The advent of pleasure sailing
Cruising starts to emerge
The 1960s and 1970s were not only the era of discovering competitive sailing and racing, but also set the stage for coastal cruising. Weekend or holiday getaways to places like Yeu, Porquerolles, Groix, the Lérins Islands or Frioul became popular among both novice and experienced sailors.
The spirit of May 1968 and the “hippie” era were a factor behind this, with more people looking to get away and enjoy life. Yards surfed this philosophical wave and marinas sprang up like mushrooms. Remote coves were not overcrowded, anchoring in seagrass meadows was still allowed, paid moorings were unheard of, and a berth for the night was almost free. Sailing schools and clubs flourished, making leisure sailing in dinghies or cabin cruisers accessible beyond the wealthy elite.
In La Rochelle, you could test sail your future boat
Those fortunate enough to be in the market for a yacht had an abundance of choices. The creation of the Grand Pavois show in La Rochelle in 1973, the epicenter of the boat industry with Vendée, was a landmark event. Henri Amel, Fernand Hervé, Michel Dufour and Roger Mallard, key figures from the boat world, were instrumental in launching this in-water show.
At the end of the day, visitors could even leave the docks to enjoy the sea breeze, taking in some tacks between the new Minimes marina and Île de Ré! Men were enamored with the boats they ordered at the Paris Boat Show, which was now bigger than the renowned London Boat Show.
They liked to spend most of their free time at the shows, strolling around the growing number of chandlers and reading Voiles et Voiliers from cover to cover. This new, large-format magazine, with its extensive images, championed an epicurean approach to sailing. The young team of friends who put this magazine together shared stories of cruises and tests with their uninhibited flair… There was even a column covering on-board comfort and women’s perspectives – even though this was penned by a man under a female pseudonym. In most cases, women accompanied their husbands somewhat reluctantly…
Sailing was not necessarily her cup of tea. She often found herself bored in the saloon, while he tinkered with his boat. She disliked it when the boat heeled sharply, spraying saltwater, or when retreating to the cabin meant risking seasickness… She much preferred lounging on the foredeck in the sun with a good book while anchored. Yachts were becoming increasingly comfortable, featuring independent cabins and more bathrooms than many homes. On cruises, in the morning and evening, on France Inter and longwave, it was essential to closely follow and even note down or record on the K7 radio station the marine weather forecast “Inter Service Mer”, with its sometimes cryptic coastal zones like Cromarty, Utsire, Fisher, Thames, Dover, Sole and Lion, which were familiar to mariners, but maybe less so to infrequent sailors. Missing this bulletin was unthinkable, with many captains setting their alarms to make sure they caught it…
This sacred weather report, likely set up following a request from the renowned sailing school Les Glénans, founded in 1947 by former resistance fighters Hélène and Philippe Viannay, had introduced tens of thousands of people to sailing.
Tabarly effect still going strong!
Following Eric Tabarly’s first victory in the 1964 English Transatlantic race, cruiser yacht sales reportedly surged by nearly 80%! A decade later, the boat industry’s growth showed no signs of slowing. In 1976, on the Pen Duick VI, designed for a crew, Tabarly once again triumphed solo in the English Single-Handed Transatlantic event. Dubbed “the idol of the swells” by Olivier de Kersauson, Tabarly then launched the affordable Pen Duick 600, a small 6m aluminum cruiser built by Leguen Hémidy, which saw 350 units produced. Design offices buzzed with activity.
The various yards had understood the importance of catering to and even pampering recreational sailors. This resulted in yachts to suit every taste and budget, with some becoming as iconic as Citroën, Renault or Peugeot cars. Iconic figures, and not just highly skilled architects and workers, left their mark. François Chalain was one of them. After joining Jeanneau in 1972 to design the Love Love, he was soon headhunted by Bénéteau. François Chalain, who came up with hundreds of ideas each day and was an excellent regatta racer, proposed to acquire the molds for the Impensable, a 9m prototype built by Quéré. André Bénéteau, in charge of the development team, redesigned the layout of the André Mauric plan. Its distinctive, rounded hull really stood out. The First 30, presented at the 1977 Paris Boat Show, was logically named Boat of the Year. A remarkable upwind performer, it appealed to both recreational cruisers and racers.
As the Sailing Tour de France boat for three years, it began a long legacy for the Vendée-based yard. François Chalain’s close relationship with Annette Roux, who managed the yard and saw him as “her third brother,” worked wonders, and Bénéteau, destined to become the world’s leading sailboat manufacturer, innovated by collaborating with legendary foreign architects such as Argentina’s German Frers and New Zealand’s Bruce Farr, and also inviting designers from other fields like Pininfarina and Starck into the boating world. However, Bénéteau was not alone on the market, with an impressive range available from 22 to 65 feet.
Jeanneau’s Gin Fizz, Pouvreau’s Romanée, Kelt Marine’s Kelt 650, Etap Yachting’s Etap 22, Dufour’s Arpège, Froment’s Rêve d’Antilles, CN Azuréen’s Challenger Micro and Mallard’s Ecume de Mer offered distinctive and attractive models, with some betting on their unsinkable features to reassure potential buyers.
The counter-mold revolution
The yards competed to outdo one another with different ideas and ingenious approaches. Illustrated for instance by the adoption of the counter-mold, which supported both the boat’s structure and its interior.
A trained engineer and the in-house architect for all his boats, Michel Dufour, who had just launched his namesake yard in La Rochelle, brought a fresh perspective to recreational boats and invited the sailor Jean Yves Terlain, second in the 1972 English Transatlantic race on Claude Lelouch’s Vendredi 13, to design its logo. An industrial molding specialist for trains in particular, he championed interior counter-molding, turning previously hidden plastic into a feature. So, everything was smooth and shiny, from the floor to the ceiling, and the finishes were more refined than with planking that lifted over time. However, its application was complex and had “no safety net”.
Meanwhile, Roger Mallard was convinced that some material needed to be added between the counter-mold’s ribs and explored this route. This led to the advent of expandable polyurethane foam, which was prepared and mixed like a cheese soufflé or chocolate mousse, and which significantly increased in volume before solidifying. The Ecume de Mer, designed by Jean-Marie Finot and Laurent Cordelle, present at the yard for its first tests, was a bit like a “guinea pig”.
The prototype was made with aluminum, before switching to polyester for its series production. When the foam was injected between the hull and the counter-mold, it expanded with such force that it caused the mold to burst under pressure. The third attempt succeeded and the Écume de Mer, presented at the Paris Boat Show in La Défense, achieved great success in both cruising and racing. Adored by recreational boaters, the Écume de Mer became the first boat of the Sailing Tour de France, demasting to transfer from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean via the Canal du Midi. It went on to win the Quarter Ton Cup, the world championship for boats under 8 meters, on two occasions, and saw production numbers reach nearly 1,400 units.
Round-the-world race won by a luxurious ketch
The major sailing races clearly contributed to the development of recreational boating, with most hulls for instance derived from prototypes competing in the Course de l’Aurore, the future Solitaire du Figaro. Deck plans, rigging and fittings all benefited from the competition, but with accommodations far more comfortable than on a racing boat. The yards did not hesitate to enter a “factory” boat, skippered by a renowned sailor, in the English Transatlantic race, followed soon by the Route du Rhum. During the first Whitbread event in 1973, a crewed and staged round-the-world race, involving Eric Tabarly on the Pen Duick VI, Mexico’s Ramon Carlin, a wealthy businessman and amateur sailor, decided to fit out a Swan 65 built by the Finnish yard Nautor.
For this pioneering round-the-world voyage, where freeze-dried meals did not yet exist, nothing was spared. They brought along fine wines, canned goods worthy of a Michelin star restaurant… and lots of books and music. In the evenings, the entire crew shared dinner in the saloon.
Except for the Burmese teak deck, which was ultimately not retained to avoid overloading the boat, the Swan 65 Sayula II, designed by Sparkman and Stephens and rigged as a ketch, had perfectly standard accommodations, but the comfort of a palace. Skippered by its owner, accompanied by his son, some friends and even his wife at the beginning, the Sayula II triumphed at the end of the four stages.
The legendary ketch that inspired generations of sailors continued its long cruising career, attracting many millionaires like Richard Wright, one of the pillars of the group Pink Floyd, who for a quarter of a century roamed Greece and the Caribbean on his Swan 65 Evrika.
Naval architects, who were scientists in many cases, were above all sailors. These intuitive characters drew the hulls on Stabiphane polyester tracing paper with a hard-lead pencil, a soft eraser, flexible battens and stencils to smooth the curves.
The French school was at the forefront, from Jean Marie Finot to Michel Joubert and Bernard Nivelt, from Philippe Harlé to Jean Berret, and soon Philippe Briand, who was a true pioneer. The Gib’Sea 105, the Fantasia, the Sun Fizz, the First 35, the Feeling 1090, the Dufour T7, the First Class 8, the Sélection 37 and the Tofinou confirmed this, with boats of very different shapes for a wide range of programs.
Lastly, cruising would soon embrace two hulls as well. Gone were the leaning boat, the steep descent, the mandatory passage through the saloon to access the cabins… the catamaran made its appearance with the Louisiane, the Catana 40 and the Lagoon 55. It went on to enjoy incredible success, especially with new recreational sailors who had not necessarily gone through the “school” of classic monohulls.
