Pen Duick VI: the yacht of the legendary Eric Tabarly

Many yachts can boast of their history, but not only some can inspire generations of yachtsmen. Interparus will tell you about one of the most famous yachts of our time – Pen Duick VI by Eric Tabarly.

A lyrical digression instead of an introduction

A story about the ketch Pen Duick VI would be incomplete without delving into the story of Eric Tabarly. It would be like reviewing Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page's guitar, the Gibson Les Paul Standard #1, without mentioning Page himself. What is a guitar without a guitarist? Just a piece of wood with a metal wire stretched across it. What is a yacht without a yachtsman? Just a piece of metal and wood that somehow refuses to sink in the depths of the sea.

Would the Les Paul and Pen Duick have been as popular without their famous owners? They probably would have been. But it was the direct participation of these “instruments” in adventures as a reliable partner that ensured their eternal fame. As much as the Gibson Les Paul is associated with the name of Page today, the Pen Duick is associated with Eric Tabarly.

However, simply retelling Eric's biography is pointless and tasteless. In this longread, we will try to trace the history of Pen Duick VI from its very origins, which, as many seasoned yachtsmen know, are in Tabarly's distant past. Therefore, although the article is dedicated to the sixth model, the focus will not be on it alone. But where does this story begin?

The Beginning of Beginnings: The First Pen Duick

Eric Tabarly is one of the few yachtsmen who had the good fortune to discover the seas from early childhood. Naturally, Eric and other young conquerors of the seas most often get involved in yachting with the help of their parents. Eric's father, Guy Tabarly, helped in this difficult task. Guy himself was fond of the sea and it was only a matter of time before his son would start going out to sea with his father.

Pen Duick I

Time passed, Guy and Eric traveled on a small family boat affectionately called Annie. When their son turned seven, Guy decided it was time to buy a bigger boat. The choice fell on a 40-year-old yacht with a gaff sail. The boat was not only of considerable age, but also had a long track record of victories in regattas: the yacht was well known in Ireland, Britain, and France.

The previous owners had given the yacht the proud name Pen Duick. The name of the yacht is translated from Breton as "coal tit". It was with this "tit" that Eric's victorious march in big sailing began. Years passed and after the Second World War the boat was put up for sale. Days, weeks, months passed, but the potential buyer never responded. Realizing that Pen Duick had become something more than just a family boat, Eric persuaded his father to give the "tit" to him.

The Great Journey: Defeat, Victory and New Pen Duicks

Tabarly decided to connect his life with the sea not only in yachting, but also in his profession. Eric entered the Naval School, where already in his second year of study he took part in a round-the-world trip on board the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc.

Pen Duick II

The trials he had undergone during his studies at the academy only made Eric more excited. In 1962, he took part in the STAR – the Transatlantic Singlehanded Race. Tabarly decided to conquer the Atlantic on his old friend Pen Duick. The yachtsman did not win, but he felt an irresistible desire to win the championship at the next STAR regatta, which was to take place in two years.

Eric spent the time before the next start wisely. In two years, he managed to build Pen Duick II, the successor to the legendary Pen Duick. Pen Duick II was a small sailing ketch. On board it, Tabarly finally won the STAR, beating his rivals by three days. This event became the starting point in a long and bright career of the yachtsman. The victory at STAR in 1964 also brought Eric the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

Pen Duick III-IV

The next Pen Duick, number III, became one of Eric's favorite yachts. He considered the aluminum ketch the most successful and lucky of all his boats. It was on board that Tabarly was able to win seven (!) victories in a row. One of the most notable victories occurred at the Sydney-Hobart regatta in 1967.

Pen Duick III

The Pen Duick IV brought changes to the Pendike range. The fourth model was… a trimaran. However, although it was a trimaran in design, the sailing rig remained that of a ketch – i.e. two masts with a corresponding set of sails. Alas, this iteration of the Pendike was less fortunate than Eric’s previous and subsequent boats. Aboard the Pen Duick IV, Tabarly collided with another boat during the 1968 STAR and was forced to retire.

Pen Duick IV

A little later, Pen Duick IV was given to another French yachtsman, Alain Colu. He renamed the trimaran Manureva and won the 1972 STAR. Unfortunately, in 1978, the trimaran sank with its new owner.

On the eve of the sixth version

The fifth Pen Duick was a ten-meter sloop with a Bermuda sail rig. It had a single mast, which was common to most yachtsmen, which carried a mainsail. Pen Duick V was specially designed for ocean racing and used a ballast keel. The main feature of Pen Duick V is the fact that this boat became the ancestor of all modern 60-foot yachts. The shape of the hull and the sail rig - all this has practically migrated to modern yachts.

Pen Duick V

On board Pen Duick V, Eric won the 1969 solo transpacific race. This time Tabarly outdid himself – he managed to overtake his rivals by as much as 11 days. During the regatta, the yachtsman sailed 5,700 nautical miles alone in 39 days and 15 hours.

Pen Duick V was the first sailboat with ballast. The yacht belonged to the collection of the National Marine Museum of France, but in 2017 it was transferred to the Eric Tabarly Association. The association maintains Pen Duick V and takes care of its preservation.

Pen Duick VI

Finally, we come to the last boat of the great Eric Tabarly. Pen Duick VI was built in 1973 and is an aluminum ketch. Despite the resounding victories of the sixth model's predecessors, it was Pen Duick VI that became the yacht associated with the name of Eric Tabarly.

Pen Duick VI is over 50 years old, but the yacht is unlikely to go into dry dock or be scrapped anytime soon. Over the past half century, the ketch has covered about 300,000 nautical miles and experienced many sea adventures. On board Pen Duick VI, Eric Tabarly stormed the Whitbred Regatta. The yacht's mainmast broke twice, which put an end to the victory.

However, one failure could not break the already experienced yachtsman. A few years later, Eric won the OSTAR 1975 regatta. Surprisingly, Tabarly was able to win a single race on a yacht designed for a full team and with a broken autopilot.

Command boat

Unlike the Pen Duick V, the sixth model is a team boat in the truest sense of the word. The fifth version gave the world the vision of a boat that could be sailed by one person, but the Pen Duick VI was a different breed of yacht.

Pen Duick VI is designed for a full crew of 12-14 people. The yacht is designed in such a way that the entire length of the deck and interior spaces can be full of active work. Thus, all winches are manual, no hydraulics or electricity. The jib and spinnaker require much more manual work on deck than modern furling headsails.

Features of the original design

Before the refit in the early 2010s, all running rigging on board Pen Duick VI was wire rope. This choice of ropes made handling difficult – due to the uneven distribution of loads, the ropes unwound and wound on the winches with strong jerks, and work on deck had to be carried out exclusively with protective gloves.

In 1974, the second mainmast broke, which led to a complete renewal of the rigging. Thus, the rigging became stronger and more durable, but also almost 300 kg heavier. However, it was this modification that was the most successful - with it, Pen Duick VI sailed more than 250,000 nautical miles.

The most amazing feature was the keel of the Pen Duick VI. Initially, the boat's keel was made of... depleted uranium! The choice of material was the responsibility of the architect André Moric, who created the yacht. The advantage of a keel made of depleted uranium was that such a keel was thinner than a regular keel with the same weight - since uranium has a higher density. Such a keel, with a normal weight and thinner, had less water resistance. However, in 1977, a ban on the use of depleted uranium was introduced and the keel was converted to lead.

By replacing the keel, it was possible to reduce the weight of the yacht by as much as four tons. Due to the replacement of the keel, the draft also increased - now it is as much as 3.9 meters.

Philosophy of Pen Duick VI

All of Eric's boats, except the original Pen Duick, were built with one goal in mind: to win a specific race. Earlier Pen Duicks focused on performance, leaving below-deck comfort out of the way. But the Pen Duick VI changed that approach.

The sixth model was conceived as a yacht for a full crew, so the crew accommodation below deck required special attention. The only feature that related the Pen Duick VI to its predecessors was the chart table with a luxurious Harley-Davidson seat.

Don't be fooled by the eloquent claims of a "change of approach", however. Below deck, Pen Duick VI is still a thoroughbred racing yacht with fairly spartan accommodations. There are seven berths on either side. There is no separate skipper's cabin, because everyone is equal.

Pen Duick VI today

Eric's daughter, Marie Tabarly, took on the task of returning Pen Duick VI to the race track. The girl has been involved in sailing since childhood. Yachting is Marie's main passion in life. Starting from a fairly young age, the girl managed to participate in a number of regattas. However, the most interesting thing began when Marie took control of her father's ketch. So, in 2018, she set off on a round-the-world trip aboard Pen Duick VI. The round-the-world trip lasted four years and became part of Marie's Elemen'Terre Project.

During the round-the-world trip, Marie was joined by various guests: yachtsmen, artists, scientists, and musicians. The goal of the project was to popularize yachting and review the planet's environmental problems. During the trip, a documentary series was released dedicated to the above-mentioned topics.

Marie has since taken part in several regattas aboard Pen Duick VI. One of the highlights of recent years has been winning the 2024 Ocean Globe Race – the same race that was previously called Whitbread L'Esprit. It was at this regatta that Eric attempted to win three times aboard Pen Duick VI. However, his daughter succeeded.

Future plans

In 2024, all yachts of the Pen Duick series, except for the fourth version, are underway. These boats continue to carry the memory of the legendary Eric Tabarly and his victories, but it is the sixth version that holds the mansions.

Pen Duick VI has been given a second life by Marie Tabarly. Since 2018, the yacht has been appearing at regattas on a regular basis, not as an honorary guest, but as a full-fledged participant. Little by little, step by step, Marie is conquering one yachting peak after another, proving that she is not only the daughter of the legendary Eric Tabarly, but also a capable yachtswoman, whose main sporting achievements are yet to come.

In 2023, Pen Duick VI took part in Fastnet, in 2024 it won the Ocean Globe Race, and Marie is not going to stop - the Jules Verne Trophy regatta is ahead, which the girl wants to go through with a women's team. But the main thing is that Pen Duick VI continues its journey across the seas, remaining what it was originally intended to be - a fast and powerful sailing yacht.

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