Estelle is a fellow journalist. She is 35 years old and has no sailing experience. She explains " I had never even set foot on a boat 2 years ago! ". Christophe, her companion, is 61 years old, 30 of which have been sailing, and is pre-retired from the gas industry. They met in Tanzania and decided to unite their destinies, realizing their dreams of climbing Kilimanjaro and going to Antarctica.
" For 20 years, Christophe has been cultivating this dream. We bought this boat in 2018 and made the necessary arrangements for our journey "explains Estelle.
If the ultimate destination of their journey is Antarctica, Estelle and Christophe want to take all the time they need to travel. The departure from La Rochelle, initially planned for the spring of 2020, has been postponed by one year, due to the Covid crisis. They will therefore take to the sea in the summer of 2021 at the latest, depending on the sanitary possibilities, of course. First destination, Southern Europe, Madeira, the Canaries and then Cape Verde.
Christmas 2021 to the Caribbean in any case
Next objective: " We want to spend Christmas somewhere between Cape Verde and Dominica and stay there for a whole year. At the beginning of 2023, with the help of the winds in the South Pacific, we will cross the Panama Canal and then set course for the Marquesas Islands. Then we will head for French Polynesia, where Christophe lived for a few years. Another one-year stopover. "
Christmas 2024 in Antarctica
It is at this moment that the planned program will take all its impetus: "From Polynesia We are heading for Chile and the Patagonian canals in the summer of 2024. Then Ushuaia to wait for a favourable weather window to go down to Antarctica. In any case, we want to dedicate the Christmas holidays 2024-2025 in Antarctica. We will then go back up to France in 2025. Or not, actually. The following projects already have roots, the TAAF and South Georgia are part of them ."
The boat is only the medium of the adventure
Wonderful program that neither of them wants to be binding. Their principle is that the boat is only the medium of the adventure, it does not constitute the adventure in itself.
They already have a lot of appointments in mind. Friends to meet and others to make. Estelle explains " In Antarctica, we will be 5 people in all. We two with Christophe, and a couple of friends. She is Tanzanian and will probably be the first citizen of Tanzania in Antarctica and he is French. And a friend of ours, Sara Quod, will accompany us. We have the project to write together a logbook that she will illustrate with her pencil for the polar part of the trip. "Above all, Estelle and Christophe want to take the time to make new friends along the way, to get to know people and take the time to be with them.
Boat adapted to the climates encountered
Jade is one of only two existing models of Sainte-Marthe 46 ( for the anecdote they will probably cross the Atlantic at the same time as the sister-ship whose owners they found ). Designed by Michel Joubert, it was built in Strongall by the Meta shipyard (the inventors of this thick aluminum construction method) and weighs a good twenty tons. With its two appendages, it is not especially designed for polar navigation, but this configuration will allow them to have a versatile boat, solid and able to land if necessary.
The boat has been adapted and fitted out to be able to live on it for five years in a variety of climates. This sailing boat has a reserve of 2 x 500 liters of fresh water and a 3,500 liter tank of diesel. They use it not only for the motorization, but also for heating. Moreover, the Antarctic zone requires almost exclusively motorized navigation, for safety reasons. All the main heating solutions ( a Refleks stove that Estelle says is way oversized and a forced-air heater ) also runs on this fuel. Estelle and Christophe have installed solar panels in order to have even more energy on board.
For daily comfort, Jade has been equipped with a watermaker and a stove on gimbals. Her saloon was opened to communicate with one of the two bunkers located at the back of the boat, which was thus converted into a cabin/sleeping area. Estelle and her partner had the interior adapted to their tastes by the Hervé shipyard in La Rochelle. One of the particularities of this boat is that it has 3 steering wheels in total, one of which is in the interior wheelhouse and is heated. Polar piloting will be even more comfortable and pleasant for both of them.
The communications will be made possible by the presence on board of an Iridium Go system of which they are well aware of the weak coverage, for the moment, in the Southern seas.
Preparation of the crew
It is to mitigate the risks presented by the isolation that will be theirs that Christophe and Estelle also organize the training of the crew. Estelle has just returned from a health training course with Medidistance. She took advantage of the past year to obtain her permits ( coastal and offshore ) and his CRR. Christophe, for his part, trained with STW in diesel engines and electricity. He has been trained extensively in his professional life in survival, cartography and marine meteorology.
A perfectly human adventure
When we talk with Estelle and Christophe, the contrast with the navigators we know is striking. Far from being solitary and silent, these polar adventurers are adept at sharing and meeting others. They want to, explains Estelle " To take the time to meet those who will be there when we stop. The path we are going to follow is the schoolchildren's path, it is not designed to go at full speed, but to go well and to be marked by times of stop, of pause and of contact. "
At sea, Estelle and Christophe will never be far away. They will keep their blog active and will narrate Jade's adventures.
Estelle and Christophe are no strangers to contradictions. They are both contemplatives, capable of staying silent for hours in front of a sunset, and seekers of friendships and relationships.
