La MaLouine, a Brise de Mer 31 from 1974, is being celebrated in the 50th anniversary issue of the magazine "Voiles et voiliers".
Double page picture in the magazine (Picture by Jean-Marie Liot)
I am feeling very proud of this celebration, as I resurrected La MaLouine in 2008 when I found her in a field near Norrköping in Sweden! Let me tell you a bit her story...
La MaLouine is the 36th Brise de Mer 31 that "Le Guen et Hemidy" company constructed. At the time, the company was producing various metal alloys used in the aircraft industry. Aside from its main business, the company started building aluminium boats by passion for sailing. This is how the series of Brises de mer and successors started. I bought La MaLouine in one week. I was working in Stockholm at the time and one day I went for lunch to a local "Gatukök" (street kitchen) to buy a kebab. While waiting for the kebab, I browsed through a local classified ads magazine, and I saw her. It was an immediate "coup de foudre" and a week later, I was tha happy owner of a Brise de mer 31, abandoned in a field, and not having seen the water in several years! The seller was a Swede from the countryside not speaking a word of English, and I did not learn much about how she had ended-up in Sweden. I just understood that he bought her from someone having brought it from France.
We sailed it back from Norrköping to Stockholm (70 nautical miles) in a weekend, with an engine failure on the way...
Norrköping-Stockholm, May 2008.
In the summer 2008, I visited my parents in Saint-Pierre Quiberon and knocked at the door of Le Guen, residing there. He told me the story of the boat! In the 70's his company was buying the ore for their metal alloys from a Swedish company, and the Director of this company, a Swedish sailor, bought the Brise de mer 31 N°36 from "Le Guen et Hémidy" company. Le Guen remembered sailing a week in the channel Island with his Swedish counterpart to introduce him to the boat. The Swedish owner then brought the boat to Nice, through canals. The boat remained in Nice for couple of years and then, he convoyed her to Sweden, through canals and the Baltic Sea. Then, Le Guen lost contact with the owner, but I knew already the second part of her story...
In the winter 2008 and 2009, I engaged in a complete refitting of her, starting with sanding the hull and deck bare, then painting with a layer of etching, then a primary, and finally 7 layers of paint.
Spring 2009, ongoing painting of the hull
Sanding the deck bare, winter 2008
Refitting of the inside, spring 2009
Covering the deck with PVC flex-teak
Fitting a holding tank
A new kitchen, with a fridge!
And a new bathroom corner
Finally, she got new chandlery and back to waters after 6 months.
Sjösättning (boat launch) day in Rangsta Båt Klubb (May 2009)
La MaLouine ready to take sea, May 2009
Nynäshamn, August 2010
In 2010, I decide to sew an asymmetric spinnaker for La MaLouine. Quite an undertaking for a
spinnaker larger than my flat in Stockholm! I assembled the lays using a standard sewing machine with a three-point zigzag stitching, and a
Sailrite zigzag sewing machine for borders.
The spinnaker being sewed, April 2011
Sewing the halyard hook.
The new asymetric spinnaker in action, 2011
In the six years I owned La MaLouine, we sailed 5000 nautical miles in the Baltic sea, to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Gotland, Åland... La MaLouine proved to be very seaworthy and reliable.
On the way to Lethma, Estonia, August 2011
Bow on the rocks and back anchor, the Swedish way, August 2014, Huvudskär
In 2015, I decided to invest in a bigger boat, and naturally, I chose an OVNI, the direct descendants of the Brises de mer and to give La MaLouine to Thibault, one of the sailors in the family. At the end of May 2016, Thibault and Hélène along with friends came to Nynäshamn to convoy La MaLouine back to France.
La MaLouine and Belisama met on the day of departure of La MaLouine to France, May 2016
New happy owners departing back to France, May 2016
explanation of the name? I thought it was The Malouine, from St Malo?
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is the MaLouine, from Saint Malo. In fact, Ma Louine of Saint Malo...
ReplyDelete