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Makena - Meet Philippe



November 25, 2014
Onboard Makena, Lagoon 620 crossing the Atlantic

Position at noon
16° 37.2' N
43° 31.0' W

We reached the half way mark today. Big celebration for a couple of minutes.

The weather was very disturbed with squalls everywhere, sail changes constantly and episodes of serious dumping rain. Just when we thought we had the conditions nailed, they threw a curve ball at us and we needed to change course or take down the sails that we had just put up. We had long periods with very light winds. Our 24 hour run was the least that we have seen so far at just 138 miles made good.
Several incidents onboard drew our attention. The main halyard just decided to unleash and the mainsail came down in a heap. Luckily, there was enough topping lift to hold the boom from crashing too hard into the bimini. Earlier, we were cruising along rather nicely, watching a squall come up from behind. It approached a little quicker than we anticipated and we ended up pulling the spinnaker sock down in 30 knots of wind. There were a few times when we were practically lifted off the deck trying to hold the line to douse her.

Torrential rain changed our dinner plans. Everything was nicely set on the cockpit table until it was raining so hard, with water splashing in from every direction, that we moved the dinner into the salon table, while the rest of the crew making one of the aforementioned sail changes. You would think that we would tire of the fresh fish. Not so aboard Makena. The chef de cuisine, Sarah Barthelet keeps the new dishes rolling out, each topping the previous. Dinner was huge slabs of wahoo baked in the over with a Japanese style sauce. Also, small pieces of fried wahoo in a spicy breading. The accompaniments were coleslaw, pasta pesto and leeks.

Meet the crew: Philippe T. lives in the suburbs of Geneva
Philippe T. is truly our International Man of Mystery. When queried on nearly any subject, he seems to have a vast knowledge and strong understanding of that subject. He is naturally curious and loves to find out how things work, what makes them tick and in the background I can see the cogs turning as he works on ways to make them more efficient.

Philippe was hired by Luc in 1991 and came to Silicon Valley for six months. In the blink of an eye, that turned into ten years. Photography is Philippe's passion. Many of the photos (all of the great ones) that have accompanied the blogs have come from Philippe's hand.

Naturally gregarious and an obsessive world traveler, Philippe's photographs are exposed by many major organizations, including Unicef. Philippe has a way of pulling out expression, using light and locking a moment in time. His greatest joy with photography is meeting people. He has used photography to meet people in some of the most untraveled countries. These meetings have allowed him to make friends and keep in touch with people worldwide. His network of friends is growing so fast that he has far more places to go that time to go there.

When not off on work related travel, Philippe love to spend time with his wife and 11 year old daughter. Often, they are able to turn trips into work and play. Philippe is sought after by many start-ups and legacy companies for his ability to think outside the box. As a matter of fact, when we arrive in St. Lucia, he will hop on a plane to Korea to consult for one of these clients.

Skiing is his passion and he heads to Zermatt (his favorite ski resort) and other powdery locales as often as he can. He began sailing with ASA courses in Sausalito, while living in Silicon Valley. He has seen his share of big wind sailing in SF Bay and has the rare distinction of having lost a mast on a charter boat. Seems like the big wind follows him, as he has logged time aboard Makena with his family when Luc and Sarah invited him to Greece. On one leg they saw 50+knots of wind. Philippe will always be on Luc and Sarah's guest list as he always brings the finest coffee, cheese and chocolate from Switzerland and Italy.

Most people don't know that he has a collection of edible plants that he uses for landscaping at his house. You will see his work soon if you follow up on the ARC sponsored SOS organization in Cape Verde. While there he volunteered to do a photo shoot, capturing some emotive shots of the wonderful children they help, that they will use in their outreach materials.


112514 Philippe T

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