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Before satellites, weather files and constant communications, some sailing was done over time, with few resources and a great deal of attention paid to the boat. Aboard Pen Duick VI, Jean-Louis Étienne discovered this offshore culture alongside Éric Tabarly, in a peaceful peregrination that lasted almost a year.
An unlikely meeting becomes a boarding
Jean-Louis Étienne was not trained as a sailor when he met Éric Tabarly in Rio de Janeiro, during the Atlantic Triangle, in the early 1970s. A mountaineer and doctor, he had no particular ambitions. A year later, a handwritten letter from Éric Tabarly invited him to come aboard.
The schedule is dense: West Indies, Panama, Los Angeles, Transpac, then a long descent of the Pacific to Auckland. Étienne joins Pen Duick VI in the West Indies, where he discovers an already solid crew, including Titouan Lamazou and Philippe Poupon, and learns the ropes through the simplest maneuvers.
A long, peaceful course, between silence and precision
After a symbolic departure from the Transpac in 1973, despite a disqualification due to depleted uranium ballast, Pen Duick VI set sail for the Marquesas and then Polynesia. No radar, no weather, just sextant points taken by Tabarly and Poupon. Life revolved around watchkeeping, sober trimming and silent command. "Eric commanded by silence" remembers Jean-Louis Étienne. The time was there, available for observation and learning. This year at sea would turn him into a sailor, and feed his plans for future expeditions to the polar regions.
Long version
You can find the full 47-minute version of the interview here :
