Two interesting bits of eco-sailing that I came across recently.
First, the interview of Roland Jourdain by Pierre-Yves Lautrou (Into the Wind / Tip & Shaft) where he notably discusses the change of paradigm brought by eco-sourced materials in the production of sailing boats, starting with racing ones.
Second: today marks the departure of Norbert Sedlacek on board Ant Artic Lab for what appears to be something quite harder than the Vendée Globe in terms of journey. I am very eager to follow the adventure and look forward to reading the outcome of it. Interview here.
I would like to understand how the two initiatives compare, in terms of approach, expectations and results. And I am eager to hear about the many other ideas out there at making sailing more sustainable.
Read from start to finish, it tells their journey in the Caribbean in the early 2000’s on board 12m-long TomNeal, a second hand Nautitech 395 (I went for such linear reading, and how I would advise to do).
But a smart index system allows the reader to swap from a linear reading to an theme-based reading: speedier to look for specific topics or skipping parts of less interest to the reader.
The book interestingly manages to avoid the many usual pitfalls of such tales. It is not technical (and includes quite a few explanations of the unavoidable sailing terminology for the non-sailors), it is not a boring day-by-day journal (but you will still get a real sense of their journey), and it is not (only) about their own story.
I particularly liked the book.
It’s structure is so that every mini-chapter is hardly longer than a single page, making it a natural page turner. It gives a great rythme to the story and allows for reading two pages at night or diving into it for hours.
The underlying substructure is great: rather than blending everything at once, each chapter is about a technical aspect, the economics of a sabbatical, the discovery of a new Island, or the portrait of a new encounter, etc. Read 15 years after it was written!, the book has aged very well and the reader might even find nostalgia in the now-outdated sections explaining what WiFi is or how to carry movies along. Most will find there a sense of how quickly technology is (still) evolving.
But more importantly, it is well written. Though Marie and Hervé are not professional writers and hardly professional sailors, they truly are great observers which they transcribe perfectly into a compelling journey. It is straightforward, fun and altogether captivating. It is not the story of an innocent dream, nor of lengthy account of their trip.
The book is definitely touching. The story is modest by all accounts, it is full of humility and the crew makes no mystery of their own weaknesses and fears. They manage to bring the reader on board and one only feels like sharing the next Ti Punch with them.
A few regrets, but no criticism.
Many will probably feel that the trip and book are too short. One would have liked to see them go further geographically, cross Panama, meet more extraordinary people, and carry on. One would have loved to see the kids becoming teenagers and the sailors extend their journey on and on. But the latest edition of the book will give a hint of what the family has become.
Finally, there’s to my knowledge, no translation of the book in English. May be the occasion to swap that Assimil for a true book?
It was my first Albatros-winner book but if the successors to Histoire de Partir are on par quality-wise, I know what my winter readings will be about 🙂
And, for the attentive sailor, you will notice that the first on the list (supposedly Force 0) actually redirects to a Force 3 (nice but misplaced) video, so here it is, straight from Marco’s YouTube channel.
