I have been writing articles for a while now – a
list of published work can be found under “Articles” at the top of this page – but this
one deserves a special mention.
When Mark and I were in the
Tuamotus in April 2014, we saw
the little beach cat “Ma Louloutte” of the French/Swiss sailor
Yvan Bourgnon.
It drew quite some attention, what with it being so little and going around the
world. A week or so later (it was Easter Sunday), while in
Tahiti, I went over
to Yvan to say “hi” and ask him a few informal questions about his goal. What
he was trying to accomplish – sailing around the world in a small catamaran of
21ft without a cabin and setting a world record by doing so – was impressive as
well as a bit crazy. I realized then that the subject would make a good story.
While we were
in the States over the summer, I looked at different angles and
ways of telling his – and our – tale, resulting in some interesting articles
for different major sailing magazines. These stories have been published since,
in Belgium, the UK and the USA. But, my “best piece” was intended for Cruising
World.
Just when I was about to send this version of the article to
the well-known cruising magazine – after a decent amount of rewrites – Yvan
crashed his Ma Louloutte in Sri Lanka. He survived, but his boat did not.
Despair on many levels. But, Yvan was not ready to give up! A new version of
the story had to be written for CW, taking into account the sailor’s accomplishments
up until the Indian Ocean and his plans to complete his journey in a rebuilt Ma
Louloutte. I am now proud to announce that the article “He Sailed His Beach Cat
Where?” about Yvan Bourgnon, his arduous feat and our meeting in French
Polynesia is published in this month’s (January 2015) Cruising World! I feel
like I can finally tell people that I am a “respected writer" now…
:-)
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| Yvan sailing Ma Louloutte past Irie in Fakarava lagoon |
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| Ma Louloutte passing Irie on the way to Tahiti |
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| Ma Louloutte moored in Tahiti |
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| A different view of 21ft Ma Louloutte |
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| Yvan Bourgnon and his wife Nadia in Tahiti |
2 comments:
Huge Congratulations to you Liesbet. This is icing on the cake given all the articles that you have published. Your hard word and talent continue to pay off. I am proud to know you :-).
Oooooh, thank you, Lisa! And, your well-written stories and amazing photographs do not go unnoticed either! I do love your blog and your accomplishments as well! :-)
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