When Vincent Riou commissioned this boat, he had one overriding caveat: no compromises on speed. He had enormous experience sailing IMOCAs, and he wanted an extreme machine. Optimized from keel to truck, PRB was laid up in the same mould as Safran, her hard-chined hull having almost vertical sides. However her rigging was radically different with a rotating wing-mast supported by outriggers.
PRB was designed with solo racing and circumnavigating in mind, in particular her deck layout. She was built in three different yards and assembled by CDK Technologies, resulting in one of the lightest IMOCAs ever built. Twice champion of the Transat Jacques Vabre (2013, 2015), PRB was optimized relentlessly throughout her career. In 2018 Juan Kouyoumdjian had her fitted with foils and raced her to fourth place in the Route du Rhum.
In 2019 she was briefly named Arkéa Paprec and, under the command of Sébastien Simon, claimed victory in the Bermudes 1000 Race before reverting to PRB for the second half of the season when she made second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre with Kevin Escoffier at the helm. Serious damage suffered in the 2020 Vendée Globe brought her career to an abrupt end, sinking in a very short space of time. Fortunately her skipper Kevin Escoffier was recovered safely.
