Decarbonising merchant shipping by using kite traction

Native of the Paris region, Yves Parlier developed a passion for sailing and meteorology at an early age. After training as a composite materials engineer in Bordeaux, he became a pioneer in the field of engineering and navigation, notably by inventing the wing mast and the carbon fibre mast. After becoming a professional skipper, he went on to win a number of prestigious ocean races. In 2001, in the middle of the Vendée Globe, he single-handedly repaired his mast that had fallen off the Kerguelen Islands and managed to finish thirteenth in the race. From an "alien", as his competitors nicknamed him, he became a legend for the general public. At the end of the 2000s, aware of the urgent need to tackle climate change, the "marine engineer" stopped racing and began to innovate in order to reduce the carbon footprint of marine transport. In 2014, he set up his company, Beyond the Sea, with the aim of equipping as many ships as possible with kite traction in order to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by using wind power.