Marie Tabarly: Stepping out from a famous father’s shadow

Marie Tabarly took line honours in the Ocean Globe Race, surpassing her father’s record while racing aboard his famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI

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Marie Tabarly, the daughter of French sailing legend Eric Tabarly, has stepped out from the shadows of her famous father and rewritten history, becoming the first over the line in the Ocean Globe Race – a feat that had eluded Eric during his three attempts at the 27,000-mile race.

‘We did it…We have won in real time… No one can beat us… This was always our aim,’ Marie Tabarly shouted out while steering her father’s 52-year-old ketch Pen Duick VI across the Royal Yacht Squadron finishing line shortly before midnight, on 11 April. She had built up a tremendous 250-mile lead ahead of former Whitbread race winner L’Esprit d’Equipe in this 50th anniversary rerun of the round-the-world Whitbread.

Half Amazonian, half buccaneer, Marie Tabarly cuts a determined stance on land as well as the sea. At our first meeting, at a dinner in Ocean Village, Southampton, before the start of the Ocean Globe Race, she was carrying a large bowie knife down her back. No one had the temerity to suggest that this display of aggression might be in any way illegal.

Meeting her again seven months later, after Marie and her mixed crew had thrashed their opposition, she was calmer and thrilled to have won.

Half Amazonian, half buccaneer, Marie Tabarly cuts a determined stance. Photo: The Elemen’Terre Project association/PPL

Marie was 14 when her father died tragically after falling from the original Pen Duick, a classic Fyfe-designed cutter inherited from his parents, while sailing from France to the Clyde to take part in the annual Fyfe regatta in 1998.

Then, Marie’s passion was for horses, not boats. She became a ‘horse whisperer’ – Marie prefers the title ‘equine behaviourist’ – but put this career on hold after her own horse was injured and chose to focus on sailing and the environment instead.

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‘I love wooden boats and have taken part in many of the classic yacht regattas in the Mediterranean,’ Marie says, eyes sparkling at the thought. She has also competed in Open 60s and Volvo Ocean Race boats, but kept referring to Pen Duick VI in the male tense. I rudely point out that we normally refer to boats in the opposite gender. ‘Oh no… Pen Duick is definitely an ‘homme’… just look at him!’ She has a point: 33 tonnes of bare aluminium and black paint, this 73ft ketch-rigged global gladiator, purposefully designed by André Mauric for Eric Tabarly to take part in the 1973 Whitbread Race, is certainly masculine looking.

Is she a tough boat to sail? ‘Definitely – just look at those spars,’ says Marie. ‘So heavy. It takes all 10 of us to gybe in heavy weather.’

I ask her about her father’s greatest victory with Pen Duick VI – the 1976 Observer Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR), when he punched through five transatlantic storms that defeated all his rivals to win. To achieve that in a yacht designed to be sailed by 10-12 people was an extraordinary piece of seamanship that surprised many.

Pen Duick VI can be a handful to sail. Photo: Aïda Valceanu/PPL

‘It surprises me too, but that race was all upwind. It’s racing downwind in 50-knot winds that Pen Duick becomes a real handful. We were in these conditions running towards Cape Horn when a freak wave knocked us right down. There was nothing I could do at the helm,’ she recalls. A short while later a pod of dolphins jumped out of the water alongside Pen Duick. ‘In 50-knot winds and breaking seas – crazy!’ Marie enthuses.

This reveals her other great passion – the environment. In 2018 Marie embarked on a four-year tour of the world aboard Pen Duick VI, entitled the Elemen’Terre Project that became a TV documentary series focused on reconnecting humans with nature through sailing, arts, and outdoor sports.

During the journey, Marie was joined by famous French names such as fellow Breton musician and composer, Yann Tiersen, writer Sylvain Tesson, the sailor Franck Cammas and free diver Aurore Asso in discussions and activities to highlight the plights and pleasures of the natural world.

xuberant celebrations as the team are first to cross the line in Cowes. Photo: Tim Bishop / PPl

Significantly, the voyage also gave Tabarly and her crew, who were rotated on each leg, the practice and preparation that turned them into race winners.

What have been the highlights? ‘There have been so many stand-out moments. The wildlife, nature, the dolphins at Cape Horn. I will remember the rivalry of racing very closely with Marco Trombetti’s Translated 9 and against Maiden, often within sight of them. Then there are all the buddy chats four times a day over the radio. I’m going to miss those too. There have been way too many amazing moments.’

Marie Tabarly career highlights

2001: Marie crewed aboard the multihull Geronimo on several record-breaking voyages.
2008-2016: She competed in the Classic Yacht Series in the Med.
2018-2021: Sailed around the globe with The Elemen’Terre Project, highlighting environmental issues.
2021: Competed in the Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race with Louis Duc, finishing 14th.
2022: Completed the Seven Star Round Britain & Ireland race in Pen Duick VI – 1st in class
2023: Fastnet Race in Pen Duick VI
2024: Marie hopes to challenge the Jules Verne round-the-world record as part of an all-women crew.

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