The Tofinou was designed by Captain Merle in 1929, built by a yard in St Martin de Ré and is the only yacht to have been built to this design. Her owner named her "Tofinou", meaning "people of the sea" in African dialect as he had lived in Dahomey on the west coast of Africa. When she was subsequently rescued and restored several years later, she was little more than a wreck. In 1989 Philippe Joubert fell in love with her lines and decided to build a series.