It is the little happiness of the day, of those who bring you back to old dreams that are still young. We are celebrating the 400th Yupis this week with Nrt Mar. I still remember those who predicted that we would be fed up before the 15th, and that of course adds to the pleasure of lighting these 400 little candles that I want to blow out with those who, on the contrary, shared this from the start. adventure: Serge Ducruit, Pierre Delplanque, Michel-Ange Simonnet, Sylvain Gregoire, ... And all the anonymous youpists who wiped the plasters and allowed the dream to come true.

So of course, it's only 400 boats. But it's huge, 400 pleasures, 400 sailboats that navigate, that we build, that we see moving away and coming back. When I created the model with my little sticky fingers, for fun and for dreaming, I was far from imagining that this pleasure and this dream would be shared by so many people. Le Youpi has long been a piece of a secret garden, about which I spoke to no one to avoid being invited to stupid dinners with my stories of sails, incidence, weight repair ... It's in sorrow that it has become a workshop, a project to escape from pain, worry, depression. It may be less than 1 meter, this boat there at the time got me out of a nasty storm with smiles, meetings and escape.

This is an opportunity to remind people that the site is not a business, a start-up, a "professional project". I wanted more than just building boats: it was - and it still is - to find these beautiful toys that we keep for a long time, that can be repaired. And that we help you to build. We know the name of the guy who made it. Of which we are sure it is not a kid exploited by pigs somewhere in China. That we do not come to replace every 2 years by a new model to run the store. There is not, there will never be a "Youpi 2.0 Pro".

For this project to endure, despite its questionable profitability, its non-existent publicity and its wacky goal, it took more than a fool. It took at least 2. These 400 Yupis and the joy of knowing them on the water, I share them with Nrt Mar who has been responsible for a while for the construction of the kits and models ready to sail. My friend Marc put a crazy talent to make the model easier to build, more precise, more reliable. This talent is more than a word: it takes hours to build special tools, to find the best supplies, to optimize every millimeter of the boat without betraying its spirit. When he joined the adventure, on an idea from Elodie Marti (kiss Elios), it gave him a little boost and he joined the world of Youpi without knowing anything about it at the base. Today, like me, he takes care of it for pleasure, for passion. And since he is living this childhood dream, at the age of 50, I think it's time to reveal that it is his mother, Eliane, who patiently sews the sails of each model. And takes care of all the super complicated stuff that keeps the business going today. A friend to the meleuse, a mother who embarks on the adventure ... What more do you need to be happy? Thank you from the bottom of my heart Eliane! And that's how Youpi continue to have a soul. You have to have experienced a visit from a Youpiste to the workshop, the worry of a mailing or the spectacle of a 50-year-old kid jubilant in front of his new toy to understand what is unique about it. .

I also applaud Pierre Delplanque, the friend who molded the hull of the original Youpi and produced these beautiful laminate hulls. You have to imagine what that represents, 400 hulls to produce. He did it ... And in a very beautiful way. It may be the perfect day to tell him that his cast is much more beautiful than the original, but then he will ask me for royalties

I dedicate this small success to Serge Ducruit, to whom I owe a lot of happiness and who fought to make the model known. Without any interest, without any hope, just for the love of the beautiful sails and the beautiful boats that we love to see sailing. I will never forget.

I also have a special thought for the mother of my son who endured at the beginning for months, years, the sanding on the living room table, the glue all over the carpet and everything that the companion goes through on a daily basis. a clumsy and beginner model maker. It was not nothing.

Well, it would surprise me that everyone reads so far: I still wanted to celebrate this little happiness with you. This triumph of freedom and friendship in a world of confined solitude. Thank you to everyone and good luck to everyone!

Yupically, Dominique Tourte.