Meeting with Titouan Lamazou, sailor, painter, author
Tell us about your nautical career..
I interrupted my conventional studies in second grade. I knew, without knowing it yet, that I would end up as an artist. I entered the Beaux-Arts school... My readings influenced me a lot at that time. I read stories of adventurers, explorers, navigators... most of whom lived in Polynesia, where I live today! I remember, for example, "La longue route" by Bernard Moitessier. In short, I ended up leaving the Beaux-Arts: I was attracted to the maritime world because I wanted to go and see what was happening behind the horizon. My motivation was also to join those who went to sea, to belong to their community and to gain their respect. That's what drove me to sail racing.
How did you live this period of your maritime life?
It was Eric Tabarly who gave me my foot in the door. I met him when I was a sailor in the West Indies. And I followed him for two and a half years on the seas of the world! ( Read the article ) This confirmed that I had good predispositions to become a skipper. The races went on and then I won the first Vendée Globe. In fact, I came to sailing late compared to other racers of my generation. And it's a period of my life that can be summed up in just five or seven years. After the Vendée Globe... well, I went back to my brushes!
What are your most memorable sailing experiences?
The oldest, without a doubt, goes back to when I was 15 years old: I had embarked for a cruise to South Africa. The arrival in the harbor, under sail, very slowly... I still have a precise memory of it today. I found this sensation again when I reached the mouth of the Hudson River, in New York. It is quite different from arriving there by Kennedy Airport! There, when you have sailed for a long time, when you come from far away, you become aware of the distances, you have in mind the scale of the world. I also remember this passage between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, at the very beginning of the Vendée Globe: the skipper that I had become and who was already in first position of the most beautiful race in the world, could have greeted the young man who, ten years earlier, had stood there, facing the sea, but on land... A poetic greeting to myself!
Is there a boat that makes you dream today?
My future workshop boat of course! For the past, it's the "Bluenose" whose history is very interesting. It represents, for me, a brilliant achievement in the field of shipbuilding in the West. It is a legendary ship, so much so that I believe it still appears on Canadian currency. In his famous novel, "Captains Courageous" (late 19th century), Kipling recalls the schooners that sailed from North America to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in a frantic race to bring in their cod stock first and sell it at a high price. These fishing schooners also raced in the International Fishermen's Trophy: the Bluenose won a number of victories and earned an international reputation! It would also seem that she was very active during prohibition... Obsolete for fishing, with the advent of motor boats, she became a cargo carrier in the Caribbean, before sinking on a Haitian reef... Sad end.
Any other ships you would like to sail on?
Yes, I also think of the old-fashioned liners, like the Titanic, the France and the other huge ships of this kind: I never went on board one of them, but I would have sailed a little bit that way, I would have experienced their own slowness. Of course, if we go beyond the Western borders, I can only mention the Oceanian double pirogues: they are, in my opinion, the most brilliant boats invented.
Are you still working on your workshop boat project?
The model, based precisely on the model of these traditional catamarans, has been enlarged... In fact, I have lengthened its two hulls for more stability, so that it is a powerful maritime navigation tool! This boat, for me, is like a utopia, an ideal: a house combined with a workshop, the whole carried away in a slow itinerancy. This itinerancy has been an integral part of my lifestyle since I was 18, when I left the Beaux-Arts. It is inseparable from my activity as an artist; the two feed each other without a doubt. Imagine... being on board, immobile in my studio, while being mobile on the water!
What are you looking for with this boat-studio project? To paint certainly..
Of course, but I will also welcome other artists and scientists on board. And this, on a bright and spacious ship: I have planned five cabins with office, lounge... on 30 meters of deck! This is the opposite of charters where small cabins are crammed together to ensure the profitability of cruises... which I can understand. We have also planned a whole program of activities and awareness, especially for local schools, which will be provided by the sailors. Of course, the theme will be ecology. The workshop boat will be as ecological as possible... Even if my builder, realistically, often tells me that if I really want to be ecological, all I have to do is stay on my beach and paint! In fact, the design phase, and then the construction phase that comes afterwards, are exciting times. I have noticed that for sailors who build or repair their boat, it is these moments, before the launch, that make them enthusiastic. Afterwards, their motivation can wane!
Waiting for the workshop boat, a new book by Titouan Lamazou :
Stopovers in Polynesia - Titouan and Zoé Lamazou
It is with his daughter that he traveled in Polynesia to meet its inhabitants, and to discover their occupations and concerns. They travelled through five archipelagos, Titouan making portraits of local characters, and Zoé collecting their words. The result is an imposing book of nearly 300 pages, divided between reproductions of lively watercolors captioned by Titouan and touching testimonies transcribed by Zoé.
I love the handwritten captions that accompany the illustrations. Almost exoticism after reading only typewritten texts...no?!
