FOUSSIER

This Farr design has been around the block, yet upon her launch in 2006, she was considered to be one of the most honed boats in the fleet.

Jérémie Beyou retired her from the Route du Rhum 2006 for family reasons, then dismasted during the Barcelona World Race in the Indian Ocean, offshore of Prince Edward Island with Sidney Gavignet… Finally, during the Vendée Globe 2008, a broken spreader put paid to his hopes offshore of Brazil at Recife. The ex-Delta Dore then traded liveries with Bureau Vallée, and brothers Louis and Nelson Burton racked up a blistering performance in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2011 culminating in 7th place. A year later, Louis retired from his first Vendée Globe on hrt after colliding with a trawler offshore of Spain. Fifth in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Guillaume Le Brec, Louis Burton also finished fifth in the Route du Rhum 2014, then 9th in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Romain Attanasio. Finally, he bagged a very honourable 7th place on her in the Vendée Globe 2016-2017. The boat was then bought by Erik Nigon (Vers un monde sans Sida) and finished 10th in the Route du Rhum 2018, then 27th in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2019 with Turkish sailor Tolga Ekrem Pamir. However, her skipper was unable to secure sufficient financial backing for the next Vendée Globe so he loaned his IMOCA to Clément Giraud for the round the world race. The latter finished 21st after 99 days of racing. In February 2022, Sébastien Marsset acquired this 16-year-old 60-foot boat with straight daggerboards and finished 11th in the overall classification of the Route du Rhum and first in the daggerboard IMOCA class. In 2023, the yachtsman from Nantes will be joined by the Foussier company, which will accompany him to the 2024 Vendée Globe. At the start of his 2024 season, the skipper took part in the Transat CIC but was forced to retire for medical reasons. In October, he lined up at the start of the Vendée Globe. During the race, he faced several technical issues, including a tear in his large gennaker and an engine failure more than 2,700 miles from the finish. He completed the round-the-world race in 27th place.