June 2013

Hello everyone,

Two sister islands in a vast lagoon...

The worst ? Let's not overdo it : even in the worst moments of a haulout for hull maintenance , which I usuallyI perform at the shipyard of Raiatea, even when it comes to sanding, painting, and confronting the demons that often lurk in the corners of everything mecanic, even when Banana Split, hauled out of the water, looks as comfortable as a goldfish that's had the malthough the yard looks like all shipyards in the world, with rickety scaffolding, machine tools, shrieking grinders and industrial scenery, I just have to look up beyond the end of the yard to see mountains covered in lush vegetation, an often blue sky (except when I start painting, which automatically brings rain), and looking just a little further, a few miles to the north, the wonderful island of Tahaa, enclosed in the same coral reef, shaped as a large "8", which also surrounds Raiatea.

And there must sometrhing magical about the island of Tahaa :my first visit was in 1977 and I was happy to take a picture of my first sailboat, Om, in the same setting where famous French sono circumnavigator Alain Gerbault had photographed his, a few decades ago, ; I stayed there a long time, on board my second boat, Voyage, between 1986 and 1988, at the time when sailing champion and talented artist Titouan Lamazou was writing one of his first books in a beautiful white house, or my friends Philippe and Marie Robin, also navigators, who had created a small guesthouse with an excellent restaurant, Marina Iti: we met there regularly between cruisers and other island ramblers every Friday ... to watch on TV a very poplar French TV program dedicated to the sea, Thalassa! I remember that it was one of those occasions that mythical sailor Bernard Moitessier had sailed on my little sloop Voyage. Today Bernatrd sails solo on the oceans of heavens, while in Raiatea's shipyard, his last boat,Tamata, is often found high and dry alongside Banana Split.

It was also in Tahaa that a handful of sailors chose to settle: Alain Plantier who brings tourists to visit the island farms, where vanilla is grown ; Louis and Jean-Yvon, who organize charter to destinations as exotic as Pitcairn, the island of the Bounty mutineers, or more recently , Patrick who's come on a small 24 ft sailboat all te way from France: a photographer, he complements his income by carrying in his "mini truck" both visitors and residents of Tahaa. He's taken me on a tour of the island and a visit to my friend Leo, who at the Hibiscus Tahaa saves turtles caught in fishermen's traps. Leo is a partner competition that we will organize next fall on the web site "Futura-Sciences" and that will allow the winner to take a trip for two people to Polynesia .. and to see the island of Tahaa