Yacht Club de France
Paris, France
YCF's first and only Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup was in 2009. A decade later, the YCF team returns to New York Yacht Club for their second go at Corinthian sailing's premier championship.
Founded in 1867, today's YCF is proud to be made up of enthusiasts who share the same approach to the sea. The Club combines tradition, modernity, initiative and innovation, and bears the traditional values of sailors: competence, responsibility, respect, solidarity, humility, know-how, including in offshore races or regattas.
Navigation and maneuvering are the responsibility of the “Bel Art” by Joseph Conrad. It was the style of Virginie Hériot, Jean-Baptiste Charcot and Eric Tabarly, who were, with others, eminent members. YCF and its allied clubs strive to promote boating in its widest sense, embracing sailboats, motorboats, classic yachts and the wonders of technology that fly on the water. YCF recently celebrated its 150th anniversary and maintain its founders’ ambition today: to share convictions and convey values. Club members have never ceased to promote these principles and respectfully share the sea, an exceptional area of freedom.
Team Profile
YCF's crew for the 2019 Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup were selected based on their racing experience. In preparation for the IC, the team has spent several days training at La Trinité sur Mer with the Pelletier's boat Milon 41.
Skippering for this year's IC will be Jacques Pelletier (left), the Vice President of the YCF from Milon-la-Chapelle, Yvelines, France, who has spent the last 50 years racing in the regatta world. Pelletier is no stranger to tough competition, he's a five-time Figaro competitor, has raced across the Atlantic three times and he finished second of 94 boats in the 2017 Morgan Cup, a 125-mile race across the English channel. He was also part of the winning team for the Cowes Dinard 2016, in which he was the tactician, and in his role as a skipper he placed fourth at the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2010.
Also Vice President of the YCF is the team's tactician for the 2019 IC, Sébastien David (right). David comes from Paris, Seine, France, and in his 27 years racing he has distinguished himself as a tactician and a trimmer in many sailing events all over the world. He claimed second place in the Armen Race 2015 trimming, and Trophée Bailly Suffren 2014 as a tactician. In 2016, he scored sixth place in the Giraglia Rolex Cup.
