Bringing the Hydrofoil closer to Solar Impulse, a sailboat and an airplane: this is an interesting idea implemented by the photographer Francis Demange. This talented imager has followed the development of the solar airplane and a large part of the development of the Hydroptère.
Under the title "Pioneers of a sustainable world", the authors (the photographer and Hervé Bonnot the text writer) want us to think that the leaders of these two great projects are working for ecology. If the demonstration of Solar Impulse, which has successfully completed the round-the-world tour by flying over the world powered only by solar energy, even managing to fly several nights on the biggest stages, really goes in this direction, the demonstration of the Hydroptère is more far-fetched.
Indeed, this sailboat designed to free itself from the water by taking off on its foils was never imagined as an ecological project. Alain Thébault's primary motivation is always to go fast, very fast and break speed records. Of course, to reach this speed, he used foils that can allow less consumption and therefore go in the direction of ecology, but this has never been the driving force behind his developments.
The fact remains that the two characters, Bertrand Picard and Alain Thébault both believed in their project and pushed the adventure as far as they could. It was precisely the meeting of these two personalities, a meeting organized by Francis Demange the photographer, that triggered the idea for this book.
By telling us about the odyssey of Solar Impulse from its conception to the completion of the round-the-world trip, and by putting the epic of the Hydrofoil in parallel, this book reminds us of the incredible adventures that pushed these heroes in their respective fields.
If one can discover in this book incredible images, of the plane as well as of the boat, one can reproach the text for taking shortcuts on the adventures, trying to make them sometimes get closer when they don't always have the same route. But in front of the beauty of these adventures and the quality of these images (and of their layout), we will retain that the dream that these two adventures offer us is out of the ordinary.
This book is published in parallel with an exhibition of 56 large-format photos (Solar Impulse and Hydroptère) which is being held at the Futuroscope until January 2021.
Pioneers of a sustainable world - Solar Bird / Sea Bird
- Editions de la Martinière
- 30 x 25 cm
- 192 pages
- 35.00 euros
