A busy summer for Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart

 

In fact, the skippers first met on the lively Figaro Class circuit, of which Michel Desjoyeaux is a big fan, as are many of the other big names in the IMOCA Open 60 Class: a glance over the entry-list for this year's Solitaire du Figaro is enough to confirm that, with both Michel and François joined by Sébastien Josse, Yann Eliès, Jérémie Beyou, Armel Le Cleac’h, Kito de Pavant and Jonny Malbon. It's also evident that François' experience in the Figaro Class has been an important factor in Michel's choice of skipper. True to his strong team philosophy, Michel took the decision in close collaboration with trainer Christian Le Pape: "I'd had François in mind since last February," said Michel, as he named the co-skipper in June. "At the time we were very focussed on building the boat and didn't want any other concerns to get in the way of that. I discussed the matter with Christian at Port-La Forêt and we reached the conclusion that we were making the right choice".

 

At just 27 years old François knows the IMOCA Open 60 Class well, having sailed the tough 2009 edition of the Transat Jaques Vabre with Kito de Pavant, reaching an impressive second place in the regatta. He is also aware of the big step he is about to take in his career: "A year ago I dreamt about sailing around the world on an IMOCA Open 60, so this is like living a dream for me. Competing in the Barcelona World Race with none other than Michel and a new boat is absolutely fantastic for me. I think it's hard to top this!".

 

 

The pair of skippers, who represent two generations in the world of ocean sailing both have a tight schedule ahead in terms of getting the new boat race-ready. The hull of the new Foncia, a Guillaume Verdier and Vincent Lauriot Prévost design, has been built at Green Marine (Lymington, UK) and was delivered to CDK Technologies in early June. The final steps in the assembly process are currently taking place at the Breton shipyard, with personal supervision from Michel.

 

'Le Professeur', as he is known in competitive ocean sailing circles, faces a considerable technical challenge with the preparation of this new yacht, which he is taking on with his usual approach: “We must keep to the building schedule and the training programme, which will commence as soon as the boat hits the water. We've got the start of the Route du Rhum at the end of October, so we'll have just two months to complete the qualifier and to fine tune the boat and smooth out any wrinkles. We need to achieve the necessary level of efficiency to reach the two main objectives in our sights, the start of the Route du Rhum on October 31st and the Barcelona World Race on December 31st. This will be my fourth new 60-footer in ten years and I know the problems that can arise in the process. Problems always come up, both on land and at sea and it's our job to be there to prevent or to resolve them”.