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.
