1) The Crew
A cross portrait of the Dream Team !
Christian, known as Monsieur Mousse (Mister Cabin Boy), is the cook, the master chef of the ship. Always on the lookout for what might be missing in the galley, planning the menus, he treats us with his little dishes. Monsieur Mousse will quickly be promoted to 1st class Seaman as he adapts so well to the life of a sailor.
Christian is always in a good mood, has always a word to make you laugh, even when, at his expense, he integrates the adage “a hand for the man, a hand for the boat” (it’s not just the sea that’s blue, eh my Kiki ?)
Christian is the official photographer, a skilled portraitist, a lover of black and white. He is also the scribe (he’s a beautiful pen) in charge of the logbook that will be the memory of our adventures.
Christian is the happiness of windblown hair, of English so musical to his ears, of the rediscovery of fish and chips, of pubs, of beautiful doors painted in black (but he prefers the Beatles.)
Christian’s mantra :
“Alain Delon is dead !” when he gave us the news from the earthly world.
Christian : The cabin-boy (mousse, in French). He came on board as a virtual neophyte, full of enthusiasm and good will, with a false air of Einstein and a solid sense of humor.
Over the course of the cruise he got his sea legs, while never having been seasick, and proved to be a good crew member.
He fell in love with Ireland but has not yet found the Irishwoman to go with it!
Christian (or Kiki) had never taken to sea when we decided to form our crew. But he was immediately thrilled by the idea of this navigation to Ireland.
Thanks to his brother Bruno, at the last moment he had the opportunity to have a little sailing experience, on Lake Geneva.
He and I have been friends for a long time, and we live a few miles away.
I believe his only concern was the fear of seasickness, and no one could guarantee that he would be spared.
This was the case, however, and all the tricks that I had imagined to preserve him from being seasick : nautamine, earplugs, anti motion sickness goggles, all proved useless.
Faithful assistant to Bruno at the food supply and in the kitchen, he has shown a great courage, as staying inside the cabin in the swell is a perilous exercise for people prone to seasickness.
Self-proclaimed cabin boy (mousse, in French) he imposed on being respectfully called Mr Mousse, and at the end of our journey we officially promoted him able seaman, promotion he largely deserved.
His will, his good temper, his humor, his funny anecdotes, quickly made him the clown of the crew.
The enthusiasm and amazement he showed throughout our adventure, was one of my most beautiful awards.
Bruno SERPEREAU, experienced sailor on board Paradox of Plym.
A septuagenarian beginner but an accomplished sailor!
It is not because he is my brother, and far from me the idea of shamelessly boasting about his merit. But I can say that he has traveled miles and miles, and not only on Lake Geneva, on which his Bermudian sailboat holds its place in the port of Yvoire.
The sailing virus has been with him for a long time. An introductory course at the Glénans sailing school was enough to give him a taste for sailing and the desire to start again and again, to the point of dreaming and then acquiring, with his wife Véronique, a good ten years ago, “la Mouette“, a First 31.
Residing near Lyon, if fresh water is more easily accessible than the sea or the ocean, this does not prevent him from embarking on other ships for long-distance voyages while multiplying sailing courses…
He often wears a T-shirt on which one can read: “I can’t, I have to sail !”
Sailing enthusiasts, “the sailors“, have an impressive culture in their field. They know all these technical terms and their completely abstruse meanings for the layman that I am (well, that I was !). Patrick, Eric and Bruno are no exception to this rule !
Bruno, through his training and his job as a teacher, documentalist and headmaster, is one of these scholars with a well-rounded general culture.
Eric and Bruno share this interest in all-round knowledge : they were thus very popular during the quizzes that we had fun taking part in during our downtime…
During this trip, Bruno discovered how a junk-rigged sailboat works without succumbing to its charm and intrinsic qualities : a point of view that must be respected. He will remain a “Bermudian”!
A great specialist in mooring on guard, Bruno was able to convince the entire crew of this technique that proved very effective.
Another talent : provisioning and cooking on board (an activity shared between brothers, of course), with always a good idea for meals and recipes!
Bruno likes :
Sailing, sharing this passion with Véronique and all other interested people, acquiring new useful sailing techniques (seamanship, electricity, engine), reading a good book in bed, exploring an unknown place, meeting new people, acting without procrastinating.
Bruno doesn’t like :
“not understanding”, television, SUVs, superfluous luxury.
Bruno : The perfect teammate, owner of a sailboat, used to navigating on OPB (other people boats).
A cultivated literary who lives with a book in hand.
High promoter of the fore-spring-line mooring !
Bruno is Christian’s older brother.
I had only known Bruno for a short time, but we both shared a passion and some experience in offshore sailing.
Bruno owns a First 31 on Lake Geneva, but he has also sailed beyond the Alps.
He once told us about an unfortunate attempt at a transatlantic crossing, when he was a crew member on a sailboat whose captain had a rather unusual concept of navigation and command. For example, he prohibited the crew from urinating in the toilets, forcing them to use plastic bottles instead.
Several other incomprehensible behaviors from this skipper had pushed Bruno to end the adventure during the stopover in the Canaries.
To ensure his cooperation, I officially authorized him to use the toilets on board. In exchange, he accepted, without really knowing it, the chores of provisioning and cooking, to which we never had anything to complain about.
Bruno has a background as a teacher. French language or mooring techniques, he has always been keen to fill in our gaps!
Eric ANDLAUER, quartermaster embarked on Paradox of Plym.
18 years old in 1968, Eric did not particularly show himself on the Parisian barricades, despite living in the capital…
Cartesian, gifted in science, mathematics, physics, this brilliant mind slightly thwarted by an assumed dyslexia will embrace a military career and become a pilot in the French Air Force.
A job that will allow him to “see the world” according to the consecrated expression.
His “rebel” and determined side will earn him some delicacy within the great mute (the french army) but integrity is priceless.
Due to his training as an engineer and the practice of air navigation, he will transcend his taste for the freedom to go where he wants by espousing the maritime cause.
Eric is indeed an experienced and respected sailor for he having sailed almost his whole life.
His long experience, sometimes as a solo transatlantic sailor, sometimes as a sailing instructor, sometimes as a crew member, makes him a reference in the field.
While he perfectly knows Bermudian sailboats, Eric is now a fervent defender of junk rigs and an active member of the JRA (bordering on proselytism !).
He owns an extraordinary specimen of this type of boat based in the port of Morlaix : the notorious “MingMing” a small 20 feet sailboat revised and modified by Roger TAYLOR, a famous adventurer known for having sailed with her on epic solo voyages on the Arctic seas.
Eric co-translated the books relating these adventures, as he speaks and writes English and is a friend of Roger.
He shares his life and sometimes navigation with Marie Aline. Lives between Paris intra muros and his second home in the Sarthe countryside.
If Eric is a true intellectual, with an impressive general culture, he is no less a great specialist in seamanship, practices splicing, masters the science of ropes and halyards, knows the subtleties of nautical charts, deciphers the secrets of meteorological hazards…
As a paragon, he loves to put his skills at the disposal of the epigones who lie dormant in us.
Another talent: Beyond the tinkering and practical sense required in navigation, he is on the verge of developing a revolutionary sail to equip junk rigging.
But hush! It is a technological secret to protect for the moment…
Eric likes :
His family in the broad sense, seafarers, boats, the sea, the swell, the heel, the waves, the wind, solo voyages, ropes of all kinds, the newspaper Le Monde, grapefruit for breakfast, black tea in the morning, Breton pancakes.
We don’t really know what Eric doesn’t like because he is one of the wise people who adapts dynamically…!
Eric, the crew’s well of naval science. He knows everything and more about boats, the history of navigation, and the resumes of sailors. An expert, he always has a tasty and relevant anecdote to illustrate a point or answer a question.
Eric is also the king of the lines, the splices, and the blocks. With his eye always on the lookout, he scans the spider web that crisscrosses the rigging, modifying a batten parrel (English vocabulary has replaced Chinese), lengthening or modifying a sheet by adding a new block, trimming or easing the throat parrel, moving the yard forward or back, cambering or flattening a panel… he never stops refining the maneuvers. Eric is the inexhaustible advocate of junk rigging, herald of the JRA, tireless junkist and proselytizer of Blondie Hassler and Roger Taylor whenever he makes a chance encounter on a pontoon.
Eric’s mantra :
“Dynamic !” And yes, nothing is perfectly programmable in sailing : the weather, technical hazards (a mast that wanders, a leaking tank, etc.) and it’s the whole schedule that has to be reviewed, an unforeseen stopover or one that has to be skipped (by the way, “why L’Aber Ildut ?” !)
In the junk rig world, Eric enjoys a certain authority. His designated rank is that of Sailing Secretary, a vague term that does not, however, reduce him to the simple role of secretary.
He co-translated Roger Taylor’s books, and it was by chance reading one of these copies that the junk rig bug bit me .
Victim of a past in military aviation, nourished by a long experience of sailing (ex winner of the Jester Challenge) and knowing all the models of sailboats by their first name, he was the last to join our crew.
His knowledge of navigation, especially in the Breton environment, was invaluable to us.
A tireless handyman, he took advantage of all the moments when the weather vagaries pinned us to the pontoons to study and propose a whole bunch of improvements that I should make to Paradox.
Despite a worrying obsession to always want to modify my sheet, halyard or parrels system at will, he proved to be an indispensable companion, generous and easy to live with.
Especially since we quickly understood that each of his humble suggestions had to be implicitly interpreted as a non-negotiable order.
Indifferent as well as ignorant of the naval hierarchy, we named him quartermaster, a rank that he did not dispute, and which sounded good on a boat!
Patrick LEBLANC, owner and proud captain of “Paradox of Plym“.
1957 model, not looking his age, of a good height, that is to say taller than average, Patrick has a good appearance and physique.
He is married to a beautiful person of Martinican extraction with the pretty name of Gina.
Born in Tunisia, but having grown up in the countryside of southern Tarn in Occitanie, he will boldly straddle his first motorcycle at the height of adolescence with a view to exploring the vast world, come rain, wind or snow…
This early taste for adventure and travel will not be denied in adulthood.
Like close relatives, he will exercise different professions on board offshore platforms located in all the seas of the globe offering exploitable oil resources.
During these two decades spent away from France, he will have the opportunity to know so many countries and encounter so many unique cultures that he expresses himself perfectly in English (written and spoken), can converse in German, and gets by in Spanish, Portuguese, and even Norwegian!
After this intense international activity, our jack-of-all-trades is back in his native country. In search of a little stability and attracted by the IT thing, Patrick will occupy until retirement a job of webmaster, a then emerging profession that requires a creative profile.
However, his natural inclination for escape will not leave him.
Tempted by sailing, he buys a small boat of 4.50m and takes his first tacks as best he can…
One day, he read “The long way“, by Bernard Moitessier. He sunsequently knocked down 6 meters of his garden wall to bring in a larger Bermudian sailboat with its trailer, which would allow him to improve and validate his taste for sailing, and dreams of offshore sailing.
Very quickly, his curiosity was piqued by the singularity and advantages of the junk rig: he opportunely joined the Junk Rig Association.
Seduced by this sailing concept, his third ship, China Blue, a junk rig schooner, would leave Scotland for the dry port of Soubise in Charente under the somewhat unconscious authority of its new captain, Patrick. This 12-ton sailboat, attractive on paper but a bit old, turns out to be difficult for his wife to maneuver and the honeymoon (with the boat) will be cut short…
Paradox of Plym will quickly succeed her : this 39-feet schooner manufactured by Freedom in 1988 and later transformed with junk sails, will win Gina’s approval and Patrick’s adoration…
Patrick likes :
Gina, his boat, adventure, the sea, people, his friends, his cat Lulu, music, good songs, sugar, beer, rum… (pastis too)
Patrick doesn’t like :
What prevents him from being free, administration, standing in a queue, disco, RnB, pizzas, Mac Donalds, Starbucks, fast food in general and everything that makes him grumble… and he often grumbles ! (pff, non-exhaustive list)
Patrick is the captain, who prepares his boat in the spring (but who thinks about it all winter), who studies the routes, anticipates the tides and their currents, consults the weather forecast. In winter he sews to enlarge the sail, in spring he puts a tank back into service (damn! a leak!).
Patrick is about sharing. He shares his boat with his crew, he asks his crew members’ opinion before making his decision. Never a bad word, always smiling, even when, with his butt in the air, he has to mop up that damn diesel. Patrick is the best of men.
Patrick is the bard of the team. On guitar and singing, he joins our Irish hosts for warm and friendly evenings. Next year, I promise, the tin whistle will be on the program!
Patrick’s mantra :
“That’s my boat !” Because it’s his blue wings baby, his pride, and he’s right. His boat, like for each of us, is the most beautiful, the one we chose, the one we pamper, and the one that swallows up our money, in short, our “dancer”.
Patrick : He’s the boss: the owner of the boat and the skipper.
An experienced skipper since he is in his third boat and he has, among other things, crisscrossed the Atlantic coast from Scotland in Soubise.
Always in an equal mood, he swims over fuel oil leaks, masts in need of freedom and the thousand and one hassle that dot a cruise!
The two brothers : Two brothers looking after eachother with a lot of affection and mutual connivence. They masterfully took charge of the logistics on board, sometimes concocting culinary feats for us in turbulent times.
The band of three : The three other members of the crew had as their “mentor” a certain Marc, a great “cultural animation amateur animator”, mentor of Kiki (Christian) at the Caisse d’Epargne (where they both used to work).
For some esoteric reason, the possibility of a stopover at “why l’Aber Ildut” aroused an opposition as fierce as it was unjustified.
The Crew : A close-knit and efficient group with complementary skills, a general good mood and great attention to each other.
2) Friends, encounters
 Yvonne Cardiff |
 Kevin Cardiff |
 Alan Mulholland |
 Dorothy Conaghan |
 Joe Conaghan |
 Jenny de Sonneville |
 Joss de Sonneville |
 Didier |
 Nono |
Yvonne Cardiff 
Of course, Yvonne is the wife of our friend Kevin.
As soon as we met her, we found Yvonne to be boundlessly kind and helpful.
She welcomed us (Gina and myself, Patrick) into her lovely home and, with great discretion, did everything she could to make us feel at home, despite having to continue working remotely (I may be inaccurate, but Yvonne works with the Ministry of Transport—I think…).
Yvonne may prefer organized cruises to the discomfort of her husband’s small junk, which he though named after her—Yvonne. But she insists on giving Kevin this freedom, which allows him to indulge his sailing desires.
An amusing anecdote is that Kevin often mentioned his wife’s name to us, regularly mentioning her in our conversations.
But as time passed without us having the opportunity to meet her, we referred to her by comparing her to Mrs. Colombo, the invisible wife of the famous television detective!
Kevin Cardiff
I (Patrick) had met Kevin myself via video call three years earlier, when he did me the honor of conducting an interview for the JRA about the purchase of China Blue and my trip with her from Glasgow to Soubise.
I then had the pleasure of having him as a crew member aboard China Blue during the Roscoff junket in 2023. From Roscoff, he accompanied us to Lesconil, from where a taxi took him to his professional duties.
Two years ago, in summer 2023, Kevin joined us on Paradox during the Semaine du Golfe in Morbihan, and sailed with me to Soubise.
A generous and dedicated man, a pleasant companion, Kevin always complied without protest with the demands of navigation and the whims of the captain, who exploited him like a common cabin boy, without the slightest consideration for his professional activities in the international finance sector, nor for his no less eminent position as chairman of the Junk Rig Association.
During our stay in Malahide in 2024, Kevin has been a thoughtful host, making himself entirely available to show us around the region and serve as our driver whenever we needed it.
Kevin is a mountain of kindness!
Alan Mulholland
What else can we say about Alan? You can learn practically everything about him by watching his YouTube channel, which has over 46,000 subscribers! See here, for example.
But more than a true web star, this astonishing Canadian is above all a formidable tinkerer, capable of building a house or a boat with his own hands, inventing and developing his own efficient wind vane, and adopting techniques and crafts on demand as his ambitions grew.
This man is a bundle of energy as well as sympathy, gifted with unfailing joviality.
A solo sailor, his first round-trip Atlantic crossing on his first Wave Rover, a Contessa 26, 7.70 meters vessel he had prepared himself, was followed by the construction from scratch of his second boat, Wave Rover II, slightly larger and junk-rigged, with which he crossed the Atlantic once again to visit his native Ireland.
Meeting him during our stay in Dublin was a real stroke of luck, and a strong friendship was immediately formed between Alan and our small crew.
His motto, “Forge your own adventure!“, is well known to anyone who has watched his videos…
Dorothy Conagnan
Dorothy, like many people we fraternized with in Ireland, conceals beneath her sympathy and natural simplicity the important role she plays in certain high spheres of society.
Without claiming to explain its implications, one need only enter her name into a search engine to get at least a small glimpse:
PhD holder, researcher and lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts, the Institute of Cultural Management and the Institute of Music Pedagogy in Vienna, member of the board of directors of the International Music Council, affiliated with the University College of Education in Dublin, associate member of the Center for Human Rights…
The comprehension and scope of her curriculum vitae is beyond my grasp!
We, simple Sunday sailors, have retained her generosity, her love of sailing, her passion for the violin, her smile, and her excellent company!
Joe Conagnan
Joe is, as a matter of fact, Dorothy’s husband, and she herself proclaims that “she couldn’t live with another man“!
To the gaze of us French, Joe, by his appearance, his somewhat crazy scientist look, represents a typical Irishman.
Passionate, enthusiastic, and inexhaustible, he seems to possess infinite culture as soon as the subject touches on the history of navigation, its implications in global geopolitics as well as in his native Ireland.
Joe doesn’t sail. Yet, he is the director of the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, where he spends much of his time, and whose abundant documentation he tirelessly explores.
He is currently working on a thesis recounting the important, yet poorly documented, role of the English Navy in the development of the city of Cork in the 18th century. This port served as a base for the British army engaged in the American War of Independence, an army that would later be sent packing by a certain Frenchman named Lafayette.
Please don’t give too much credence to this paltry historical epic, but the general idea is there.
Still, Joe captivated us with his explanations, his emphasis, and his enthusiasm for sharing everything he thought might interest us.
Irish whiskey included!
Jenny de Sonneville
During our first stopover in L’Herbaudière, we were alongside the beautiful Halcyon II. Its crew, consisting of Jenny and her husband Jos, very kindly welcomed us aboard for a very friendly moment.
Jenny immediately captivated us with her sparkling eyes and generous smile.
Incidentally, she works as an expert trainer in English and communication.
And, to top it all off: Jenny is Irish!
Joss de Sonneville
Jos is a tall Dutchman. He is the proud owner of Halcyon II, the beautiful boat we are alongside during this first stopover in L’Herbaudière, a cutter-rigged Wanderer 40.
Jos bought the hull, but designed the deck and interior layouts entirely, which he then had completed by a shipyard in Turkey. The result is magnificent, a testimony to the owner’s design talents.
He sails with his wife Jenny, and when we met him, the couple was on their way back to The Hague in Holland.
His professional involvement in water resource management for the environmental and economic development of society didn’t stop him from serving us an excellent whisky!
Didier Cormier
Didier is the Treasurer of the ACCPV (Association de la Course-Croisière des Ports Vendéens).
On September 23, 2024, we met Didier after he had just experienced a harrowing episode on his sailboat (his crew member was winched by helicopter, the boat was unable to maneuver, and was towed by the SNSM, etc.).
We invited him to come and recover from his emotions over a drink aboard Paradox, and he didn’t forget us.
During our stopover in Bourgenay, he, in turn, welcomed us into his apartment for a very friendly evening.
Didier told us that he was able to finance his boat by quitting smoking… too bad I don’t smoke; I could have quit smoking to give Paradox a facelift!
Nono
Noël Prod’homme, nicknamed “Nono“, is a friendly, outgoing, and inexhaustible source of anecdotes when it comes to regattas.
He is also the president of the Société des Régates de l’île de Noirmoutier.
We welcomed him for a drink on Paradox in the port of L’Herbaudière, when he came to support his friend Didier and help him organize the repair of his boat, which had a mooring line wrapped around the propeller.
With his wit and piercing gaze, the evening was guaranteed to be lively!
His boat, L’Excuse, is a First 305 that had burned down, and that he has completely restored.
This speaks volumes about the man’s abilities and tenacity.
Since then, the boat and its crew have regularly been in the spotlight during regattas organized by the clubs of Noirmoutier, Bourgenay, and Saint Gilles Croix de Vie.