It all began in the 1970s: Alain lived in his 2CV and on his sailboards. Like Eric Tabarly, he had in mind to fly a boat one day. This common idea led them to meet... "In 1976, Eric designed a six-meter foil trimaran. That's when I approached him... and that's when I ended up moving in with him to develop my project. For three years, I worked with him, a free and visionary man who was ahead of everything! For example: his schooner Penduick III in aluminium... For him, boats were going to fly, it was a fact. To use wings to evolve in a fluid and to allow a gain of drag seemed obvious to him! For his part, Alain designed his own one-third scale model. He experimented with it at the National School of Sailing and Water Sports in Quiberon for several years... "I tried, I capsized... And everyone there laughed when they saw me with this foil boat!
Alain's flight
It was in 1992 that things really took off for Alain... "There was this summit meeting in Bénodet. At the summit, because Eric had brought together the big shots from two industries, aeronautics and naval. He told them that they knew that boats would fly one day. He introduced me as the one to follow in this matter. Someone stubborn enough to go all the way! You can imagine the support Eric offered me: a real sponsorship! However, creating a flying boat is not an easy task: the tests lead to crashes... four in total. Spaced out by nearly nine months of repairs each time... which allowed Alain to have three daughters in between! Three girls who are part of history..
Sails, wind, flight
It was finally in 1994 that the Hydroptère - as Alain named his craft - made its first flight over water. In 1995, the two inventors, Eric and Alain, were sailing and flying together. Ten years later, in February 2005, l'Hydroptère crossed the English Channel... And in 2009, after a violent, but ultimate capsize in 2008, it beat a double sailing speed record: it reached an average of 50.17 knots over a nautical mile, and 51.36 knots over 500 meters. He even reached 55.5 knots... or 103 km/h!
"But what I really wanted was to measure myself against the ocean. I wanted to cross it, and show that an offshore boat with foils could go so fast! So, Alain sold his house and moved to the West Coast of the United States to compete in the Pacific between Los Angeles and Hawaii. He spent a year there to prepare his crossing. In 2015, Alain meets Prince Albert of Monaco, who will become a supporter. "He told me then that it was good the records, but that they did not have much meaning in his eyes anymore. What he found interesting was that I was witnessing the pollution of the oceans. In particular, this mass of waste that I was going to encounter. He also encouraged me to cross the path of Bertrand Piccard and his Solar Impulse. In fact, Albert of Monaco wanted me to combine sailing performance and ecological commitment".
From records to sailing... to mobility on water
Alain reached Honolulu in July 2015. His three daughters, born during the l'Hydroptère trials, are there, on the pontoon where he disembarks. They speak frankly to him, he remembers well: "For them, I had done the trick of sailing speed in itself. I had to find something else, something useful. All three of them lived in big cities. And often, in these big cities, located by the sea, a lake, or along a river most of the time, they don't use, or at least no longer use, the waterways to get around. In short, the idea we had was to take advantage of what I had learned with l'Hydroptère to make everyone fly on water, in big cities". This is how Alain moves from navigation to mobility, and from leisure to transportation. He took up his faithful pencils and board... And the SeaBubble was born. A motorboat that uses the principle of the foil: lifting the boat so that its hull comes out of the water and no longer hinders its progress. A vessel that generates neither waves, nor noise, nor pollution. So many assets for urban megacities to equip.
Navigate... differently!
Because it is aimed at city dwellers, the SeaBubble must be comfortable and practical. "You have to be able to go to work in it: work with wifi, wear heels... It is the opposite of a zodiac, in fact: no spray, no movement ... " An objective that explains that the sensations are quite different between the traditional boat and the SeaBubble... even if it is still navigation! "In the SeaBubble, we are as weightless above the water, as in a plane in fact. Or on a flying carpet... I have always dreamed of flying on such a carpet! Then, everything follows: we go from a project designed in Hawaii to a real industrial structure, created in 2016. In June 2017, Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, takes a ride on a prototype. In May 2018, same experience with Prince Albert II of Monaco. Then presentation of the Bubble Taxi in Holland. In 2019, the design of the electric Bubble Taxi is completed. "In 2020, on the advice of my friends Jean-Louis Étienne, Gérard Feldzer and Bertrand Piccard, I opt for hydrogen to motorize the Bubbles. Honestly, when I went to a Swiss lab to see how it worked, I told myself that this technology was the oil of tomorrow! A much greater autonomy for a much shorter recharge time
Restoring a sense of navigation to city dwellers
The development of the SeaBubbles company continues: ten people, mostly high-level engineers, are hired during the confinement. In mid-December, the New Bubble, which is hydrogen-powered and can carry up to eight people including the pilot, will be presented. And Alain is working hard on the Hi-Bus, which can carry between 12 and 48 people. "The mayor of Miami is interested in the 48-seater, especially because the Hi-Bus doesn't make waves, which is useful in a busy marine area... Prince Albert of Monaco is interested in a 32-seater, for a Nice-Monaco-Italy link. As for the Sheikh of Dubai, he asked me to work on autonomous Bubbles (without pilot and with digital reservation from smartphones) Alain plans to manufacture 50 hydrogen-powered Bubbles in the near future so that they can be marketed in 2021. Within two years, the hiring of 70 employees should be possible according to the business plan validated by the financiers who follow him. "Today, I feel a real acceleration of the project. Here I am again, the bearer of an idea that is beyond me. I'm still going to have to wipe the slate clean, as I did with l'Hydroptère...".
Sailing... and its future?
Alain, who says he is very busy with these projects, still finds time to take his two sons sailing... With a tiny boat of 10 cm and 50 g, equipped with a small mobile sail. "I make him sail with them on Lake Geneva, on the Luxembourg basin... "Small is beautiful", they say, don't they? And he allows me all the dreams! This is what Alain is most attached to: openness. "It's this mix of naval and aeronautical technologies that got me where I am today. And that's what I think is missing in today's sailing. It is the technological breakthroughs that make the machines evolve. And I'm not sure that the sailing community is always ready for them. I had the project to cross the Atlantic in two days. You understand that for that, you have to think differently. It is no longer a question of knowing if the shrouds or the mast should be like this or like that... You have to think about sailing in a different way. Fortunately, there is the Vendée Globe: there we go beyond sailing of course, it is a matter of men and women who live an inner adventure, and who share it. They carry sailing high and make people dream".
