[2] Pen Duick IV was the brainchild of Éric Tabarly, who had sailed in 1966 on a small trimaran designed by architect Derek Kelsall and had become convinced that multihulls had finally made decisive progress in being competitive in all wind situations.

Looking to repeat his 1964 win, Tabarly commissioned Pen Duick IV for the 1968 Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) on a design by French architect André Allègre.

This setup nonetheless proved adequate to keep the boat afloat when Tabarly collided with a cargo on the first night of the 1968 OSTAR and managed to limp back to England with structural damage.

Pen Duick IV was a pure racing machine, with Spartan amenities and even an unpainted hull that soon earned her the nickname "la pieuvre d’aluminium" (the aluminum octopus).

After Alain Colas bought Pen Duick IV from Tabarly in 1970, he eventually carried out extensive modifications in 1973 to better handle the Southern Ocean in his upcoming round-the-world record attempt.

Despite its lack of readiness, Pen Duick IV showed such speed in its accelerated trials before the 1968 OSTAR that Tabarly had high hopes of a win.

[5][6] After refitting the boat and renaming her Manureva, Colas embarked in 1973 on an attempt to break the record for a single-handed circumnavigation with a stop in Sydney and succeeded, completing the journey in 169 days at sea.

[4] In 2022, French singer Calogero, in his album Centre Ville (deluxe version), sings the song "Manureva", as a reference to the disappearance of the boat.