Last winter we had the great opportunity to work with the French skipper Yannick Bestaven in order to test our new three layers outfit at sea during several of his expeditions. Thanks to his experience and the use under extreme conditions we could get an interesting feedback on the quality of the product and its intensive use in hostile environments. Here the story:
Yannick is one of the most experienced skippers. He did multiple races and crossings, including the Route du Rhum, the Vendée Globe and the Transat Jacques Vabre. We met him in La Clusaz, with Georges Pessey – Manager of the Jonathan & Fletcher company, our modeling and prototyping firm based in Annecy. The two have been friends for a long time.
A true sailor in the mountains!

By seeing our future three layers “Welcome Jacket & Pant” outfit, Yannick offerd us to test it during his travels across the seas. Having accomplished 16 Atlantic crossings, mostly alone, we thought that Yannick Besthaven could make a perfect life-scale test in a hostile environment which should provide us some answers about the quality of this 3 layers outfit, Picture’s first one. Indeed, the extreme circumstances and the long navigation in the open ocean are pretty much similar to the condition faced in the high mountains. Why not build on this experience?

For Yannick it was also an opportunity to try something new that does not exist in sailing and one day maybe, use the freeride jackets’ technologies for making waterproof sailing clothes.

After several races and crossings this winter, Yannick carried on the tests in July between the Sables d’Olonne and Horta in the Azores. Here his feedback

“In a few words it is great.

The jacket is lightweight and totally waterproof. The rotating hood is well thought out. From my point of view, I have never found something likely among waterproof brands. In particular the adjuster on the back of the hood works very well.

For optimal use in navigation, water inlets on the sleeves and neck could be improved. In my opinion reinforcements on bottom and knees are needed to alleviate friction with the nonslip deck.
Apart from that, overall the material is perfect for sailing off!
In any case, for the sailing industry, there is not much development needed to get waterproof outfits at the top based on your mountain experience. “

Now we are waiting for YOUR feedback. The outfit will be available in September, € 349.99 for the jacket and € 249.99 the pants.

We thank Yannick Bestaven for his involvement and motivation in this project. To be continued!