Pen Duick ll 1964
The first Observer Single Handed TransAtlantic Race (OSTAR) may have had only five entries, but it enjoyed huge coverage thanks to sponsorship from a national newspaper. The race has since inspired many generations of sailors and led to the development of much of the equipment we now take for granted, including roller-furling headsail systems, windvane steering and sophisticated autopilots.
The second edition four years later saw a much expanded entry. One of them, French naval officer Eric Tabarly, turned up with a boat specifically designed for the race by Gilles Costantini. This successfully challenged many false assumptions about yacht design that had persisted for decades.
Both recognised that a lighter boat for a given length could have a smaller and therefore more easily handled sail plan. Built of plywood, Pen Duick ll was the longest boat in the race at 13.6m (44ft 7in) but at just 6.5 tonnes – a moderately light displacement for a boat of that length even by today’s standards – it was by no means the heaviest. After the race Tabarly described it as ‘a fantastic boat in bad weather, both against the wind and with the wind.’
He stormed to victory, beating Sir Francis Chichester across the line by more than two days. Tabarly returned home to a hero’s welcome and was awarded his country’s highest honour, the Legion d’honneur.
He had beaten the British Establishment at its own game and France’s love affair with solo offshore racing had begun.
At the end of the decade Pen Duick V exhibited many of the features that can still be seen in todays trans-ocean race boats: it’s a light displacement boat with wide beam that’s carried well aft, plus a deep draught and high aspect fin keel with a big bulb on the bottom.