ocean racing: dismasting in the Route du Rhum and the Barcelona World Race, abandonment in the middle of the Atlantic after a collision with a container.
He starts the Vendée Globe 2008 as one of the favorites. While he was in 3rd e position as he approached the Horn, Riou rerouted to help Jean Le Cam, who had capsized after losing his bulb. But during the recovery maneuver, his outrigger was damaged and the mast collapsed off Patagonia the day after the rescue.
A successful first round-the-world trip with Arnaud Boissières
With the support of Akena Vérandas, Arnaud Boissières takes over the Farr design and manages to complete several races. Probably pulling less on the machine than his predecessor, Boissières completed the Route du Rhum and Transat Jacques Vabre without any major damage, before finishing a fine 8th e place in the 2012 Vendée Globe, which remains the Sablais' best ranking to date.
In 2014, she was taken over by Tanguy de Lamotte with the support of Initiatives C?ur. And the IMOCA is undergoing a major refit, during which the hull will be cut to receive a new bow, and all the interior fittings will be redone.
After a fine 5 e place in the 2015 Jacques Vabre, in the company of Samantha Davies, he took the start of the latest Vendée Globe 2016, but was forced to retire on the descent of the South Atlantic, following the breakage of his masthead.
After a brief period in the hands of Yannick Bestaven, the skipper from Toulon, Clément Giraud, took her over, with a view to lining up at the start of the 2020 Vendée Globe. Unfortunately, while moored in the port of Le Havre for the start of the Jacques Vabre, a violent fire destroyed part of the IMOCA, which was dismasted and stored on the V1D2 yard in Caen.
A daring but successful project
The wrecked IMOCA nevertheless attracted the attention of Louis Duc, a native of the region who knows the yard well. Wishing to set up a Vendée Globe project, Louis assembled a crack team to carry out a major refit that many would not have attempted.
But the Norman has a very specific vision for this project, and it's not the first time he's tried his hand at it. At the age of 17, he began working in the microcosm of ocean racing. Later, Louis made a name for himself by developing the Lift 40, a hyper-innovative class40.
For the construction of his IMOCA, Louis applied a method and approach that had already proved its worth on other projects:
" As the total cost of the project was very high, we spread it out over four years. Despite appearances, the boat hadn't suffered that much from the fire. We cut out everything that had been damaged, including the roof and interior fittings."
"With the support of the Lombard firm, we made a V2 of the boat. I wanted a boat with better downwind performance. We moved the weights back, lightened the overall package and added more mast rake. The ballast tanks were redesigned and optimized, and the daggerboard wells were modified to accommodate new profiles."
After a Jacques Vabre 2023 co-skippered with Marie Tabarly, he dismasted on the return trip. He picked up a lighter mast from François Gabart, which enabled him to lighten the bulb.
Aboard this IMOCA, ultra-optimized for the Vendée Globe course, Louis hopes to be at the front of the daggerboard fleet, and why not ahead of some first-generation foilers.
