Planning

Waiting a year for the new boat to arrive seemed daunting, but as it turns out it has been very productive and a lot of fun. In September of 21 we flew to Cannes, FR for the Cannes Yacht Festival. We had hoped to see a JY51 at the show, but all the Jeanneau at the show were larger versions. It was a great opportunity to review the Jeanneau finishes and fabric samples as we were in full decorator mode. We concluded that we did not want to go with any of  their options for cockpit cushions or the bimini and dodger; the color options were not great, the bimini and dodger quality was not great and we wanted our boat to be unique.

101' Solaris

The Festival

                        Cockpit Cushions                                                        Interior Finishes

There were lots of yacht equipment suppliers and big beautiful yachts. Our broker friend from Solaris was there with several of the big beautiful Solaris boats. Suzette found a company, Beltrami, based in Milan that makes custom organic linens and cockpit cushions. Suzette loved their luxurious fabrics and really enjoyed meeting an owner of the company, Stephani Cantini. Three days at the festival was plenty of time.

From Cannes we made our way to Les Sables d'Olonne where the new boat would be commissioned. On the way we stopped in Toulouse for the food and Bordeaux for the wine. In Les Sables we met Jean Christophe, the man who will oversee the commissioning of the new boat at Sailing Atlantic Services (SAS). We brought him a bottle of wine from Bordeaux, which he graciously accepted. He gave a tour of the facilities and answered our many questions about the process of commissioning the boat.

We asked about insurance and he said come with me. We thought he was taking us to an insurance broker near by, instead he was walking down to the dock to introduce us to Bruce and Peggy. They were on their Jeanneau 490 that had just been commissioned. They were preparing to depart on there cruise south. They were very helpful and had a great referral for insurance. We exchanged contact information for future reference.

Next task was to see what chandleries were available and what we could source locally. There were several stores, but Sporto Oceanis seemed like the best option, mainly because they had a salesmen that was British and spoke English. He gave us a catalog that was reminiscent of the West Marine catalog back in the states. I was in shopping heaven with my new catalog. Last stop was the bike shop to check out the Brompton Electric Folding bikes. They were the lightest and most compact bikes on the market and they were very rideable.

We were able to visit the Jeanneau factory in Cholet, just east of Les Sables. Our host, Matthieu, was very informative. It was very reassuring to see how the boats were built and to see that quality control was well documented. This is a very modern and well run factory.

Satisficed with our visit to the yard and the factory we headed across the country to Bonne for wine and then south back to Cannes. In Cannes we walked the docks to take in the way the European boats were outfitted with sail configuration, dinghy type and storage, bimini, dodger, safety gear, etc. We ran across a JY51 and spoke with the owner about sailing in the Med. Always learn something new when we talk about boats and boating.

Lots of new data to take in, lots of planning to do...