French Offshore Sailing’s Next Big Thing Is Already Here

Among the most extreme and captivating craft in offshore sailing are the boats of the Ultim class – 100-foot-long trimarans, most of them fully foiling, designed to race around the world either single-handed or with a small crew.

There are currently only seven of these astonishing yachts in existence, and they’re reserved for the elite: highly experienced sailors with serious silverware to their names.

At just 28 years old, Tom Laperche is skipper of the newest Ultim afloat: SVR-Lazartigue. In short, he’s climbing the ranks faster than anyone before him. Like so many of France’s top sailors, Tom hails from Brittany – specifically La Trinité-sur-Mer, a small town on Quiberon Bay long regarded as the beating heart of the country’s offshore multihull scene.

“Growing up in La Trinité, sailing was inevitable,” Tom recalls. “I started dreaming of becoming a sailor pretty young. As a family, we’d go sailing on our holidays so I quickly started accumulating hours offshore. I sailed Optis, I did a lot of windsurfing, and then some Open 5.70 and Open 7.50 for the club in La Trinité. While I was studying, I sailed the Flying Phantom with Tim Mourniac – that was quite a lot of fun.”

As is increasingly common among elite offshore sailors, Laperche studied engineering – in his case, at UTC Compiègne. Sailing was still front of mind for the young Frenchman, but smartly he decided to prioritise his academic endeavours.

Shortly after starting his degree he took part in the trials for Team Région Bretagne – CMB for a place in the team and a chance to campaign a Beneteau Figaro 3 in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship – which included the legendary Solitaire du Figaro.

“I did the trials, but just to have a look,” he says. “I’d already decided that regardless of the outcome I’d finish my studies. Two years later everything clicked: in November I passed my final exams, in December I won the next trials, and a month later I started sailing on the new Figaro 3.”