322 days since I started this amazing trip, one of my lifetime experience... I decided to leave my paradisiac islands to see the other side of the world.... experience it and see it with my own eyes, with my own feeling... live the dreams that was growing inside me with me.... A big step, I still remember being at the travel agency buying my ticket, shaking and wondering if I should or shouldn't buy it now... then I thought... It's now or never... So I planned my ittinerary with Vaimiti, my travel agent who became my friend. Tickets bought.... flying away and seeing the world... and here I am in Australia, with my brother and family... and looking back at the three hundred and something days spent on this earth, in the air, on the water, smiled shared, tears, heart beat, breath taking moments, peaceful sceneries, alone, with friends, with the stars, with myself....... Such an amazing adventure.... but it seems to never stops because I'm alive and this trip is a never ending story because it's my story....... I'm here with little money left in my pockets, nothing that I really own.... but all that matters to me is being alive, living my dream, trusting my heart and life....... because that's what life is all about.... my life... that's what all matters to me.... right here, right now....

Autumn...

Autumn arrived with subtle steps... sun rised to her last breath to warm our lost hearts...  wind shook my branches and blew my hair... I became one with the road... clouds are hidding my rays and I try to shine thru the fog... from a ray of sun I became tears of rain.... is autumn that sad...

Germany... part of myself came from this country... churches and castles are my playground... I couldn't find myself here anymore... my german root is burried deep under the earth... holding my tree in a way... but the road is calling... to Paris... to the ocean... to nowhere but here...

Love to my uncle Maxim and Birgit... to my cousins... thanks for every moment shared...

Poema

Paris... city of Love

I biked thru her veins, saw her beauties and felt her shaking under me... sun shining over her golden layers and water flowing thru her body... she is mysterious and slowly undiscovering part of her soul... time flies, a café around a table on a terasse stops Parisians from running... three hundred and sixty eight cheeses, delicately melting their hearts, baguette crackles coming out of the oven, patisseries jewels catch our appetite and artistic sense.... lovers come and go hand in hand, kissing as the Doineau couple... art is love and Paris inspire love, aspire love...

Deck and departure

When I started to work on the deck, I thought... "humm it's going to take me two weeks and I will have a lot of time to work on other projects..." well it didn't really worked like that.... as always on a boat you have to multiply everything by 3, time, money and fun ;-)


I spent a month and a half in PA and had found a second hometown. All the people I met were welcoming and very nice to me. About 20000 souls live there, landscape is amazing, islands, mountains, water, sea, rivers, beaches, forest... all I needed to be happy with Pangea in USA.


I finished working on the deck at the end of august, with a plane ticket as a time limit. My saving were going very low and I had to go to Europe to work and fly to use my world trip ticket.


Eric (www.modernyachtjoinery.com)  taught me how to prepare the deck for caulking and helped me finish the work. It was great working with him. He is passionate about wood, it inspired me everyday, he became a friend to me. I enjoyed cooking lunch everyday for us. Friends were giving me salmon, shrimp & vegetables. Kurt and Ava, friends I met thru Martin, became good friends, we had a special connection. 


I went sailing with Rob for a full moon bay cruise, full moon kayak adventure with Kurt in Fresh Water bay, cook for Mickael and his crew at his place, went to Neah Bay to see a canoe race with Eric, went to Crescent lake with Paul, Sophie and her family visited me on Pangea, sailed on Pangea with Kurt and Ava for the last night in PA in the bay.... 


I had beautiful days in PA and felt like I could live there for a while. Sun was shinning everyday.


Pangea stays in PA under the good care of my friends. I could leave with a rested mind.


Paul gave me a ride to the airport in Seattle. I kind of adopted him as my american uncle...


At the airport, Stephen, one of my best friend, came to see me. I was so happy. 


I met Joel at the airport, an amazing French man, 64 years old, who's traveling around the world on his bike.  Someday in France, when he was riding his bicycle, someone run him over and he was left on the road, dead. By chance, a fireman found him and saved his life. He spent days in coma and had some injuries and became invalid. He couldn't work on his vineyard anymore, sold everything and decided to bike all the way to the north tip of Norway. This trip inspired him to go for a world trip and he decided to leave for two years with his tricycle. I spend the night at the airport waiting for our airplane with him. He inspired me to the most, touched my heart. He is a hero to me, never gave up on his dreams even though everybody was telling him he shouldn't go. I cried seeing him leaving walking with his cane, thinking I could never give up on my dreams...


On the plane, I met Gina from Los Angeles. She is Mexican and she owns a travel agency in USA. She dreams of sailing... I told her about my sail boat and she said she would love to sail with me.... That would be a really cool experience !!! I invited her to come to PA next year and sail with me to the island... 


I arrived in Miami around 6am on the 31st of august. No seat available for Paris until the 5th of september. All flight were full because of the hurricane. I took a bus ticket to Melbourne and visit Noah's parents. I spend almost a week there, enjoying Elaine company, the beach, warm water, playing in the waves and my visit with Ran, Noah's dad. A great break from Pangea before Paris. Smells and weather reminding me of Moorea, warm sand under my skin, sun and wind putting me to sleep... dancing with the waves, body surfing with millions of fishes, making waves of fish... it was an amazing experience. 


I drove the bus back to Miami on the 5th to catch my plane to Paris... sun left her golden color on my skin and I was re-energized...


I met Madeleine on the plane, she is the director of Lalique shop in Beverly Hills. I told her about my adventure and we became friends. She was really nice and I was happy to sit by her.


I hug her goodbye and run out  of the plane to catch the RER (train to Paris). The movie I worked for last year in French Polynesia, "L'ordre et la Morale"(the Rebellion) was on show avant-premiere at the Lido, the film maker and main actor, Mathieu Kassovitz, invited me. I had to be there in one hour. I arrived an hour late but made it inside even though I had all my bags. The guys at the entrance and the director were nice enough to let me in and watch my bags. The movie was amazing, every memories came back to me, so much work and heart put into it... It is strong and the pictures were striking, I cried it was emotional and deep... I'm proud to have work on it.  I didn't know who I was going to meet there and everybody I saw was a great surprise. 


I took the metro to my uncle and aunty. They live in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Walking back there was once again a weird feeling of flashback. The last time I was here, I was with Noah, caring 120 kg of luggage, surfboards and loads of camera and gear. It was snowy and cold.... 


The next day I met my friends Marco and Sylvie, stayed at their place and felt like being with family. 
I met friends all week long... Traveling by metro started to be heavy on my psycho and I decided to cross town by bike on saturday to visit Thibault, whom I haven't seen since my departure for Mexico. I met his little family, the cute Amaya and the beautiful Marie-Claire...


Being in Paris this time alone is a different experience from the previous visit I did.


I'm working tomorrow with Marco and Sylvie until wednesday....


Hope all is well for all of you and your family...


A bientot


Bisou


Poema

Life in P.A.

Almost a month since I got back from Mexico... I focused my mind on the teak deck when I arrived and stayed alone as I wished... quietness and peace brought me back to my soul and I could find my path again...

Eric and Nolwen's visit gently walk me out of my alone stage and now I'm back on track... I can feel the magic again :)

I went to a roast corn party sunday with some friends. Andrew, the owner of the house invites over at  his place around 400 persons each first sunday of august since 14 years, for a roast corn party. He asks his friends to come with new people each year.

On the road sign, some corns are hanging.. cars are parked all along the drive way... people here and there, a giant BBQ full of corn. I arrive with Mickeal, Mariela, Jim and Linda. I tried to make a fondant au chocolat but it became a browny, so I made a salad with homemade vinaigrette. Jim and Linda brought a carrot cake, Mariela made a tiramitsu and Mickeal a greek salad.

I help myself and as waiting for some BBQ fish, Andrew introduces me a young man, telling "here someone that speaks french !!" I was eating some salad and got kind of surprised by the whole situation.. I could stop giggling as I was thinking that I probably have some salad leave on my teeth...
The young man stared at me with and asked me in french "why are you laughing ??? are you making fun of me ? "NO ! I just enjoy laughing... we started to talk and he tells me... "My biggest dream is to have a sailboat and sail around the world"... "You have to come visit my sailboat" I told him... then I ask... what's your name ? "Camille"... I smiled, couldn't stop smiling... Camille is the name of the boy I met 16 years ago on the beach in Moorea. He sailed with his parents from Vancouver, Canada to French Polynesia. He was special to me and I never forgot him. He promised me he would be back... but never did hahaha... When I bought Pangea with Martin, Martin decided that our first destination would be Vancouver island... While working on Pangea to get her ready to come up the coast, I thought about Camille and tried to look for him on internet since I couldn't find his phone number. It would have been good to see him again and especialy arrive there on my sailboat since he never showed up with his !!! hahaha !!!

I found him on his wedding day, I was so excited to know that he was getting married and to see him again. We met the day after his wedding and I met the woman of his life, the beautiful Elise... she became special to me... I was so happy to see them, see Camille... he didn't change much just got taller (he use to be shorter than me).

Camille, my new friend from France, and I left the party to visit Pangea. I was happy to show him Pangea, my dream that came true... we have shared dreams and meeting him wasn't random. We were meant to :-).

He loved Pangea, of course !!! She is beautiful and such a great boat !!!! The BESSSSTT boat in the world... for me :-)

We drove back to the party and spent the whole day togeteher. He was such a matured thinking kid for being 15. We talked about life, had some corn and delicious home made pizza.

The party was very mellow and relaxing, people of all age, food everywhere and drinks cooling in a iced pool...

I left at sunset... Camille promised me he would do everything to realize his dream and see me again... how funny !!! I keep smiling thinking about it, thinking about life, how it is special when we open our heart, listen, feel and live...

Yesterday I visited Jim and Linda who invited me to their house to pick some lettuce from their garden and go berry picking. I arrived there around noon. They moved in P.A. a little more than a year ago and started a vegetable garden. Lettuce, tomato, chard, berries, fruit trees... and much more. With Jim, we drove to a U pick farm. I always wanted to experience U-pick farms and I was really excited because I could pick and eat !!! that's the whole fun about it ! So we did, so much fun, I had a full belly at the end... and 5 pounds of berries !!! yeah !!! It such a clever idea to have these U-pick farm. People come with family or alone and enjoy the experience to the fullest...  I loved it !

We came back home and saw some deer. I layed on the grass, I miss is sometimes on Pangea... Jim brought us an appetizer plate, chedaar cheese of all kind and smoked salmon... DELICIOUS !!! sweet cherries from their young tree, sweet and melting in my mouth. Dinner time... We picked the vegetable we needed from the garden and we went finishing for trouts in their pond. It was so much fun !!! I tried to get a picture of our first catch and while posing with the fish in front of the camera, being a dork as I do very well, the fish got off my hands and went back in the water !!! Oups.... We got 3 fishes but it wasn't as easy as I'm sure they have been told that we were fishing ... :)

I prepared the fish in papillote and some fried potatoes from the garden, Linda prepared the chard and desert... Delicious dinner, beautiful friends and an amazing view over the mountains...

 

Life is beautiful and I'm happy to be here, happy to be... simply...

Love

Poema

Pangea part II

Part I was the shared story with Martin and the boys and « Part II » is when I am alone with Pangea.

After my Mexican trip, I came back on her and finally settle down. I started to work on the deck, taking off the seems with a cutter, and deepening all the shallow seems rail, a pretty hard work as you are on your knees, with a gigantic hook  (like Captain’s Hook), trying to carve hard wood… Rob, a friend we met while at dry dock, came by the other day and made my work easier, he custom made a U-shaped tool to take the seems off easier and he used his dad screw driver for it. « My dad would have been happy to see it used like that ! ». I’m almost done with the prep, Eric, a talented wood worker will come this week to finish up with me and we will put new seems on very soon. Everytime my back, hands, knees hurt, I just dream about my so wished perfect teack deck and it gives me energy. Plus with all this, I’m learning how to do it and I will be proud of it because I would have done it.

While in Los Angeles, I was chating with Nolwenn, our french girlfriend who is living with Eric in Ventura Marina, who celebrated the multiple Ventura Pangea departure. She was telling me about her dreamed of owning an aluminium sail boat, and she has a pretty big project that could become true soon…. It’s in the oven. I invited them to come on Pangea when I will be back in Washington and here they are. I was so excited to see them, I cleaned the boat, prepared their room… Pangea is the first « house » I owned and they were my first visitors, so special ☺…
They arrived in Seattle and rented a car to drive up here at around 1.30am in the morning. I was so happy to see them !!! We talked for two hours and went to sleep.
When we woke up, we went for a zodiac cruise in the marina. I wanted to show Nolwenn a massive aluminium boat that just arrived for dry docking. It was huge. The owner custom made it in Australia and sailed across the Pacific with it, but this boat is so big and strong and everything you can imagine (beside good looking) that you would think they’ve been in Antarctica with it or will…
Then they met my friends, Paul, who was trying to start an old motor he fixed, Eric who was waiting on his costumer to come pick up their sailboat he worked on.  With Eric approval to go sail with the open deck, Eric and Nolwen went for grocery shopping and I prepared the boat for our week end trip to the islands.
We decided to go to San Juan Island as Martin told me Griffin bay was a really nice anchorage. We took off around 4.30pm. I was a little nervous as it was my first real cruise without Martin. We got off the slip (in and out off slip manœuvre are probably the trickiest) like a flower and put the sails up in the bay. Pangea flew with the wind on her back and we made up to 8 knts with the genoa and main sails up in butterfly. It took us around 6 hours to get there, we crossed the fog, first time for Nolwenn and I. We arrived in Grifin bay around 9 pm and anchored in front of a beautiful endless beach and pine forest. Pizza and beer for diner !!!
I woke up early the next day, and took the zodiac for a sunrise cruise. The water was like a mirror and Pangea was touching the sun… walk on the beach, random forest trails, diamond line left by spiders all over the trees… I could see Pangea thru the pine threes. This bay was the most beautiful I’ve seen since we arrived in Washington state, I will come back.
I hang out on the beach, and then row back to the boat. Nolwenn and Eric went to land for a forest/beach walk too and I cleaned the boat. When they came back I went to swim and we took the zodiac to visit the little marina at the end on the bay. We saw jelly fishes of all size and color, huge crabs caught by local fisherman and seals jumping out of the water.

In the afternoon, we sail up to Orca island. We tried to anchor at Massacre bay first but the anchorage wasn’t good so we motored to the next bay, Deer Harbor. The cruise was really nice, ferry passengers waving at us « that makes me realized we are doing something special » said Eric.
Nice appero in front of a big cliff and early night for us.
We decided to leave Deer bay around 10 to be able to get to Port Angeles before sunset. We motor up to the straight separating Canada to USA and saw Orcas. We were so excited, I’ve waited so long for them, one of the reason Martin wanted to come here… and here they were… whille sail motoring to get close to them, I smelled burn and ran down thinking that it was the oven but no flamme there… All I could remember was my Basic saftey training teacher telling me that fire is the worst case scenario on a boat !!!! No way !!!! I ran out to turn the motor off, call Eric and Nolwenn, run back down to open all the door of the motor case… Eric arrived with the extinctor… no flamme… what could it be !!!! we look around and I noticed the alternator has a different color, I touched it and it was burning hot. It burned out. We kept on looking around for any fire, Eric opened the hatches while Nolwenn was outside steering the wheel. We calm down and started to think about a solution. We had to sail and I would take the alternator off to find out why it was so hot. I was still shocked by the events but we were sailing, and there was no fire…. I started to read about mechanic and alternator, check if there was water in the motor… The afternoon was pretty frustrating, we spent around 6 hours drifing with currents, no wind, then wind but strong current and San juan Island was still as close as 2 hours later. We tried to tack but we got sent back twice to departure point. Eric then decided to riff the main sail, thing that I never done and we started to move faster. I felt better and focus on getting a solution for the motor for emergency use and entering in the slip. During the sail back to Port Angeles, I learn alot from Eric who is a great sailor. They both kept their zen when I was stressing about not getting them back to Port Angeles. We sail with front wind and tack. It was great. I customized the alternator, unplugging all the electrical line and using it as a pulley to run the water pump. I had enough charge in my battery with the solar pannel and I didn’t need the electrical use of the alternator but the water pump is a must. We ried the engine for a little bit and it worked !!!! YEAH !!! My first mechanical/electrical experience !!! I was so happy, laughing about the drifting situation and relived to no have had a fire on board. We arrived by night in Port Angeles, with 7 hours delay. The wind blew strong enough to fly us at 5 knots to the bay then it died when we enter Port Angeles bay. It was like it just helped us to get where we needed to… I started the motor, we put the sails down and slowly motored to the slip. The water was like a mirror. I jump on the dock and hugged Eric and Nolwenn, I was relieved and felt so good. It was 1,30am, Monday morning, Nolwenn prepared dinner and we went to sleep, exhausted by this big day. It was a real adventure !!! BIG THANKS to Eric and Nolwenn for everything they’ve done and the great week end !!!

A home call Pangea...

Back home…

My little Mexican excapade got me back on my feet but I had to come back to the startintg box of this life cycle to understand what happened this past months, why everything was such a struggle and hurtfull. I’m back on Pangea, where it all started. I got lost but I never gave up on my dream… I needed to be quiet and listen to my heart… submerge myself in nature and take time for myself to find my path again.

My sailing dream is a new cycle of my life. I think we all have several cycles in our life and they are all connected. Realizing our dreams, is never an easy job, but at the end it’s not the goal that really matter, what really matters is the journey that we made to get to it… and my journey to my sailing dream just started… it will take some time for me to get to sail alone but I will get there slowly… always remember that nothing is a failure when you are trying to live your dream, they are challenges we have to face because we need to learn something from it…  there will be tears because we go deep inside us to find what we want, what we are and we will have to overcome our fears…. And trust life…

Going to Mexico, I  met my sister and her family, I saw pure beauty and unconditionnal love in her child.  I met Janice, a friend I could laugh with, José who got me closer to Cuba and gave me strenght, Juan who gave me a ride and showed me that we were all one, Roberto who made me feel special again, Nadia and Ismael who let me in their world, Dina who remind me how special my life is, Martin who take good care of Pangea, Noah, who help me understand myself… and Nature who brought back peace in me, letting the stars shines over my dreams, sun reminds me who I was and where I’m from, water cleaned me… pelican flying gracefully over the water, full moon rising thru the clouds while surfing at sunset, beautiful flower in the desert, islands coming out the water, shark whales and so much more… and you, who are reading me and putting energy into this journey……..

Thank you all,

Love

Poema