“We had read ‘Un temps pour un rêve’ by Geoffroy de Bouillane, and one thing was certain – our boat would be a catamaran. There remained however some question marks – the size, the model... We therefore checked the forums, looking for information. We wanted a cat which was fast, preferably with daggerboards. We then started our ‘budget’ evenings: what we had, and above all, the coming expenses: the purchase of the boat, its preparation, the cost of living aboard during the voyage, and the cost of our return ashore, so we made no mistakes. Fortunately, there is a lot of information to be found on the internet. We discovered an Outremer 45 for sale at Saint Nazaire; on visiting it for the first time in April 2013, we liked it immediately! The children even chose their cabins. The selling price was a bit too high, but negotiable, and it was still too early. Six months later, we had reached an agreement; the sales agreement was signed! On a chilly November morning, we went sailing. Wow, how the boat slipped through the water; we were sailing at 8 knots incredibly peacefully; there were 11 of us aboard, but we didn't get in each other's way. So Mephisto was to become our boat. All that remained was to find it a name - it was to be Siminoé, from the names of our three children: Si for Simon, Mi for Camille, and Noé for Noémie. We carried out the first preparations for cruising the following summer in Brittany. 800 miles later, delighted with the boat’s performance and life aboard as a family, we hauled the boat out at the Port à Sec de Soubise, so it could undergo a complete refit: taking the mast down, reconditioning the engines, installing a watermaker and a hydro-generator – work carried out by Valentin, so he will know every inch of the boat before our departure, planned for 2015.
Carine and Valentin, aboard Siminoé
www.siminoe.net
