While sailing I have got to know the sea, to love it and to respect it. I am worried for it, and the role it will play in the future. On the water I have learnt that we are nothing without nature. It’s obvious, but leaving behind the sensual experience, anchored forever between the sea and the mountains in the Mediterranean, that I got the idea for the Sillage (wake) project, which would bring together science around the sea. The idea being to have somewhere scientists could, over the course of a three-year expedition, study the Mediterranean and its key issues for the future. Putting together a female crew for this expedition, we wanted to get away from life’s stereotypes, the scientist’s career path and seafaring jobs, traditionally seen as masculine. To set positive references for girls all around the Mediterranean, and get them dreaming of being sailors, researchers or adventurers, and encourage them to make their own projects, to dare, to establish themselves, set a course, and create their own wake. When you arrive by sea, you look at things differently. And what better than a boat to talk about our relationship with the sea? Very symbolic places have been chosen for the stopovers of this expedition. Small islands and big cities: two opposite worlds on the Mediterranean scale.
Nathalie on board the Sillage Odyssée
www.sillage-odysee.fr
