Yvelines. Attacked by pirates: Philippe Brillault finally arrived safely

The former mayor of Chesnay-Rocquencourt (Yvelines), Philippe Brillault, arrived safe and sound from his journey on Florence Arthaud’s former boat. The Lakota will remain French. (©78news)

News: You arrived this Sunday, July 3, 2022 in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes). What did you experience?

Philippe Brillault: 48 hours before arriving, I experienced an emotion that is difficult to identify. It was a form of serenity, peace and excitement to find the people and the country that I love. It was of a rare intensity. After 4 months of travel, including two at sea, my goal has been achieved. I brought back Florence Arthaud’s boat. The Lakota remains French. I gave it to Philippe Poupon who will bring it back to Lorient for the Route du rhum.

And after ?

DB: I am going to launch a call for projects so that this boat can be used for an association, a school. For him to live.

“The sea is meditation. Land is emotion”

During your journey, you were attacked by pirates. Is this the strongest memory you will keep?

DB: No. This attack was a violent event. But not the most beautiful of events. Perhaps the most intense was in Sri Lanka, when I went to a miserable hut to examine, as a doctor, a 40-year-old man with very advanced cancer. His family was there. I saw what misery really was.

This adventure… Would you do it again with hindsight?

DB: Redo it? No. Regret it? No. I have met such wonderful people. I am thinking of Pierre, in Sri Lanka. Or to Serge in Djibouti. Or the navigator Bernard Stamm also met in Djibouti. Without him, without them, I wouldn’t have made it to Cannes.

The Pierre 1er, a sailing legend

The Pierre 1er, renamed Lakota, is a veritable floating myth. It was with this vessel that Florence Arthaud won the Route du Rhum in 1990. In 1993, it changed hands. Her skipper and new owner, Steve Fosset, ranked 5th in the same regatta in 1994. The 18.28 meter vessel then took part in several regattas, beating numerous records. In 2000, it will be bought by the Swedish team Atlant Group. It is only much later, in 2021, that Philippe Brillault will decide to acquire it. Then to equip it to take it on the Route du Rhum, in the expert hands of Philippe Poupon.

Has this journey changed you?

DB: First, I lost 14 kg! I mostly ate rice on board. Some will think I was doing Lent. In fact, it was a reset.
And then, at sea, we develop a form of spirituality. For hours, we watch the sea, we feel the boat moving with the wind… All this is conducive to reflection. The sea is meditation. Land is emotion.

Exactly. What have you thought about?

DB: That I still have good years to live and that I will live them! I turned the page at the political level. I have projects full the bag. Starting with a film project on the return of Florence Arthaud’s boat. And by a book. Before I left, my son bought me a dictaphone. I recorded a report every day.

Tonight, Tuesday July 5, you will return home to Chesnay-Rocquencourt. How do you approach the return?

DB: I think I’m going to be more zen. I’m going to put things into perspective much more after seeing so much suffering in different countries. I don’t come in as a vindicator, but a mere witness. The first one who honks at me on rue de Versailles, I’m going to tell him that we have to put things into perspective. It doesn’t matter if you don’t start in a quarter of a second.

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Yvelines. Attacked by pirates: Philippe Brillault finally arrived safely