Built two years after the first version of Macif 100 and skippered by Armel Le Cléac’h, Banque Populaire IX is much, much more of a foiler than François Gabart’s initial Ultim.
Designed to the maximum dimensions permitted by the Ultim 32/23 class rule, she was designed specifically for big foils, as well as a T-board and T-rudders (rudders fitted with elevators).
Longer, beamier, heavier, stiffer and more powerful than Macif 100, she was initially designed for solo circumnavigation and, with some adaptations, short-handed racing. She sank during the 2018 Route du Rhum, and her successor was launched in the spring of 2021.
