News Around the World
Philippe Poupon drives his 76ft Nigel Irens-designed trimaran Fleury Michon VIII away at the 1986 Route du Rhum start in St Malo, already in gale force winds. Poupon went on to win the very rough race which saw numerous capsizes and retirements including the loss of Loïc Caradec, skipper of the giant cat Royale which was later found dismasted and capsized mid-Atlantic. Fleury Michon was built by Jeanneau’s Techniques Avancées division. Her victory also marked the first big success for a (modestly) foil-equipped design
In 1981 Prémorel, now nicknamed ‘JF’ or ‘Premo’, was supposed
to sail the Two Star, but an incident at Millbay Docks that cost him a knuckle on his left index finger forced him to miss the start. This incident precipitates the construction of ‘his’ first boat: an exper- imental foiler named Gérard Lambert that is designed by two young architects just starting their careers, Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost, who went on to create the famous VPLP studio. The boat is reasonably successful but she is clearly well built and not long afterwards Jean-François de Prémorel is invited by the Jeanneau shipyard to create and manage a racing department called Jeanneau Techniques Avancées. So it is in the heart of Vendée where several famous oceanic
trimarans were born, such as those of Philippe Poupon (unbeatable at the time), Laurent Bourgnon and Florence Arthaud. Between them the three of them collected four consecutive victories at the Route du Rhum and many other Transats. A VPLP 60ft trimaran design will also hit the big screen in Kevin Costner’s film Water World. Perhaps the boat is much better than the movie. The ‘advanced techniques’ being used by Prémorel for the
manufacture of racing multihulls, including some of the best Formula 40s, will also be tried on other Jeanneau models including several nice monohulls and the first Lagoon, a nice-looking 55ft catamaran. Later, however, JF feels constrained in what he does for Jeanneau and no longer feels in tune with the new owner of the shipyard. He readily accepts the proposal made by Annette Roux, President of Beneteau, the ‘other’ major Vendée builder, to take over the man- agement of the group’s recently opened factory in Marion, USA. The American period, moving with his wife Nathalie and children,
will last from the end of 1992 until the spring of ’97… Then Beneteau offers Prémorel the job of running Jeanneau – after buying his old company out of liquidation. JF and his old fellows from Jeanneau are very happy to meet up and work together again. But JF is soon called back to head office where the management board of Beneteau-Jeanneau, which now has many thousands of employees, request that he takes charge of marketing and new product creation for the entire expanded group. Then CEO Bruno Cathelinais said about him: ‘We have benefited
greatly, myself most of all, from Jean-François’s dazzling visions and his many successful achievements in very different fields thanks
24 SEAHORSE
to his talent… He was our true dazzling star of the industry.’ Some 10 years later, and after many years of intense application
in helping create the world’s biggest yacht builder, JF decides to ‘slow down’ and spend more time with his growing family. However, old habits die hard and he remains attached to Jeanneau but now as a consultant. Nevertheless, JF is entrusted with the company’s motorboat brand Prestige and it is again a success. There Jean-Paul Chapeleau was at his side. He remembers the
huge energy of Jean-François and his limitless creativity: ‘He liked to play around with everything on a new boat from the lines to the interior detailing, always with one driving obsession: to keep it simple. We will continue with his ethos but also with his ability to risk new ideas… or as he liked to say “to dare!”’ Meanwhile, as well as focusing on motorboats JF also found time
to launch a new Sun Fast range of yachts designed by his brother- in-law Daniel Andrieu, already a successful architect at Jeanneau with the old JOD one-design and other fast cruising models. Jean- François sailed the Transquadra solo onboard his own Sun Fast 3200, Julie. In addition to his many successful regattas on the 3200, the man who stands as a principal player in yachting devel- opment worldwide sailed again in the latest Transquadra on the SF 3600, this time two-handed with Philippe Laperche. Simple, good-natured, curious, altruistic, Jean-François had a
real empathy with his peers. He loved people, he loved helping them, especially young people in difficulty. The kind of person you’re proud to be a friend of. This sailor with a big heart also had a musical ear and loved the cello, one of which accompanied him on his final journey.
The Brits are growing up Young British sailor Sam Goodchild spent the winter in Lorient preparing his Figaro Beneteau 3 Leyton. It is aboard this one-year- old Beneteau OD that the skipper makes his return to solo racing after several years earning his living crewing on bigger racing boats, including several Jules Verne Trophy attempts with Spindrift Racing. This year he began what he hopes will be a successful campaign
in the Figaro Beneteau 3 training with some of the best French Soli- taire racers. After so many months of practice Sam was pleased to enter his first race: ‘The Solo Maître Coq will be my first regatta.
JACQUES VAPILLON/DPPI
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