Eric Tabarly's first sailboat
Pen Duick the little black head Eric Tabarly's first sailboat has regained his former glory after a year and a half of work at the Chantier brestois du Guip. It is now preparing to set sail again after its launch in Lorient on Saturday 18 May 2019. is a auric cutter built in 1898 according to the plans of the great naval architect of the time William Fife Junior. Purchased in 1938 by Guy Tabarly, it was on board that Eric Tabarly learned to sail, before becoming a boat owner at the age of 21.
Despite several shipyards - 1958 and 1983 - in 2014, fractures were found in the ship's structure. The polyester laminate from 1958 has disintegrated over the entire hull, the resin is almost crystallized everywhere and the fabrics are sometimes dry, without adhesion to the previous composites.
A year and a half refit
The Guip shipyard, based in Brest, is chosen for its maritime carpentry expertise. The wooden structure and polyester hull must be replaced while respecting the technical choices made in 1958 by Eric Tabarly and adapting them to modern shipbuilding means and techniques.
"The entire structure and hull had to be redone. Thanks to the intervention of the Historic Monuments, and also with regard to the family, the solution of remaining in the original was chosen. The boat bears witness to a technique and an adventure of the 1960s. We could have gone to a modern world, or to a historic boat. Neither one nor the other, we rebuilt the boat as saved by Eric Tabarly, respecting what he had wanted for his bateau?!" explains Yann Mauffret, head of the Guip de Brest construction site.
The total cost of the works amounts to 650?000 ?, of which 400?000 ? are covered by the State (Morbihan department and Brittany region). To raise the remaining ? 250?000, Jacqueline and Marie Tabarly also launched a participatory financing operation to individuals and companies by offering parts from Pen-Duick in return. Only 78?201 ? had been collected.
Return to water
After a year and a half of restoration and more than 13?000 hours of work, the boat, classified as a historical monument since 2016, is about to go back to sea. The launch will take place this Saturday, May 18, 2019 in front of the Cité de la voile Eric Tabarly in Lorient.
"I'm happy, happy, happy." jacqueline Tabarly spoke at the discovery of the boat on Thursday, May 16, 2019, with her daughter Marie Tabarly. This boat "represents happiness, it represents obstinacy, it necessarily represents grief, obviously, that's still what my husband left on." she added
Photo credits: Pen Duick
