Éric Tabarly

Éric Marcel Guy Tabarly (24 July 1931 – 13 June 1998) was a French naval officer and yachtsman, a naval architect and boat designer too . He developed a passion for offshore racing very early on and won several ocean races such as the Ostar in 1964 and 1976, ending English domination in this specialty. Several of his wins broke long standing records. He owed his successes to his exceptional mastery of sailing and of each one of his boats, to both physical and mental stamina and, in some cases, to technological improvements built into his boats. Through his victories, Tabarly inspired an entire generation of ocean racers and contributed to the development of nautical activities in France.

Although very attached to the boat given to him early on by his parents – the Pen Duick — he played a pioneering role in successive innovations in naval architecture, including the development of the multihull via the design of his trimaran, Pen Duick IV (1968). His was one of the first offshore racing multihulls and confirmed the supremacy of this type of boat relative to monohulls. Many of the boats that embodied his innovations carried the name of Pen Duick.

Early life and career Éric Tabarly discovered sailing at the age of three aboard Annie, the family boat. In 1938, his father Guy Tabarly purchased the gaff-rigged cutter Pen Duick, built in 1898 and designed by William Fife. The previous owners had renamed it Pen Duick, which means coal tit in Breton.

Tabarly enlisted in the Navy as a volunteer in 1953 and joined the French Aéronavale. He served at Saint-Mandrier airbase before transferring to French airbases in Morocco. This achievement earned Tabarly instant fame and the rank of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur.

In 1968, Tabarly raced the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race again, on Pen Duick IV, a brand-new trimaran that was competitive in all wind conditions. The new Pen Duick IV was damaged by Hurricane Brenda on 11 June, and never finished the race.

In 1969, Tabarly shadowed the Transpacific Yacht Race (from Los Angeles to Hawaii) on Pen Duick IV. He had originally intended to enter the race but was unaware that multihulls were not invited. Having started with all other participants, Tabarly and his crew set an unofficial record of 8 days and 13 hours, almost a day ahead of the official winner and record-setter Blackfin.

Tabarly returned to naval service in February 1971 and was appointed to the Technical Inspection for Physical Education and Sports. This 16.50-meter aluminium trimaran displacing 7 tonnes is characterized by its unique, streamlined connecting arm which rests on two small floats, themselves fitted with foils (submerged streamlined carrier surfaces). Tabarly then sailed the Paul Ricard and beat the record for crossing the North Atlantic, held since 1905 by Charlie Barr's fully manned schooner Atlantic, thereby launching a race for crossing records by multihulls.

In June 1980, Tabarly joined the Académie de Marine. While in transit in the Irish Sea, during the night of 12 to 13 June, a spar threw Tabarly overboard and he drowned.

Career wins

Morgan Cup : 1967 on Pen Duick III Round Gotland Race : 1967 on Pen Duick III Channel Race : 1967 on Pen Duick III Fastnet Race : 1967 on Pen Duick III and 1997 on Aquitaine Innovations Plymouth-La Rochelle : 1967 on Pen Duick III Sydney-Hobart : 1967 on Pen Duick III (and second in handicap time) Transpac San Francisco-Tokyo (Transpacific) : 1969 on Pen Duick V (with an 11-day lead over the runner-up) Falmouth-Gibraltar : 1971 on Pen Duick III Los-Angeles-Tahiti : 1972 on Pen Duick III 2nd leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town-Sydney : 1973 on Pen Duick VI Bermuda-England : 1974 on Pen Duick VI Triangle Atlantique : 1975 on Pen Duick VI 2nd of the Transat en double Lorient-Bermuda-Lorient : 1979 (with Marc Pajot) on Paul Ricard Transatlantic sailing record from West to East (New York-Cape Lizard), on the multihull Paul Ricard in 1980 in 10 days 5 hours 14 minutes and 20 seconds (previous record was in 1905 held by Charlie Barr on a 50-crewman schooner) 4th of the Transat en solitaire : 1984 on Paul Ricard 2nd of the Transat Le Point-Europe 1 Lorient-Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon-Lorient: 1987 on Côte d'Or Transat en double Le Havre-Carthagène (with Yves Parlier) : 1997 on Aquitaine Innovations

Memoirs or writings of Éric Tabarly Victoire en solitaire, Atlantique 1964, Arthaud, Paris, 1992. Pocket format en 1995. New edition in 2007, 288 pages, Mémoire du large, édition de Fallois, juin 1997, 352 pages. EAN 9782877062992. Reedition Le Livre de Poche, L.G.F., Paris, mai 1998, 304 pages, ou .

Citations and references