THE STORY BEHIND THE BOATS
BirdyFish began as a question: what if anyone could experience the feeling of flying above the water? Not just elite sailors. Not just the young and fearless. Anyone who loves sailing and wants more from it.
That question was asked in Nantes, France, in 2018. The answer is now available in Australia and New Zealand.
BirdyFish founders
Pierre Rhimbault
Alban Satgé
Born in Nantes. Built to Fly.
BirdyFish was founded by sailors, not just engineers. That distinction matters.
Pierre Rhimbault grew up racing in France and became a high-level sailor during his studies at the EIGSI engineering school in La Rochelle, competing with the French 470 youth team. After graduating, he pursued sailing professionally: first as a match-race skipper, then as a Figaro skipper in the CMB Course au Large offshore racing programme. The Solitaire du Figaro is one of the most demanding solo offshore races in the world. Pierre competed in it.
It was during that career that the idea for BirdyFish was born. "I was a professional Figaro skipper and I didn't have access to these sensations. Foiling was too expensive," he explained. That frustration became a mission. If he couldn't afford to foil at a professional level, how could anyone else?
In their final year at EIGSI, Pierre and his classmate Alban Satgé began working on the answer. Together with Jean-Baptiste Morin, the three engineers were not yet 25 years old when they founded BirdyFish in September 2018 with personal savings and a 10,000 euro grant from a foundation for young entrepreneurs. They engaged Etienne Bertrand, one of France's most respected naval architects and known for his Mini 6.50 ocean racing designs, to develop the hull. For the foils, they turned to Jean-Baptiste Behm, a specialist whose work gave the boat its defining self-regulating foil system.
The prototype worked. The class was born.
Today BirdyFish employs 13 people at its 800 square metre factory in Saint-Herblain on the outskirts of Nantes. The company has raised over two million euros in funding from investors including Mer Angels, Banque Populaire, and Bpifrance. Over 180 boats have been sold across France, Italy, the UK, the USA, Poland, Hungary, Hong Kong, and now Australia and New Zealand. The BirdyFish S won the Foiling Award in 2025 for Production Sailing Boat. Pierre now sits on the jury of the Foiling Awards, judging the world's best foiling innovations alongside the CEO of the Los Gallos SailGP team.
He started by wanting to make foiling affordable. He ended up changing what foiling means.
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Stéphane
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Enyo
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Dorian
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Guillaume
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Baptiste
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Pauline
Meet Salty.
The Sailor Behind Salty's Boat Company
Craig Greenhill has been photographing sailing since the early 2000’s and racing sailboats for longer than that. When he founded Salty Dingo in 2016, he was bringing together two decades of award-winning photojournalism and a lifetime on the water.
The credentials speak for themselves. Two Walkley Awards. Two Kennedy Awards. The Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award in 2023, the most prestigious prize in sailing photography, won with an image of Wild Oats XI surrounded by sea fog 40 nautical miles off Tasmania, shot from a helicopter on the third attempt after two failed searches.
But the photography is the context, not the point. Craig races an RS Aero. He has competed in eight Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races, sailed the Rolex Middle Sea Race winning Line Honours and IRC 3, and raced at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez aboard a 55-metre classic schooner. He knows what it feels like to push a boat to its limits.
In 2025, Salty Dingo became the naming-rights partner and official media provider for the Salty Dingo RS Aero Australian Championships 2026 and the Salty Dingo World Championships 2027, both held at Blairgowrie.
That was a statement about growing the sport, not just photographing it.
Salty's Boat Company is the next chapter. Craig established the company in June 2026 specifically to bring BirdyFish to Australia and New Zealand. He is the sole director, the authorised distributor, and the person who will answer when you call.
Two Countries. One Vision.
Two Countries. One Vision.
When Craig flew to Saint-Herblain to meet Pierre Rhimbault and the BirdyFish team, he was not meeting strangers. He was meeting sailors who had built something he believed in: a foiling sailboat designed around the idea that flight should be for everyone who loves the water.
The partnership between BirdyFish France and Salty's Boat Company is built on shared values. French engineering and Australian passion for the ocean. A company that measures success in smiles, and a distributor who has spent his career documenting what those smiles look like.
The first container of BirdyFish boats arrives in Australia in November 2026. Demo events are planned across the country for the 2026-27 summer season. The Australian racing circuit starts here.
Experience BirdyFish
Foiling Made Easy
BirdyFish is a French-designed foiling sailboat, a range of three dinghies that lift clear of the water and fly at speeds that will redefine what sailing means to you. Each model uses a self-regulating foil system that provides righting moment and lift. Stable at rest, progressive takeoff, more secure the faster you go.
This is not a boat for the timid. It is a boat for sailors who want to fly.