Ile des Embiez is a small French island in the Var department, just a short boat ride from Six-Four-les-Plages. Renowned for its lush greenery, its coves and inlets with translucent water, many yachtsmen have made it their home. Among them is Benoît Coquelet, the proud owner of a TEMO·450 electric motor for several years and now a brand ambassador.
Discover his interview!
Can you introduce yourself?
Hello, I am Benoît, I am a yachtsman on the island of Les Embiez where I practice my passion for sailing and so I enjoy this wonderful region which goes from Marseille to the Côte d'Azur with the sailboat and with my wife.
Depuis quand possédez vous un TEMO·450 ?
TEMO·450, I had it since June 2021. Shortly after I acquired my first boat. And I was looking for some equipment for my dinghy. It's a 3D Tender 2m50. Why TEMO? I had a 29 foot boat and I didn't have much room on my boat to store tenders, paddles, etc. and motors. That was the first point. A question of size and then the idea of not taking a combustion motor because it involves gasoline storage, it involves odors and it involves extra weight. So the choice was quick and at the time TEMO presented a solution that was perfect for me.
Pourquoi TEMO ? J'avais un bateau de 29 pieds et je n'avais pas beaucoup de place sur mon bateau pour ranger les annexes, les pagaies, etc. et les moteurs.
C'était le premier point. Une question de taille et ensuite l'idée de ne pas
prendre un moteur à combustion parce que cela implique un stockage d'essence, cela implique des odeurs et cela implique un poids supplémentaire. Le choix a donc été rapide et à l'époque TEMO présentait une solution qui me convenait parfaitement.
When do you use your TEMO-450?
It's when we're out in anchorages that we can take out our dinghy and our TEMO very easily. It is easy to set up and to store. For us, it's mostly ease of use.
The range is roughly of one hour, obviously, depending on how the power is used. And so, for an anchorage, it's perfect.
Then to charge, I have a 12 V outlet, so I can recharge it in the boat in hidden time.
Any difficulties with this electric motor?
Problem? Well, by my fault, yes. I didn't, how to say, winterize my motor properly.
When I changed boats, I went 6 months without sailing.
So my battery suffered. And so, I called TEMO customer service and I have to say it was pretty amazing. I had people who were very receptive and who immediately took care of me. Especially since it was just before the season.
So they came to collect my battery from home. They sent it back to me a week later. It was impeccable. That was a problem of my own making, but which was resolved very effectively.
To TEMO·450 to TEMO·1000 ?
What brought me to 450 today might bring me to TEMO·1000 tomorrow.
TEMO·1000 is more powerful. The boat is a little bigger, so there's a little more backstroke. A little more backstroke in the back, we move away from the edge of the beach or the edge of a quay.
Then I had the opportunity to see the practicality anyway. I found it to be extremely convenient. Another point that I found very successful in the TEMO·1000 is the
battery. The removable battery, which allows the weight to be divided almost in half. We don't quite get back to 450, but we're getting close to 450, except that there are two of us.
But even over reasonable distances it works very well.
We have already seen people manipulating their thermal engine to put it on their annex. It's sometimes a challenge.
I would say the challenge is a little less complicated with TEMO·1000.
Any projects with TEMO electric motors?
We planned with my wife in September-October to go sailing again along the coast and probably to cross to Corsica. In Corsica there are extraordinary anchorages that I don't know so we're going to discover together and with our TEMO·450 or our TEMO·1000 we are convinced that we will enjoy it!