All aboard for a historic milestone
Gathered on this brand new 61-foot catamaran, the members, partners and team all felt that this was an important stage in Sailcoop’s adventure. The weather was with us, and the first outing at sea rewarded the energy deployed to make this crazy gamble possible.
After a few words of welcome from director Maxime de Rostolan, Grégoire Thery, Director of Strategy and Public Relations, unveiled the programme and then handed over the microphone to the speakers.
VPLP, Chantier de l'Arsenal, Epron : Isabelle's builders
The naval architects, VPLP, represented by Simon Watin, then detailed the technical feat of the design: to conceive a light, very light, safe and comfortable passenger ship, the like of which has never existed before. And this challenge was met thanks to the expertise of the Chantier de l’Arsenal, as its director, Laurent da Rold, explained: it was a particular construction technique, very economical in resources, consisting of combining so-called ‘sandwich’ panels, without moulds, that made it possible to achieve this more than convincing result.
Jean-Baptiste Epron (@jbeprondesign), an artist well known to ocean racers, then outlined the design ideas he used to give Isabelle her colours and proud appearance.
Elected representatives, partners and crew in attendance
This was followed by speeches from the region’s elected representatives, without whom this line would probably never have seen the light of day: Daniel Cueff, Vice-Chairman of the Brittany Region, accompanied by Gaël le Meur, from Concarneau, elected representative in charge of the economy of Brittany’s ports: both have strongly supported the idea of a regular sailing service to the Glénan islands, and are working hard to ensure that it actually opens.
The deputy mayor of Concarneau, Annick Martin, then confirmed the town’s delight at seeing Sailcoop arrive on the scene (Roger le Goff, Mayor of Fouesnant and one of the earliest supporters of this shipping service had sent apologies). Denis Bourbigot, an elected member of the Finistère Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who has also been particularly active in supporting the establishment of Sailcoop in Concarneau, expressed his satisfaction at seeing the project come to fruition. Xavier Rasseneur, from the Syndicat Mixte Ports, Pêche, Plaisance de Cornouaille, recalled the steps that led to the allocation of embarkation and disembarkation slots at the Concarneau marina.
Finally, it was the financial partners, Banque Populaire Grand Ouest with Corinne Fournier, and Crédit Coopératif represented by Solenn Wozniak, who hailed the success of this idea, which we had been talking about together for months and which they had helped to finance.
Our friends from Iliens, our big brothers and sources of inspiration for having opened the first short-distance sailing link (between Quiberon and Belle-Île), gave us the pleasure of slipping in a few words of encouragement to the team!
Didier Lefebvre, the main investor in the shuttle and a member of Sailcoop’s Supervisory Board, concluded the speeches by wishing this little jewel of the seas good luck, and urging the team to think about building its little sister as soon as possible!
After these speeches, which combined formalities and enthusiasm, the crew of the catamaran, assisted for the occasion by almost the entire cooperative team (Jochen, Yann, Bastien, Stéphane, Matthieu, Alexia, Elouan, Marianne and Rémy, with only Aliénor and Elisa missing) cast off for an hour’s sail off Concarneau, allowing everyone to see how pleasant, silent, comfortable and surprising it was to sail so fast on the strength of the wind alone.
Convinced by this first outing, everyone present left with many stars in their eyes, inspired by the now very real idea of getting around without polluting…
