Of course, there is no substitute for sailing: neither that of the experienced skippers, nor yours, the pleasure boaters of your heart. But when sailing is not on the programme, multimedia, fun and participation can skilfully evoke it... As proof, the Cité de la Voile Eric Tabarly in Lorient!
The sea in front...
On the immersion side, it's immediate: the airlock that serves as the entrance to the city is lined with giant screens. Three, in fact, which cover a total of 120 m2, and surround you, and take you away like in the open sea. Welcome aboard a 60-foot trimaran! In the heart of the beautiful images shot between Lorient and Groix, you yourself have to navigate, moving around in the large room, to vary the points of view... The soundtrack is effective: the wind whistles in the shrouds and slams in the sails; the water hits the hull, runs off along the waterline, splashes in the form of spray... You are, yes, on the ocean, and from morning to evening since in seven minutes, you walk around the dial: dawn then dawn, endless.
A boat, kézako?
Here is the scenery planted: the sea. For boats, go to the first floor. Of course you already know a lot about them, but other points of view are interesting. Touch, for example: with all your fingers outside, you feel the materials used in boats... here, it is allowed to touch, and even encouraged! Caressing, for example, the pins of various shapes, coloured, smooth, even varnished, delicately placed on the floor of the City... never can we do it, can we not? Nor can you ever touch the curve of a black foil while staying dry. Rarely still, you can feel the different sail textures in a single movement: mini staysail made of carbon fibre, Cuben Fiber, Kevlar, Pentex, Dacron, and nylon are just waiting to be creased. Slices of carbon masts, hulls, ropes... are also to be touched at will!
Look beyond...
Always at your fingertips, through touch screens, other facets of the sail are revealed. For the most novice of you, Kersauson explains the basics of navigation. To the most knowledgeable, it is specialists who detail, here the architecture and the naval sector, there, the computer-aided design of boats... For all of you, the eco-construction and recycling of boats, themes that are well in the wind, are also discussed. An amazing video montage leaves no one in the dark: it reveals the making of an entire boat... in a hurry!
A real sailboat?
From the boat, you will find one, 18 metres long, in one of the most unexpected formats: plated, life-size printed on the wall at the back of the room. His black carbon mast, which is quite true, crosses the room horizontally 27 metres... the length of those used for the Vendée Globe! A touch screen, just below, allows you to detail all the parts of the boat, located on the wall by a green laser... a fun process like there are many in this city.
Sailing yes, but serenely
Another boat appears, one that, again, you have little opportunity to see in this configuration, and it is rather reassuring to tell you the truth: well inflated and placed on a small platform, a rescue boat, bright orange as it should be! Next to it, his box in which one wonders forever how he can fit in. Then, life jackets for the whole family, including one decorated with fun designs for children. A combination of manoeuvring and survival, an old-fashioned horseshoe buoy, an on-board pharmacy, an eye bucket to scoop... you have just crossed the instructive space dedicated to safety of course!
Living on board...
Here are two columns of Plexiglas filled: one with food consumed by ten people in one day on board a pleasure boat; the other with the same content, but for a racing boat... Edifying difference! Hence the interest of the freeze-dried. Then, energy-related instruments on board are presented: a hydrogen generator and a wind turbine, among others. Then the tools that help you follow the right course, from capstan to GPS, including weather forecasts.
Memories and learning
For the most beginners in sailing, and for children, the main manoeuvres are summarized on large illuminated panels and illustrated: take a reef, sink, anchor, moor, moor alongside or alongside... And here again you can feel: under your fingers, a sail bag shivers, ropes soften, an anchor resists... Sweet reminiscences, don't they?
Make way for the heroes!
This area is dedicated to the most competent skippers and their most impressive stories. You can admire the 1/30th scale models of mythical sailboats such as the Joshua, Le Banque Pop V and Macif. You also watch videos to see them in action, and you place yourself under sound showers where testimonies rain down on you... Christophe Cudennec and his capsizing in the Irish Sea; Amel Le Cleac'h and his passage of Cape Horn ; Isabelle Autissier and his memories of the South Seas ; Jean Le Cam and his rescue by Vincent Riou; Raphaël Dinelli and his shipwreck; François Gabart and his victorious arrival at the Vendée Globe; Michel Desjoyaux and his tricks and D systems during the Vendée Globe in the South Pacific; Yann Elies and his hallucinations due to lack of sleep... In short, you get the ears full!
Eric and Pen Duick
Among the heroes of the sea, Eric Tabarly is second to none. A character that young and old (re)discover in the space dedicated to him. In the replica of the Pen Duick II cabin you are passing through, you can see concretely how everything was thought of for the race: a very small kitchenette with the saddle on which he sat; a removable chart table mounted on an arch for heavy weather days; the half-plexiglas bubble of his invention, protruding from the cabin to be able to, sheltered, watch out... The whole thing is curved: only 1.40m high ceiling!
Tribute to the navigator
Just out, you straighten up, but it's to look again, this time, at objects evocative of Tabarly's existence: his first-class ship's ensign cap, a worn-out winch, magazine covers that praise him... And, perhaps most moving, his open logbook on his handwriting. Two large screens framing a portrait of him show images of his exploits. Nostalgia, nostalgia... which does not falter with the models of its boats, the Pen Duick and Paul Ricard, displayed just next door.
From one generation to the next...
It is the space 3-6 years which opens then. Something to distract, but also to teach the little ones! Jump, colour, draw, caress, feel, winch, mill, knot, steer, hoist, squeeze, moor, listen, look, reflect, anticipate... what a lot to experience in this kind of training camp! And for the slightly older ones, a virtual race designed by Virtual Regatta: five apprentice skippers on the starting line and, instead of bars, touch screens on which, to manoeuvre, slide and tap their fingers. In front of, as a horizon, a large screen on which boats are running after each other!
Jovial training!
More realistic sensations, this is what you find afterwards in a space where you handle tips, mooring lines, sail, furling, sheets, halyards... You can even slip into a Laser and take the position there, helm in hand and boom in good position. A few steps away, your attention is more solicited: large screens, and, in front of each one, a wheel or a bar, to be handled with dexterity under penalty of bringing your fictitious boat to its end before the time! You feel the changes in direction very realistically. Even more so when you arrive in front of the so-called "simulator"...
Take the helm!
For you, this is about getting the Pen Duick VI out of the port: at the wheel, which is positioned in front, some skippers, very concentrated, grab onto it, while others, much more relaxed, only put one hand on it, the other in their pockets. Your attention, it also needs to be intense to control your model racing yacht, placed in the large central basin equipped with a wind tunnel. With two joysticks, called "Sails" and "Safran", you discover the difficulties of combining natural and technical elements! To let off steam physically, nothing beats a few turns of the cranks... "coffee grinders" rather: two are there, positioned in front of yet another screen displaying the number of turns, waiting for you to bow down and operate them as quickly as possible!
The race is yours!
In the entrance hall of this attraction, seats and a screen on which impressive images of ocean racing scroll... In the next room, you can sit in one of the twelve seats of the platform installed facing a large screen. With 3D glasses on your nose and a seat belt fastened, you're ready to experience the dynamic 4D "Ocean Ride" cinema. On an IMOCA boat (Vendée Globe), you embark on a round the world trip, in a few exciting and surprising stages to say the least! Pitch, roll, squall, gust, wreck, breakage, spray, swell, iceberg, competitor, finish: for each word, its sensations... validated by real skippers, it is announced!
Faced with the myth...
To get back on the ground, a walk is essential... not just any walk: the one that takes the footbridge between the Cité de la Voile and the pontoon where the dear Pen Duick of Tabarly are based. They are there, Pen Duick, Pen Duick II, Pen Duick III, Pen Duick V and Pen Duick VI. You admire their slender black hulls, which are so well known for splitting the sea. With Tara, the famous oceanographic ship whose home port is also Lorient, you have in front of you the very best of sailing!
