The idea of building a catamaran came about thanks to (or because of) Multihulls World, and notably following an article dedicated to amateur construction. That was in 2006, I believe. At the time I would never have thought it possible to build a catamaran as an ‘amateur’. I then contacted the architect, Patrick Lüscher, and with my husband, we went to Sète in the South of France to look at the plans. We immediately liked the architect’s philosophy, and we were able to start the construction of the Looping 50 in our garden. When you start 9,500 hours of work, you mustn’t think about the end of the construction after each day’s work, otherwise you could well despair. On the other hand, it is a good idea to set aims, such as ‘this summer I’m going to build the starboard hull.’ Today the catamaran’s exterior is ready to be painted, on the other hand as far as the accommodation is concerned, there is still a lot of work to be done. The launch is planned for the summer of 2017. We are building this catamaran with the aim of completing a ‘classic’ round the world trip via the trade wind route, or at least…almost: in fact, as we don’t like lazing for hours in the sun, and my wife is passionate about sewing, we are going to have sewing machines aboard, for us, but also for others! We hope to meet people in the so-called ‘under-privileged’ countries, to allow them access to sewing. This approach can notable be expressed by making available equipment and supplies free of charge, through the association we have created to this end. In addition, all the members of the association will have their name written on the catamaran’s hulls – a way for them to sail round the world with us.
Boat: Looping 50 under construction
Who: Jacqueline and Pascal
Where: France
Blog: www.voyages-du-bateau-ciseaux.org
