Excitement is building for Robin Follin ahead of the Transat Café l'Or in October and the Route du Rhum in 2026

The skipper is in a hurry. In December, at the Marines de Cogolin, Robin Follin presented his offshore racing project and his new sponsor, Pascal Feryn, who heads the Solano group, in our columns. A huge project for the skipper from Saint-Malo, who will participate in the Transat Café l'Or, formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre, which will start at the end of October, then in the Route du Rhum in November 2026. For this, he needed a boat, a brand-new Class40!

Thanks to Pascal Feryn's generosity, construction of the boat began in December, and Robin Follin provides an update on the progress of the project, the first phase of which is about to be completed in Genoa, Italy. "The boat is taking shape, and the project is progressing well. There are nearly 8,000 hours of work in total. I've been going to Genoa three times a month to monitor its progress. I even cried a few days ago when the hull and deck were assembled," exclaims the multiple SB20 world champion.

The Class40 will set sail in early July, heading for Brittany to join the Nauty'Mor company based in Hennebont (Morbihan), the benchmark in boat paints. The exceptional convoy will take around six days to arrive on site. The keel and the mast (20 meters) will also be laid there. "If all goes well, the boat will be launched at the end of August. I had hoped for this to be done at the end of July, but I had to learn to be patient and above all not to put the cart before the horse," adds the resident of the Sainte-Maxime Nautical Club.

The latter will be breaking in his Class40 very quickly as he will be taking part in the "40'Malouine" on September 12 and 13, a 24-hour double-handed offshore race on a demanding course between Saint-Malo and the Channel Islands. " This will allow us to gauge the boat practically from its birth, " says the skipper. Robin Follin will therefore not be alone; he has officially announced the choice of his co-skipper with whom he will be at the start of the Transat Café l'Or. "While the initial project was launched around the Route du Rhum, we are competitors and despite the boat's youth, we will not be just making up the numbers," warns the Maximois.

Jules Bonnier as co-skipper

The announcement was made yesterday morning. Robin Follin has chosen Jules Bonnier as co-skipper. The two sailors know each other well; the Maximois was Bonnier's co-skipper during the last Transat Jacques Vabre, in 2023. "It was a no-brainer to choose Jules. He's already built two Class40s, he came to Genoa, and he modified a few small things, like the mast positioning. We have the advantage of knowing each other well; we won't waste any time, and it's really cool that he accepted my offer," Robin Follin rejoices.