We left him in December 2017 washed out by the feat of a solo round the world trip on his maxi-trimaran, completed in a record time of 42 days. But time must have seemed very long to him since then. Launched into a new and gigantic project costing 16 million euros to manufacture a revolutionary boat, the winner of the 2013 Vendée Globe fell from the mast when his historical sponsor, Macif, brutally told him in 2020 that the contract would not be not renewed.
While he set up his own offshore racing company – MerConcept – and hired 80 people in Concarneau, one of the largest structures of this type in France, he lost both his sponsor and the boat on which he has been working for years. “Yes, I doubted at that time, admits the 30-year-old. But I think that these two hats of entrepreneur and sailor bring me a balance. And, in this kind of project, having a global vision is a advantage.”
“I strongly believe in technology transfers between racing, yachting and the merchant navy”
It prevents. Unlike other renowned sailors who will be present at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre (Le Havre – Martinique) on November 7, Francois Gabart must juggle between his physical training, his business meetings, the technical exchanges on the boat and his family life. A minister’s diary. “It sometimes worries me to see him do so many things, smiles Didier Tabary, boss of the Kresk cosmetics group who bought the boat (renamed SVR-Lazartigue, Kresk brands) from Macif and entrusted the helm to the Charentais. But, in our lives as entrepreneurs, we face the same difficulties. It quickly brought us closer.”
The Breton businessman almost adopted the sailor, until, last slip, calling him his son’s first name when we met the duo one day in September. Everything happened very quickly between them. The first meeting took place last April at the sponsor’s home. Behind, the leaders of Kresk go to Macif to visit the boat “in one hour flat” and discuss big money with the insurer. The two parties agree, and Didier Tabary brings the “keys” to the giant trimaran back to François Gabart’s yard.
François Gabart aboard his new trimaran makes the final adjustments
Guillaume Gatefait
In return, the sailor has signed a four-year commitment to sail the boat, with his sights set on an attempt at a new world record. At the same time, the boss Gabart is diversifying his shipyard to be less dependent and has just started manufacturing a revolutionary prototype for a wealthy American client. “I strongly believe in the transfer of technology between racing, yachting and the merchant navy, whether for sails or for foils. Our sailboats are now flying, why couldn’t we duplicate that on motor boats to make save energy, for example? We are only at the beginning of this revolution”, confides the navigator, an engineer by training.
With his team, he has even just recycled a small steering wheel from video games with force feedback to install it on his 31.50 meter Ultim in order to gain maneuverability. An in-house innovation that he intends to patent, and which could quickly seduce other “sea pilots”.
Sebastien Pommier, in Concarneau