Skaw Sailing - The scow-headed hydra
by Agence TB Press 4 Feb 01:01 PST
Skaw Sailing - The scow-headed hydra © Skaw Sailing
Sailing is a sport that has a unique ability to produce multidisciplinary athletes with sharp minds, strong shoulders, and nerves of steel.
Caroline Boule and Benoît Marie are two such remarkable individuals, not content to shine on the water, but bubbling over with enthusiasm on land, driven by a deep desire to extrapolate the fruits of their intellectual tribulations, fueled by their sporting successes, in the laboratory and on the shipyard. Fervent supporters of foiling scows, these sailboats with large noses, wide, powerful, and planing bows, equipped with hydrofoils, this couple in real life multiplies their efforts to perform in regattas, innovate in the laboratory, and apply the fruits of their experiments and aspirations industrially. Their company, Skaw, a homophone of the word scow, sums up in four well-pronounced letters a rapidly growing hydronic project, driven by sporting ambition, embodied in the construction of Skaw A, an innovative boat combining speed and comfort, and activated by Skaw Lab, a true hub of innovation and optimization.
A complementary couple
Winner of the Mini Transat in 2013 on his first attempt, Benoît Marie has since established himself as the undisputed master of foils, the appendages that lift the hull of the boat out of the water. Applied to his Mini Nicomatic-Petit Bateau, this now well-mastered technology enabled him to literally crush the 2025 season, winning all six events on his program and setting the record for the longest distance covered in 24 hours by a Mini, with a staggering 352.59 miles. An exceptional season, logically crowned with the title of French solo offshore racing champion. An engineer, entrepreneur, and top-level sailor, Benoît finds in Caroline Boule an alter ego who is totally involved in the sporting and technological projects of their company, Skaw. "My career combines high-level sailing, engineering, and entrepreneurial commitment. Each phase feeds into the next," sums up the woman who shares Benoît's life. Absent from the Mini circuit for excellent reasons, namely the birth of their first child, Caroline will take the helm of Nicomatic - Petit Bateau in 2026, with the very legitimate ambition of equaling Benoît, and perhaps even regaining the 24-hour record that was long his.
SKAW A, a foiling scow for regattas and pleasure sailing
Skaw Sailing, the company created by Benoît and Caroline, sums up its raison d'être in three axioms: test in competition, build in the shipyard, validate at sea. The couple has brought together a team of enthusiasts who share their passion and work on projects, each more ambitious than the last, driven by innovation and performance. In 2026, Skaw Sailing will complete the construction of the SKAW [A] in Lorient, a unique boat that combines comfort and speed, luxury and competition, thrills and tranquility. The stated goal is to create the boat of the future, "more fun, faster, safer, and simpler," entirely inspired by their competition Mini.
SKAW Lab - design and optimization
SKAW Lab is SKAW Sailing's technical innovation unit, which explores, tests, and develops advanced solutions for contemporary sailboats in order to push the limits of performance, safety, and efficiency at sea, particularly in the areas of foils and innovative naval design. The design office, or "lab," has developed software that is invaluable in the design of these flying boats. It allows designers to predict the performance of the hydrodynamic elements (foils, hulls, sails) of the boats designed at SKAW.
A scow is a type of flat-bottomed boat.
Originally, the scow was a working boat used to transport goods (sand, gravel, wood, etc.), mainly on calm waters such as rivers, canals, or near the coast. Its flat bottom allows it to navigate in shallow waters and be easily loaded and unloaded.
The word "scow" comes from English, itself derived from the Dutch schouw or schuit, which referred to flat-bottomed boats.
SKAW in figures:
- 2: founders Caroline Boule and Benoît Marie,
- 6: number of employees,
- 10: number of service providers,
- 56 the department of Skaw,
- 1067 the number of the Mini 6.50,
- 2 Benoît's place in the last Mini Transat,
- 40 feet the length of the future Skaw A
- 352.7 miles the record distance covered in 24 hours in a Mini 6.50 by Benoît Marie
SKAW SAILING's 2026 program:
- The Plastimo Lorient Mini (PLM), departing from Lorient on April 16 as a double-handed race (Caroline Boule and Benoît Marie)
- The Pornichet Select, departing on May 2 from Pornichet as a solo race (Caroline Boule)
- Launch of SKAW A in Lorient - May
- La Mini en Mai, starting on May 25 from La Trinité-sur-mer, solo (Caroline Boule)
- The Marie-Agnès-Péron Trophy (MAP), starting on June 4 from Douarnenez, solo (Caroline Boule)
- The Mini Fastnet in June, starting on June 14 from Douarnenez, double-handed (Caroline Boule and Benoît Marie)
- Les Sables - the Azores - Les Sables (SAS), starting on July 25 from Les Sables d'Olonne (Caroline Boule)
- Cannes Boat Show with SKAW A - September
Caroline Boule: Born in Warsaw in February 1998 and raised in Poland, Caroline Boule began sailing at a very young age, notably in the 49er and Laser Radial classes.
She continued her studies in the United Kingdom at Imperial College London, where she specialized in materials science and nuclear engineering, while joining the university's sailing team.
After graduating in 2020, she moved to France to begin a PhD at École Polytechnique while developing racing projects.
Caroline made a name for herself by building and sailing her own mini foiling sailboat, "Bill," in the Mini 6.50 class, an innovative vessel capable of "flying" above the water thanks to its foils.
She competed in the 2023 Mini Transat aboard this prototype, finishing 20th.
In July 2024, she broke the 24-hour record in the Mini 6.50 solo category, covering 322.7 nautical miles and becoming the first woman to set this record in all categories in this class.
Benoît Marie: A professional skipper and French engineer born in 1987, he is passionate about innovation in sailing, particularly flying sailboats (foilers).
He made a name for himself by winning the 2013 Mini Transat, a solo transatlantic race on a Mini 6.50, on his first attempt.
Since then, he has competed in numerous high-performance sailing competitions, including Moth International, Class A, Class C, ETF26, and Ultime—categories where boats "fly" above the water thanks to foils.
He is also a specialist in the technical development of hulls and sails, designing and optimizing cutting-edge projects (such as the Nicomatic-Petit Bateau prototype).
In 2025, he achieved remarkable performances, notably breaking records for distance covered on a Mini 6.50 in 24 hours during the Mini Transat.