In six months, she will embark on the Pen Duick VI a crew of 25 on a round-the-world sailing trip, l’Ocean Globe Race, 50 years after his father Eric, on the same boat and the same course. To prepare for it, Marie Tabarly has gone on the water with some of her sailors in recent weeks, and has notably crossed the Atlantic, from Lorient to the American coasts. She was supposed to dock in New York, but a delay due to a breakage and then heavy weather forced the boat to turn around when the east coast of the United States was almost in sight.
The boat anchored in Bermuda but Marie Tabarly did go to the Big Apple to explain her project and her desires to possible partners, in particular in front of the New York Yacht Club where she spoke. She also met the Consul General of France in New York, Jérémie Robert, who was delighted “to welcome a French woman who wears the colors of our country high”.
“The program was magical”
The calendar being meticulously set until the start of the race on September 10, it is impossible for the boat to reach New York this time, but it is only a postponement, she promises. “The carrot was beautiful, she confides. Facing the Gulf Stream, all these depressions, this heavy weather, and arriving under sail in New York: the program was magical! Especially since this year also corresponds to Pen Duick VI’s 50th birthday and I would have dreamed of taking him to Newport too, in the port where he had his greatest victory (note: the English Transat in 1976) . But it was no longer reasonable to continue. »
With Pen Duick VI, it is a whole section of French heritage that Marie Tabarly continues to bring to life at the age of 39, that of a mythical name in sailing, of a father who disappeared at sea when she was only 14 years old. “I didn’t choose to sail on this boat to maintain a legacy, but simply because I wanted to, she corrects. I am completely in love with this boat. I still feel the same emotion when I see him. With his big Black Shark head, I can spend hours just looking at him. »
She often uses lively vocabulary to evoke this latest addition to the Pen Duick family, built at the time in six months, a record time. “But it’s a person, this boat, she smiled. He has crazy charisma. Above all, it is an exceptional boat. It’s meant to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is able to take what few can take. It’s not a boat that’s made for top speed, but for tackling difficulties. Even in the hollows he does not flinch. It is an assault tank once launched. »
“In the conditions of the time”
The ideal tool to face this crazy challenge of the Ocean Globe Race (whose departure and arrival cities have not yet been announced), which provides for a passage of the three major capes and 8 months of navigation, with 3 stopovers only! “And all this under the conditions of the time, that is to say without satellite, without modern means of communication, without GPS, without reception of the current weather file, on the same boats, develops Marie Tabarly. We even had to order new sails to meet these specifications. No more email either, no more WhatsApp, music on cassettes. I’m going to ask my artist friends to make me some sound compilations! »
She also says she will be ” the conductor “ of her crew, 45% female and made up of 70% amateurs whom she had to train, another requirement of the organization, and that “the most important position is that of cook! If the food is not good, morale suffers immediately. » Nothing seems left to chance. “Sometimes I wonder what I’m taking them into, she breathes anyway. Taking care of a crew is a lot of stress, I’m constantly afraid for the guys on deck. »
Marie Tabarly also asked them to work on the environmental aspect, in collaboration with the association The Elemen’Terre Projectaround… “the inheritance, she specifies. What world do we inherit and what planet will we bequeath to future generations. The legacy, again and again.