And then they were free...
Having to announce that you’ve lost your sponsor of 10 years on the same day you receive – at your brand new, high-tech facility – the central hull of your future Ultim trimaran can only be described as a particularly merdique day at the office
For that very reason, and because François Gabart is unanimously admired and liked in offshore racing’s microcosm, shock was the order of the day, everyone feeling com- pelled to send best wishes and show sup- port. The individual story also underlined a more universal, stark reality: if this could happen to the sport’s superstar, a highly decorated media-savvy figure, who was actually safe? Was that the first slip on an inevitable landslide of budget closures, re- ordering of priorities post-Covid and the multi-year recession that would ensue? I had spoken to François at length about
the impressive developments of his com- pany, Mer Concept, recently, for the pur- poses of a Seahorse article detailing how the talented skipper had also become the head of a business employing upwards of 60 people. The news of Macif withdraw- ing their support hit a couple of weeks later, and made me pick up the phone (having given the man a few days to breathe) to update the story. What I suspected was that his mobile had been glued to his ear following the
54 SEAHORSE
announcement, replete with a generous roster of callers representing brands will- ing to grab this dream opportunity – surely someone out there trying to get into sailing sponsorship, and seeing the Vendée plat- form vanish (no time to build anything meaningful by now), was on their way to Concarneau with a contract still fresh from the printer. ‘Well, not quite the case,’ said François
as I caught him driving between La Rochelle and Brittany, rushing through meetings in crisis management mode. The tone was serene, that of an individual fully grasping the situation and dealing with it. ‘The hardest part is the social dimension,’ he started explaining. ‘We’ll have to down- size the team and let people go, which is very hard considering we’ve all been so committed to building up the company. This is what I’m most proud of, having brought together such an array of talent and such passion. ‘As a CEO it’s an extremely tough
moment, but as a skipper my drive to get out there is undeterred. If anything, it’s probably stronger, as a result – strange how human nature makes us react.’ François acknowledged that the ‘field of
the possible was opening up’ – another indication that in his case human nature comes with a propensity to shine a positive light on things to come. ‘I’ve met a good number of CEOs of big groups over the years, but being happy with Macif I never entered any discussions about my future with any of them’ – the implication being, of course, that conversations can be picked
up from now on, the network exists. Mer Concept is no dwarf on the scene,
with its purpose-built infrastructure in Con- carneau: a yard big enough to house the assembly of the new Ultim and, importantly, less than 20m away from the new pontoon on which the Macif fleet would be moored. ‘It may seem like a detail,’ François notes,
‘but the incessant back and forth the team has to deal with when preparing and setting up the boats means that footsteps add up quickly and can swallow a lot of time.’ The company, whose philosophy, name
and structure are unsurprisingly close to Gabart’s mentor Michel Desjoyeaux’s Mer Agitée, is diversified in terms of activities. It encompasses boatbuilding, technical expertise available at design stage, project management and coaching. Mer Concept notably manages two Macif Figaro 3s, has built and now handles the Apivia (a Macif- owned company) Imoca, and provides support to Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Ocean Race campaign. Both Open 60s are Verdier designs, the latter built by CDK Technologies with a deliberate focus on solutions that have the potential to ‘green’ the supply chain and processes. It’s not irrelevant to mention that this
issue is very close to François’ heart, as he spoke out many times about the need for his sport to bring value to society – and has also voiced his intention to create, by the end of 2020, a new foundation to help pro- tect the oceans. When the economic world is both bracing (for punches to come) and soul searching (corporate social responsi- bility has never been that high on investors’
JEAN-MARIE LIOT/ALEA/MACIF
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