History
A story of the sea
1979 - 1990 The rapid expansion of the sport of windsurfing had not escaped the attentions of the lover of all things to do with the sea that was the Baron Bich. He believed in the sport and invested in the powerful industrial manufacturing capacity that would enable him to produce tens of thousands of affordably priced windsurf boards. At that time windsurfing had already designed its own destiny : to become the most popular sea/water sport of the late 20th century. With that impetus BIC Sport rapidly became the industry's biggest manufacturer with more than 80,000 boards leaving the doors of its factory in Vannes, Brittany.
During the 1980s, BIC Sport wrote some of the most interesting pages of the sport's history by inviting some of the biggest name shapers and legendary competitors to design and promote its boards. The names of those boards will live long in the memory : Electric Rock, Hard Rock, Astro Rock...
1990 - 2000 At the end of the 1980s windsurfing morphed itself into a new version of the sport, funboard. It was becoming elitist, under attack too from other, newer board sports like surf and snowboarding and started losing its edge. And while BIC Sport continued to lead the industry with its series of consistently strong products such as the Vivace, Veloce and Saxo, there were less people coming into the sport and it began to contract. So BIC Sport began diversifying, firstly into the surf market with the 1994 release of their Natural Surf, the first ever mass production surf board, which brought that sport within the reach of just about anybody. Other models followed, the Longboard 9' followed by the Shortboard 6'7, designed by one of the best shapers of his time, Gerard Dabaddie, achieving commercial success to match.
2000 - 2010 Serious concentration on the competitive aspect : in 2000 and 2001 BIC Sport won World Championship titles in Funboarding. Strengthened by these successes, BIC Sport stepped back from top level competition to concentrate its efforts on the development of formula, mono-type competition, more open to a wider range of participants and more in keeping with its image of making the sport more widely accessible.
2000 - At this point, the brand new funboard, the Techno 283, revolutionised and re-launched funboarding. It was an overnight success with the factory in Vannes running night and day to satisfy the surging demand. It was also to become the first formula/mono-type board to be approved by the French Sailing Federation alongside the development of Funkids competition. This was a big first step on the road to "mono-type".
2001 - Although the big success of the Techno 283 helped mask the problems of an overall shrinking windsurf market, BIC Sport responded by diversifying even further into other sports and activities related to the sea. BIC Sport launched its first sit-on-top kayak, the Bilbao, which very quickly received a design star award. Tobago, Ouassou, Scapa, Yakka.... A series of models followed and met with similar commercial approval thanks to their innovative concept, the design and the manufacture quality.
2002 - 2003 - Mono-type competition finds its way into the world of surf. Once again BIC Sport brought innovation to the sport, being the first to organise a world class mono-type surf contest : the BIC Longboard Challenge. BIC also vastly extended its range of surf boards.
2003 - BIC Sport gets involved in the new sport of kitesurfing by setting up the Takoon brand, who began releasing safe kites at a time when the sport was perceived as dangerous.
In 2005 - the Techno 293 One Design replaced the legendary Aloha board as the mono-type for under 17s. In France only at first but very quickly successful all over the world, success that lasts to this day. The 2009 World Championships attracted 260 competitors from 25 countries. As things stand the Techno 293 One Design class is one of the most dynamic in windsurfing and one of the strongest in the entire world of sailing.
2006 - BIC Sport released the O'pen BIC, a board for kids and teenagers that finally managed to rival the Optimist design that had been market leader for almost 60 years. In just four years the O'pen BIC managed to impose itself thanks to its design and innovation, and by the new kinds of competition it made possible. Already, more than 3600 O'pen BICs are sailing somewhere in the world.
2006 - 2010 - The end of the century's first decade can be summed up in a few words : consolidating successful product ranges with quality designs, with innovation and accessibility always the priorities.
In windsurf, the Core and the Beach are the best illustrations. The continuous search for development of mono-type boards is also a top priority.
In kayaking, with the Yakka, BIC Sport was able to make its mark in the inflatable kayak market with a very strong product.
In surf, lots of work on developing Longboards (Magnum, Nat Young 9'4...) and the ACS range.
Alongside that, the BIC 245 dinghy gets a new look, re-launching a range that has existed for 40 years.
In kitesurf Takoon is for ever searching for better performance and safety, the latest Nova kite being their biggest success to date in those respects.
BIC Sport 2010 is THE international water sports specialist.
And on the industrial side, BIC Sport is the only surf and windsurf board manufacturer to have kept its manufacturing in Europe, thanks largely to its ability to innovate and diversify.