An Interview with Pascal Sottas by Samuel Gardaz

« Working Together », « What Man can become through what he does » : words fitting of Pascal Sottas the man in charge of supervising the restoration of Fleur de Passion. A man of beliefs and convictions, attentive to the path that enables each one, through the productive tensions of work, to become fully conscious of themselves and of others.

How did you join the project to restore “Fleur de Passion”?

I met Pietro when he came back from his circumnavigation of Africa in 1998 (more details in the August newsletter). I immediately felt a good connection with him. We were both lovers of nature and adventure. We talked about projects such as descending the Yukon river on a canoe. Finally, we found this boat, “Fleur de Passion”, and the adventure began.

At that time, what experience did you have in the restoration of sailing ships?

I had built one sailing boat some years ago, after completing my carpenters’ apprenticeship. It was a 13.3 meter Rorqual, designed by Auzepy-Brenneur. It took part in the Transatlantic race Lorient – Saint-Barthélémy – Lorient, but ran into a storm on the way back and sank.

So you were already familiar with the sailing world, in particular with high sea racing?

Yes, but I did not like the competitive environment of high seas racing at all. After this experience, I turned a new page, but I still remained in the world of the sea and boats that made me dream. During further training as a carpenter, I built a canoe.

What interests you most in the world of sailing and especially old riggings?

I fascinated by the experience of working with a crew to manoeuvre such ships and the enthusiasm and excitation that goes with it. “Working together”: that is what is important to me. Fleur de Passion is perfectly adapted to the type of navigation that we are proposing: expeditions that make demands, forcing you to stop looking at yourself and to start looking at others. This is exactly what happens on a construction site when you raise a wooden frame: everyone pays attention to what everyone else is doing and guides each other through their movements. This collective regard for one another ensures each and everyone’s security.

I imagine that your outlook has greatly influenced the method and choices in the restoration process.

Yes, it was necessary to preserve Fleur de Passion’s character as a working boat, and most of all, make sure we didn’t make a yacht out of it! A working boat because it has precisely this vocation: whether the purpose is scientific or socio-educational, each voyage will be organised around concrete tasks to accomplish, specific missions to achieve. Missions which will create the drive and motivation needed for a team to work together productively, as I described earlier.

The restoration of “Fleur de Passion” was rich in emotions and in discoveries. Can you tell us about it?

It is clear that on such a construction site, you experience very strong emotions in a single day, even in the space of an hour. You can feel this boat, this living entity working into your own body. At the beginning, I remember scary moments when we were dismantling the ship and the more we removed of the old structure, the more we realised what we would have to do. I also remember some magical moments, like when we were setting the broadsides. As part of the process we had let go of some of our fears and uncertainties, we had to take stock and detach ourselves from time to time. These moments made me reflect a lot on the fear we all have to a certain extent of doing things wrong. But what is it really? A fear of not being loved, from which we strive to hard to find perfection. When one becomes aware of this underlying need, tensions ease up, one becomes calmer and more stable.