Planetsolar

Hello Everyone!

Finally! We have finally arrived in Barcelona after meeting the former crew and doing some maintenance work in La Ciotat. According to them, what is left of the world tour is a men’s story !! A brilliant cohesion ; an excellent teamwork which led to the dream team, the team that won this ambitious project after so many months of navigation…

There were a lot of changes… I used some of my “French touch” by recruiting Etienne , who has been sailing with me for the past 10 years. He is an eclectic sailor, as much fisherman in the North Sea as painter during his spare time. He also is a great cook. Etienne is a true sailor, he sometimes gets land sick; he likes to prepare his kit bag beefy! He is our Popeye.. .

Thomas is the second on board… taciturn and experimented, a fisherman’s son, he sails on every ships in the world and embarked on board PlanetSolar in New Caledonia. He is like the user guide of the ship, he knows every corner of it… He is very hard-working and always ready to find a technical solution… he is the real deal!

Thierry is the newbie. He embarked to make the trip to Barcelona. We are also expecting Cyril, a Swiss sailor and a charming new recruit; Nikita : sailor and receptionist, she has been sailing with me since childhood, it is my daughter !! And her dad : well, you will get to know me better very soon !

I am writing these few lines from the Gulf of Lion. We have to remain cautions as this area is known to change suddenly in a fit of anger… We are moving forward at a constant speed of 5 knots thanks to sun… The sun is at its zenith charging our batteries to a maximum ! No CO2 emission, the silence is royal, there are a few vibrations giving rhythm to our navigation …

We are thinking about three people who have influenced last month : Erwann Le Rouzic, captain by profession, who gave me the keys of a very uncommon ship! He also shared with me his knowledge coming from all these months of solar findings and their secrets. Raphaël Domjan, who came by yesterday a last time to loop the loop and shared his optimistic spirit : “We have to believe, always”.

And of course, we also have a thought for Immo Ströher. Without him, this dream would never have come true. He came to see us in La Ciotat to reaffirm its commitment to the project.

To conclude, this is a wonderful adventure that reminds me of the following famous quote: ” It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult…”
See you very soon in Barcelona !

Eric and his crew.