|
Three years ago while
visiting Monaco’s Port Hercule marina, Jean-Michel Folon, the celebrated
painter and illustrator, fell in love at first sight.
The object of his affection
was no ordinary woman, or even a comely girl for that matter. Rather,
she was a 115-foot yacht built in 1930, with all of the classic elements
you’d expect of a cruiser hailing from that era: a knife-like bow
and shapely canoe stern, with all-wood construction in between, plus a
mast and funnel accentuating her elegant profile.
And what a sight she
must have been to see. The roof covering the captain’s cabin and
wheelhouse, perched atop the main deck, was badly rotted, and the lower
wooden roof—the one over the dining area, galley, and smoking room/lounge—was
warped due to age and, perhaps, neglect. Metal posts and other structures
were rusted. Simply put, she was literally falling apart before his eyes.
How, then, could the
Belgian-born artist have fallen for her? Folon offers this simple answer:
“Love is blind.”
Not only that, but resistance
was futile: “This boat had to be liked,” he adds. “As much
as one can sometimes want to aid an old lady, in helping her to cross
a street. [I wanted] to help this boat travel across time.”
Though Folon had taken
countless imaginary journeys on fantastic seas through his paintings and
sculptures, and though he had lived aboard a barge at the base of the
Eiffel Tower for a decade, he could never have envisioned the journey
he was about to embark upon. More than just a refit, this was to be 16
months of laborious restoring, during which not even posts rusted beyond
reuse or engine parts out of manufacture for 50 years could dissuade him
from what he saw as his destiny: living aboard the restored yacht in the
Mediterranean. Indeed, she was the fulfillment of a childhood dream. He
even chose a fittingly nostalgic name for her: Over the Rainbow.
The yacht’s condition
notwithstanding—or, perhaps, befitting it—this 115-footer has
quite an interesting, wide-ranging history. Built in 1930 by Dickie &
Sons in North Wales, the 164-ton yacht was launched as Janetha IV
for a Scottish nobleman. When World War II broke out, however, she was
pressed into service by the Royal Navy, plying the coast of Scotland.
After the war the yacht returned to private hands, this time in Greece,
where she was used as a gambling ship, later (the exact year is unknown)
serving charterers for many years along the Cote d’Azur under the
name Classique.
When Folon acquired
the yacht in 2002, he knew he couldn’t oversee the restoration himself.
Upon meeting Capt. Jean-Louis Legros, however, “I knew instantly
that the boat and Jean-Louis were destined to meet one another.”
Legros’ background was impressive. At the tender age of 19, he’d
been put in charge of a 98-foot sailing yacht, entrusted with taking her
to South Africa from England—by himself. As an adult, he’d run
a shipyard in Brittany.
When Folon and Legros
explored their options as far as shipyards were concerned, they settled
on Mondomarine in Savona, Italy. The yard opened its doors in 1978, first
constructing motorboats but adding custom yachts 85 feet and up in the
1990’s. In more recent years Mondomarine has expanded its services
into refit, having worked on yachts such as the 151-foot Fulmara
and 144-foot Dream Seeker. The yard quoted a competitive price
and a 12-month labor period for Over the Rainbow. More important,
however, “We perceived a true human motivation,” Folon explains.
“They wanted to save the boat.”
“Save” was
the understatement of the year. When Over the Rainbow arrived at
the yard, the craftsmen discovered some shocking things. For one, 16 tons
of railroad tracks had been used for ballast. When Mondomarine removed
all of this, it thankfully discovered that the outside hull was fine structurally—but
the internal framework was an entirely different story. An astounding
80 percent needed to be replaced. Every pipe needed to be replaced as
well, and the 47-year-old, 250-hp Mercedes engines (which had replaced
the original Gardiners) required a number of new parts that had gone out
of manufacture so long ago that no one even knew when that had occurred.
Next page >
Part
2: The management and workforce of Mondomarine consider Over the Rainbow
to be the most important and prestigious refit project the yard has completed
to date. > Page 1, 2,
3, 4, 5
|