July 2015

Hello everyone,

A Tribute to a friend lost at sea

Moderately enthusiastic, you will understand, to greet the too frequent disappearances of fellow septuagenarian artists, I wish today to acknowledge the loss of a man I had the opportunity to meet often in Polynesia, and who had chosen a life somewhat comparable to mine, great sailing champion Laurent Bourgnon (at the moment I write this, maybe there is still a chance to find him adrift in the atoll of Toau or its vicinity).

At the age of 4, his parents took him on their sailboat on a two year trip to the Caribbean ; ten years later, the family set off again, for a circumnavigation this time. Then, for almost fifteen years, he met with an impressive number of victories in World sailing competitions. But as he was nearing forty, he decided move away from racing, and to go sailing around the world; But, as he explained to me one day "When you have sailed for over fifteen years on the fastest multihulls on the planet at speeds easily exceeding thirty knots, the performances of cruising catamarans, even the best designed, can't compare"; so he changed everything and decided to have a motor boat bult, Sunreef Power, "a large catamaran ,very economical on fuel, and with a capacity such that tanks filled up in countries where fuel is cheaper, such as in South America, allows to travel halfway around the world."

Having reached Polynesia for a stopover of a few months, Laurent fell in love with these islands, and settled with his family on the island of Raiatea ; he devoted part of his time to charter cruises in the Tuamotus; I often encountered him in Fakarava, close to Toau where he disappeared in late June.

I extend my deepest condolences to his family, with whom he had planned, in the coming months, to set sail again to settle in New Zealand, a country that I also appreciate. Laurent Bourgnon was the one of many personalities to answer my call as part of the operation surrounding the song "Touchez pas à la mer" (Hands off the sea.")

I, for one, never feel very comfortable underwater, so I also address this recommendation to all divers: never dive alone, and make sure that everyone constantly chacks the situation of the others: in less than three years I've lost in similar conditions two friends in the depths of Polynesia.

For our part, we have continued our cruise in the Great Barrier Reef, escaped crocodiles and sharks: the only shark we saw was a monument of questionable taste on a beautiful beach of Great Keppel Island ; as for jellyfish, it's not the season; then we set sail again towards Brisbane, where we will leave Banana Split for a journey across Western Australia, trading for a few weeks our boat for a 4WD. I'll tell you about it

I wish you a Jolly month of July


Antoine