High Flying Sailors Visit Port Townsend and Port Ludlow
Acrobatics and Ballet in the Rigging By Richard Hazelton
It’s always fun when the circus
comes to town, but when it sails in, that’s truly something different. Delphine and Franck Rabilier left
Photos by Annick Gauthier
Brittany, France in 2004, to explore the world in their cold-molded Gin Fizz, designed by Michael Joubert, the 37-foot sloop La Loupiote (Little Light). Like most cruisers, they needed to think about ways to supplement their income along the way. Franck had grown up with a circus background and he and Delphine were doing acrobatics just for fun. “We had the idea that we could combine our two passions, sailing and acrobatics,” said Delphine. Their school-bus-yellow boat
has a flush deck which gives them the platform for their spectacular act. And, of course, the rigging provides a ready made stage for performing their aerial acrobatics. Asked if they’d done any special rigging, Delphine replied, “There is no special rigging. The stress we put on it is nothing compared to sailing.” After having performed in France,
Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Caribbean Islands, East Canada, Bermudas, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Hawaii Islands, Delphine and Franck pulled into British Colombia for the summer to present their two unusual
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48° NORTH, AUGUST 2011 PAGE 30
performances. They have created two silent productions, initially for the Society of the old quays of Montréal (where the couple performed over 150 shows) inspired by circus, dance and theater, performed on their sailboat. Their first show, “The Navigators,”
influenced by Buster Keaton and silent films, is a parody of navigational maneuverers that pokes fun at the mishaps of bungling sailors. The second show, “Between Wing
and Island,” deals with male-female relationships in a spectacle of aerial choreography and acrobatics in a duet that ranges from love, humor and poetry to earth, sea and sky. The shows are suitable for
audiences of all ages and last 20 minutes each. They are free, but the artists are not paid for their work and invite the public to make donations to help them and their two daughters Ondja (3) and Loéva (11) continue their great adventure around the world. Seattle sailor Bob Connel
spearheaded their visit to Port Townsend. “The reason I got involved was that I read an article about them, saw that they were going to be in the Salish Sea for part of the summer and the article stated that people willing to host them should drop them an email.
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