reportage
Travel the love and the seven seas Ahoy mates! Let me share with you a quite original story recently unveiled by the New York Times. As the beautifully inspired Black-Eyed Peas wrote: where is the Love? Actually, the answer may well hide offshore.
S
o once upon a time, there was a loving couple united by their fascination for the oceans, Sam Davies and RomainAttanasio. After a bit of time spent encouraging each other, they ended up being rivals and are currently engaged individually on two distinct ships in the frame of the ongoing edition of theVendée Globesailing race. This World tour competition has its dawn and sunset at Atlantic seaside city Les Sables-d’Olonne, France suddenly gained a unique slice of romanticism. Who knows, they just might have launched a tradition for sailing couples to put their love and relationship to the test. Chris Museler from The New York Times writes: “Splitting up their training over the past two years, each taking turns being with their son while the other is at sea, is distinct in the hyperfocused world of solo sailing. Once working on each other’s campaign in the past, they are now competitors, but they are not competitive with each other, mostly because Davies is probably going to be a front-runner in her more modern sailboat. […]
In France, Davies and Attanasio are considered a power couple. They met in 2003 during their first foray in the Solitaire du Figaro, a cutthroat solo racing circuit on the west coast of France that feeds the best skippers into events like the Vendée Globe.” So in a nutshell, if you Juliette or Romeo and the pearl of your eyes say “Aye!” to such a challenge, cast off the lines and go ahead! You may well make some discoveries ashore, as the music band Tana & the Pocket Philharmonic sings with its ukulélé: “You’re showing off like that kinda girl, That knows she’s pretty. But I know you are that kinda pearl, That hides deep in the sea.” (Swankin’, a song from the album Springtime EP by Tana & the Pocket Philharmonic)
Jules Striffler
Sources: Museler, C., 2020. This Couple Is Sailing Around The World — Against Each Other. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/sports/sailing/ sailing-vendee-globe-yachts.html?searchResultPosition=1> https://tanasunset.bandcamp.com/track/swankin Photo by BobaJovanovic on Unsplash (sailing boat)
14 - VOICES
