History

"You may not see the future if you do not know the history" so here we present ourselves, the concepts that lead us here and the reality as it evolves.

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Françoise Vincens

Born in Abbeville, France, her father initiated her to sailing at a very young age and she sailed extensively in the Channel between France and England with excursions ranging from the Sily islands to the north sea harbours. She met Pascal Landa in 2013 and patiently constructed this new life style over 3 years.

Pascal Landa

US citizen born in France. He started his life early at sea crossing the atlantic at 9 months old on the Queen Mary. He was raised in early childhood in New York where he often went with his parents at friend's house in the surroundings, owners of small motor boats, who loved to have Pascal “drive the boat” …

Sailing began at the age of 18 hitch-hiking on boats around the french Atlantic, Spain and the Mediterranean. He would get a free ride from skippers in exchange of helping out, sailing and maintaining the boats. At the time, rudimentary navigation equipment required long hours at the helm and extensive routing calculations to insure safe night harbor approaches considering both currents, light house readings and gonio cross identification.

At the age of 20 he hired out on a motor yacht as a cook and sailed the French and Italian coast for a few months.

After his bachelor's degree in 1977 he worked with a man who owned a 9 meter Beneteau Evasion in the San Francisco Bay area. Sailing out of Richmond, Pascal had the boat available whenever he wanted. This enabled him to gain serious autonomous skills in sailing as the islands in the Bay Area provide interesting wind situations, currents and contrasting weather. Sailing out of the bay along the coast up to Point Reyes and back occasionally was quite challenging. In 2 years he sailed over 50 days in all types of conditions.

In the next 10 years, as an IT specialist he was invited on several occasions for sailing excursions. In Australia in 1982 he had the occasion to sail to the barrier reefs.

IT Director for Ernst & Young, coordinator for Southern Europe, he had the occasion to sail to England and back. On one of the cross channel journeys, the captain and Pascal were the only ones still functional in the rough seas that rose on the return journey. The channel is a most difficult area to sail with the ship Rails, the currents and the channel that proposes fast changing difficult situations. On several occasions he was invited by major companies in sailing weekends.

With his children regularly in the spring, he would spend a week at the Ile de Batz on the coast of Brittany and play with hobby cats or sail on an ancient fishing boat.

In 2010, he rented a Hanse 41 and sailed to Corsica and Sardaigne with his family. The improvements in navigational equipment made life much easier on board.

In 2011 he joined a captain in the Caribbean and conveyed a 15 meter english Ketch across the Panama canal, to the Galapagos, the Marquises, the Touamotu islands and finally to Tahiti island. He then sailed around the southern Polynesian islands for 3 months.

In 2016 he helped convey in rough seas a 42 ft sailboat from Gibraltar to Marseille.

Pascal Landa is both a seasoned sailor who respects the sea, an international traveler who has had a successful career in leading IT technology firms (Ernst & Young, Steria), a mature entrepreneur who ran his own firm for 10 years and a family man. Competent in technology he masters both the physical and the technological aspects of sailing while remaining humble towards the sea.

His plans for the next 10 years is to sail 9 months out of he year, progressively going around the globe. He will leave the boat in shipyards yearly for maintenance and return to see friends and children.

GENESIS

From the reading above you'll have gathered that deciding to change life style and engaging on a journey of this magnitude is something that has it's roots very early in the journey of life. One never really knows when it all begins. The Cousteau documentaries, the personal experiences, the round the world trip at 30 when Pascal first met Tahiti which in 1982 was still very provincial … probably all and more, but two events can be said to have changed the dream into reality. Initially it became evident that after a very intense professional life as an IT Director, who birthed into operational solutions all the technologies that run our lives today, he longed for another life style. At 58 he discovered that his CIO put banana peels under his feet to be able to hire her friend and negotiated early pre-retirement in the context of the french social system. Thus he was able, thanks to a friend who suggested he might do this, to accompany a man who wanted to bring his boat from Panama to Tahiti. Crossing the Panama Canal, stopping at the Galapagos, sailing to the Marquises, the Tuamotus and finally arriving in Tahiti after 2 months of life aboard convinced him that sailing, being able to meet locals and explore relatively virgin seabeds, could be a way to live. In today's world where even remote locations are being destroyed by pollution and over population, it might be a last opportunity to still meet authentic nature.
At 65 you have only a few years left to do things that require physical strength and mobility. With two major back operations, despite staying in shape and doing remarkable journeys (see blogs), Pascal and Françoise as well realise that in 10 years this would probably no longer be possible. Ageing has both advantages and constraints. If you do not accept them, plan for them and manage your life accordingly, then you head strait for disaster. This disaster may take many forms, sickness, accidents, or just "bad luck" ... but it is like most situations in life, if you refuse to accept what life proposes then you surely are going down the wrong road for yourself.
At this time we cannot say what tomorrow will be made of. Is that not true of all periods of life? We have prepared for the last 3 years for this moment when we begin the journey. We invite you to join us to discover what it will be and share the joys and sorrows that may come by.

Good wind to you, we are VERY LUCKY people to be able to enjoy life as much as we do.