The Esplanade Saint-Vincent welcomes until Sunday, November 4 Pen Duick, first boat Eric Tabarly, being restored.
By buying the Pen Duick in 1952 from his father Guy - who himself had bought it in 1936 - Eric Tabarly certainly did not imagine that sixty years later, this boat, built in Ireland in 1898 on the plans of William Fife, a Scottish naval architect, would be one of the stars of this Route du Rhum.
Party of Brest
And yet. Party of Brest by exceptional convoy yesterday morning Monday, October 22, he arrived safely at 6 pm until the Esplanade Saint-Vincent, after a few hundred meters and a last roundabout not easy to negotiate. from this 15 m cutter, entirely of wood and pitiful condition for which Éric Tabarly, "to save it, had a polyester shell and fiberglass shell molded, thus making it the largest composite boat of the time" smiles Arnaud Pennarun, the project manager of the renovation project, currently underway.
Eighteen months of work
"It started a year ago, for a period of eighteen months. It is at the stage where it could practically be launched, " continues Arnaud Pennarun.
Mobile terminals
The restoration of Pen Duick is funded on the participatory platform Gwenneg.bzh. Mobile terminals will be placed around the boat. Photos, paintings and pieces of Pen Duick will be offered in exchange for donations.