CHEZ NOUS Turns 50 Years Old
In January, we celebrated the 50th Birthday of Chez Nous, a beloved yacht owned and well-sailed by Al and JoLinda Garnier, members of VYC.
"We have owned Chez Nous (meaning: "our home") since 1975 and cruised from California to Spain in 1979-80 with our three children. Since then we have enjoyed years of local sailing in the Channel Islands, Catalina and the Sea of Cortez," say the Garniers’.
In 2016 the pair decided to travel down to Mexico after their children flew the nest. They found VYC and have been here ever since!
We asked Al & Jolinda to share more about their more than half century of cruising.
Where did your love for sailing originally come from? What prompted you to buy your first boat?
We met sailing for our respective Colleges, Al, Purdue, Jolinda, Ohio State. We talked of the dream to sail around the world and when the chance came to sell our home in Southern California and buy Chez Nous we did.
What inspired you to sail from California to Spain with your three children, and what were some of the most challenging parts of that journey?
Al was offered a position on The Haj Terminal project at the new Jeddah airport by an engineering firm and was told he could sail Chez Nous there. As it turned out we were able to sail to Spain, but entering Saudi Arabia was not possible after the US Embassy in Iran fell.
We had 2 significant weather episodes, one off the West end of Cuba. Tropical Storm Bob (later to be Hurricane Bob (1979) that hit New Orleans) saw 40-50 kts of wind and spun Chez Nous 360 degrees. Our dinghy davits failed, dropping our hard dinghy into the water, we lost our inflatable, not to be recovered. The kids also lost their shark jaws that they had worked months to sun bleach. Approaching the Straits of Gibraltar, we encountered the ‘Levanter’. This wind starts in the Eastern Mediterranean gaining strength as it travels west. Once at Gibraltar the speed increases due to the narrowing with Morocco and reaches 50+ kts. So for hours we tried to enter the Mediterranean but couldn’t. Trafalgar light did not change position. In the morning we turned and went to Cadiz where we waited 3 days for the Laventer to blow out.
What led you to sail to Mexico in 2016 after your children left the nest, and how did that change your sailing lifestyle?
In 2006 we sailed Chez Nous into the Sea of Cortez to participate in the Cruising Club of America’s International Cruise. It was a 3 month stay, returning to Los Angeles in June as retirement was a couple of years away. Semi-retired in 2008 allowed time to properly prepare for Chez Nous for permanent stay, but we had other items on our must do list including the Camino de Santiago, which we have now done 4 different routes.
Tell us the story about naming Chez Nous and why she was christened on her 50th birthday.
Chez Nous is the name of the commons at Koutstown Teachers College in Eastern Pennsylvania where JoLinda spent her freshman year. She liked the name and it always stayed with her. When we purchased Chez Nous it had a different name on the documents but nothing on the hull. Since it was our plan to live aboard and sail around the world it seemed fitting to call her ‘our home’. We were young and not all that up on tradition when we bought Chez Nous, so we just did it. As the 50th birthday approached we thought we should register her in the great book in the sea, which is what christening is meant to do.
What led you to find the Vallarta Yacht Club in 2016, and how has being a member enriched your sailing experience?
We arrived in Paradise Village Marina in March 2016 just as the Women’s Laser Worlds were presenting awards and the men’s were about to start. We saw how busy the yacht club was with lots of preparation and we volunteered to help. greenlr01@gmail.com";,"type":"person"}">Linda Green asked if we knew anything about race committee and Al was assigned to the pin boat as scribe. JoLinda helped on the ramp getting to meet all the young well fit men. Yacht Clubs bring sailors into a community of like minded folks, which is just right.
Do you have any advice or tips for fellow sailors, especially those just starting out on their own journeys?
“Follow your dreams” is the best advice, but to do that successfully there are many things to consider, the most important is planning, planning, planning.
Link here to article in Los Angeles Yacht Club newsletter, Lufflines:
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