Bernard discovered sailing with André, his father, during fishing trips on the family sailboat. At 8 years old, his uncle offered him an Optimist, Bernard wanted to be alone on board to manage all the manoeuvres. Very quickly, the pleasure of sailing was combined with the pleasure of working on his boat. As a teenager, he undertook the restoration of an old boat and a sail and oar. Later, during his military service at the naval school of Lanvéoc, he embarked on the restoration of a Dragon, a 9.80 m. keelboat with a thin keel and an open deck, often compared to the Shark.
While going to work in Melbourne, he discovered the first example of a 40-foot model built to the plans of Greg Young, an architect from New Zealand. Based on an evolution of a racing version, the Young 40 is a 1996 sailboat with a large open cockpit, a swivelling bowsprit, mounted on a rail crossing the bow on 2 protuberances and a lifting keel.
He then decided to buy the plans and start building his new boat. He has been spending all his holidays in the Breton countryside for 10 years now... pouring resin. Bernard only has 30 days a year to work on his project. Not a day more. This engineer of Arts and Crafts inexorably resumes the plane for Japan, where he works
Today, the hull and interior structures are finished. The bridge is adjusted. The keel is not yet cast, and the team moulds are finished... in Japan. I also work from home on small parts, we will have to bring them to France.
As for the mast, it is already bought, but it is too big, with its 20 meters, we had to make a hole in the hangar, it exceeds a little
he says.
Built in a carbon sandwich, the bare shell weighs only 400 kg. The total should not exceed 4.5 tonnes. A fast boat that Bernard plans to launch in 5 years. In total, 15 to 16 months of work will be required for its construction. Apart from motorization, electronics and rigging, he plans to do everything by himself for a budget of less than 150,000 ?.
Greg Young, the architect, started by designing racing boats. After winning a Yacht Design competition in 1993, he decided to set up his site to build and export the Bull 7000. In the early 2000s, he embarked on multihull sailing with yachts from 57 to 90 feet. Bernard's boat will be the first Young to sail in France.
