Sailing around the world: Tabarly's daughter sets sail with "Pen Duick VI"

A ship with an extraordinary history is about to set off on an extraordinary journey: The 22-metre ketch "Pen Duick VI", with which Éric Tabarly competed in the first Whitbread Round The World Race in 1973 and won the Ostar Race across the Atlantic in 1976, is setting off on another round-the-world voyage decades later.

The skipper and initiator of the project is none other than Marie Tabarly, daughter of the exceptional French sailor and co-owner of the "Pen Duick VI".

The 33-year-old Frenchwoman is planning a four-year round-the-world voyage, during which French artists, musicians and athletes will sail with her in stages. The crew list already includes composer Yann Tiersen ("The Marvellous World of Amélie"), extreme sportswoman Géraldine Fasnacht and professional sailor Franck Cammas. The entire project will be documented and a report on each stage will be broadcast on TV.

"The aim of the project is to give a voice to all those who can inspire others - be it in the creative, ecological or humanitarian field," Marie Tabarly explains the background. "I come from a family of busy travellers. My parents always hosted very different people; sailors, artists, writers, Olivier de Kersauson or Florence Arthaud, for example. The project is my way of continuing this legacy, so to speak."

Tabarly has been sailing herself since her youth, gaining offshore experience as crew on board the maxi trimarans "Banque Populaire" and "Geronimo" as well as in classic regattas in the Mediterranean.

The "Pen Duick VI" is due to set sail from Lorient on 3 July with the young woman at the helm. The start date was not chosen at random: Almost exactly 20 years ago, Eric Tabarly drowned overboard in the Irish Sea during a transfer voyage. Marie Tabarly wants to remember her father.

Teaser for the circumnavigation

Their cruise plan is to first call at Greenland and Iceland before sailing around the world in numerous stages via Cape Horn.

However, the final funds for the trip are still missing. Tabarly has launched a crowdfunding campaign with the same name as the circumnavigation project itself: Elemen'Terre.

The income generated in this way will be used to finance the remaining investments in the ship and safety equipment. The yacht, built in 1973, was last sailed around the world on charter and, according to Tabarly, has already travelled the distance of several circumnavigations. If she now realises her ambitious plan, the famous ship will soon have another real circumnavigation in her wake.