Yannick BESTAVEN

Yannick was born in Saint Nazaire, then spent his childhood in Arcachon. He is initiated to sailing from a very young age. Hardly finished his engineering studies, Yannick is interested in competition and more particularly in ocean racing. It was during a decisive meeting with the sailor Yves Parlier in 2000, that Yannick launched himself into transoceanic competition by entering the 2001 mini-transat (6.50m monohull) which he won without leaving any chance to the other competitors.

In 2007, Yannick launched, as a precursor and out of personal conviction, the project to sail around the world in a race using only renewable energies (sun, wind, water....) to produce the electricity necessary for the boat's proper operation.

In 2008, Yannick took the start of the Vendée Globe on the former Aquitaine Innovations belonging to Yves Parlier. Keen to reduce the weight of his boat to improve performance, he had the idea of substituting the 300 litres of fuel on the boat for a device to produce electricity aboard. He installed a reliable, light and eco-friendly hydrogenerator.

In 2009, Yannick created the Sarl (LLC) WATT & SEA, which designs, develops, manufactures and distributes hydrogenerators.

In 2010, the hydrogenerators graced several international boat shows: Grand Pavois in La Rochelle (France), METS in Amsterdam (Holland), Nautic de Paris (France). They proved to be a big hit.

Yannick has been involved in a series of double-handed Class40 projects, until he launched his IMOCA campaign again in 2018, ten years after his first Vendée Globe campaign. Accompanied by Maître CoQ, the skipper from La Rochelle is taking part in all the solo races, but also in double-handed races with Roland Jourdain. On November 8, 2021, he lined up at the start of the famous solo round-the-world race, which he won after 80 days of racing and following the rescue of Kevin Escoffier.In the summer of 2022, Yannick launched his new IMOCA, a Verdier design, sistership of 11th Hour Racing Team-Mālama, with which he participated in the Route du Rhum a few months later and finished 19th. At the beginning of 2023, the Maître CoQ team left to train in Cascais, Portugal, in order to gain experience on this latest generation foiler.

Yannick Bestaven, with a shoulder injury, will not be taking part in the first race of the season, the Guyader Bermuda 1000 Race. He took part in the other races of the season with Julien Pulvé, notably the Transat Jacques Vabre 2023, which they were forced to stop due to a torn mainsail and a broken structural bulkhead. 

In the Vendée Globe 2024-2025, the most recent winner is forced to make a stop in Ushuaia and abandon the race due to a failure in his steering system.

2015: Transat Jacques Vabre - Winner (Class40)
2015: Les Sables- Horta - Les Sables - Winner (Class40)
2015: Normandy Channel Race - 2nd (Class40)
2014: Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe - 7th (Class40)
2013: Transat Jacques Vabre - 4th (Class40)
2011: Transat Jacques Vabre - Winner (Class40)
2010: Transat AG2R - 11th
2008-09: Vendée Globe - Retired
2008: Transat Quebec - Saint-Malo - 2nd
2001: Mini Transat 6.50 - Winner