Taka Trois in her berth in La Rochelle

Why 'Taka'?  

On the 21st of November, 1978, Patrice and met at a discotheque in Grenoble called the Taka Club.   I was doing my junior year abroad studying French and Patrice was in his final year of engineering school.  By December 9th of that year, we were an item and the rest is history.  Years later in 2001 when we bought our first boat, a Jeanneau Sun 2000, we christened her ‘Taka’ in memory of where it all began.  We liked the name so much that when be bought our second boat, a Beneteau 323, we kept the name and christened her Taka Two ('Taka Deux' didn't sound as good) and as you know, the next one is 'Taka Trois' (again, 'Taka Three' was less catchy).  FYI, Taka Quatre will either be a canoe or a Volkswagen Minivan!

Here’s what we looked like in our 'Taka Club days'...

A Little History

Our boat, Taka Trois, is an mono-hull, plywood/epoxy/kevlar-coated, RM1350, built by Fora Marine in 2009 in La Rochelle, France.  

When we began thinking about trading in 'Taka Two,' our Beneteau 323 for a more 'ocean-worthy' vessel, we spent a lot of time researching and looking for just the right boat.  We had been flirting with RMs for awhile since the line had been highly commended to us as exceptionally stable and seaworthy by Thierry Dubois, whose boat capsized in the Indian Ocean during the 1997 around the world race, the Vendee Globe.  However, we were not seduced by the layouts of any of the boats in the existing line at that time.  

When we learned of their new design, the 1350, in a sailing magazine in July 2008, it seemed like Fora Marine had hit the mark and designed a boat with us in mind and after endless conversations and much negotiation, at the Paris boat show in December, 2008, we took the plunge and ordered, from specifications, what we hoped would be our dream boat.

At that time, Patrice was leaving his current job with Insituform Europe and we were planning to start two new small businesses: a water resources consulting company and a family portrait studio.  When we bought the boat, our thought was that we could run at least part of our businesses from the boat and begin our dream of cruising the seas.

The well-worn quote: "The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry" explains what happened next.  Less than four weeks after buying the boat and beginning to put all our other plans in motion, Patrice got the phone call that would lead us to living and working in Trinidad for the next three years.  

Originally we thought we would bring the boat to Trinidad once construction was completed in the summer of 2009, but in the end, it was deemed safer to leave her in La Rochelle in the capable hands of Fora Marine, who looked after the boat for us while using it as their demonstration 'show-boat.'  An arrangement which worked very well for all concerned.

In May of 2012, we returned to France and moved aboard our beautiful boat and she is indeed, our dream boat!

A Boat is Born

Following several requests, here are some photos of the construction of Taka Trois and her first baby steps and christening.

Life on board:  You are cordially invited onboard Taka Trois for a tour...  

So what do we do on the boat?  Aside from the obvious sailing, we work, we play, we cook, we read, we clean, we sleep, we eat, we drink, we invite friends, we celebrate, we swim, we fish, we send e-mails and write a blog, we relax and well, I guess you could say, we live!  Here are some snapshots of our life aboard Taka Trois.