Louis DUC

IMOCA Globe Series24th
Points190 pts
Age40 (9/18/83)
Top performance2nd in the Class40 Normandy Channel Race in 2019
Joined Imoca on2021
TeamFives - Lantana Environnement
BaseCaen (FRANCE)
PartnersGroupe Fives, Association Lantana Environnement
CommitmentLes Enfants de la Balle

Profile

A professional skipper for the past fifteen years, this self-made sailor has always managed to do a lot with little. Determined, autonomous, authentic and talented, Louis knows perfectly well that everything comes to those who know how to work and train.

This Norman is not a fan of the beaten track. Bold, curious and thoughtful, he cannot conceive of his life as an ocean racer without technological and strategic challenges.

Offshore, he is like a fish in water. A world that he masters perfectly and that he loves to share with others, to share all the pleasures and the infinite subtleties of offshore sailing.

On land, he is an entrepreneur. He has the audacity of his ideas and knows how to gather a close-knit team around him to carry out his projects. Louis is notably behind the design of the Lift40, an innovative Class40 that won the last Route du Rhum.

It is in 2021 that the skipper will join the IMOCA fleet after a daring gamble: that of buying a burnt-out boat. In 2020, he decided to buy Clément Giraud's former IMOCA boat, which had accidentally caught fire in Le Havre a few days before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2019. After a repair and optimisation project, the skipper will take the helm of this 60-foot boat for the double-handed transatlantic race in 2021, accompanied by Marie Tabarly.

Accompanied by the companies Fives and Lantana Environnement, Louis Duc will take part in all the single-handed races in 2022 and will do the same in double-handed races in 2023 alongside Remi Aubrun, his co-skipper.

Sailing Highlights

2023 : Retour à La Base - 22th
2023 : Transat Jacques Vabre - 14th
2023 : Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération - 23th
2023 : Rolex Fastnet Race - 22th
2023 : Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race - Abandon
2022 : Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe - 27th
2022 : Défi Azimut-Lorient Agglomération - 15th
2022 : Vendée Arctique - 8th
2021 : Transat Jacques Vabre - 14th
Other highlights

2019: Transat Jacques Vabre - 5th (Class 40) 
2018: Route du Rhum - 18th

2018: Normandy Channel Race - 2nd
2017: Rolex Fastnet Race - 5th
2016: Transat Anglaise - 2nd
2015: Transat Jacques Vabre - 3rd
2014: Route du Rhum - Retired
2013: Transat Jacques Vanre - 9th
2011: Rolex Fastnet Race - 2nd
2009: Solitaire du Figaro
2008: Transat Anglaise - 4th

Boat

Name FIVES GROUP – LANTANA ENVIRONNEMENT
Sail numberFRA 172
ArchitectFarr Yacht Design
Construction2006, CDK Technologies, Port La Forêt
Former namesPRB, Akena Vérendas, Initiatives-Coeur, Bastide - Otio, Maître CoQ, FORTIL, Kostum - Lantana Paysage
Length18,28 m
Beam5,85 m
Draught4,5 m
WeightNC
Mast height29 m
Mast typeWing mast
FoilsNo
Sail area max.
Upwind300 m2
Downwind600 m2
© ©BERNARD LE BARS
© Jean-Louis Carli
© Jean-Louis Carli