Launch of Voile Magazine, sailing made 100% practical!

Christmas 1995: a new monthly sailing magazine appears under the Christmas tree, aimed at sailors looking for a different take on sailing news. And they got what they wanted, because Voile Magazine immediately set itself apart: a distinctive tone with direct, pragmatic language, and a distinctive focus with a 100% practical approach emphasizing DIY, maintenance, equipment, onboard tips, and product comparisons.

This would soon lead to a long-term restoration project — that of a Sylphe, purchased as a wreck and completely refitted at the Chantier des Minimes in La Rochelle — on which the editor-in-chief of the time would later sail solo across the Atlantic. The Sylphe saga would cement the identity and success of Voile Magazine.

That identity also owes much to the personalities and backgrounds of its two founders, William Borel and Bernard Rubinstein. The former, once an offshore racer but a professional photographer by trade, built his career in the automotive press, where he developed a taste for catchy headlines and uncompromising tests — he brought a new tone and a keen sense of impactful imagery. The latter had already enjoyed a long career as a sailing journalist with Neptune Nautisme and Neptune Yachting: Voile Mag inherited from these predecessors several key features, such as the Journal du Littoral (a maritime news section beyond yachting), the concept of long-term boat trials that became the “100 miles aboard” series, and, of course, the famous pipe-smoking sailor icon still used today to mark the magazine’s practical/not-practical ratings in its reviews.

6.54 m long, built by Dufour in 410 units between 1964 and 1974.