0:03:15 “So my interest in your story was in part as I watched the video and as I watched the work that you were doing, it looked like the techniques that you use and the stuff that you’re doing to rebuild this boat the way you want it, looks a lot like the stuff that my dad was doing 75 years ago. In a way I was kind of surprised because I thought ‘ok, 75 years ago things might’ve progressed’ any thoughts about how you see those kinds of techniques moving forward in time?

• Tried and true methods but the materials are advancing

• Safer

• The same basic principles, fiberglass and resin and cords

0:04:31 “For him that kind of was cutting edge at the time, he was just walking around Hollywood sets and seeing ‘oh they’re making props out of fiberglass’ and went ‘I can make a boat out of that.”

0:04:49 “The other interesting thing about this boat and my dad’s boat, both boats that somebody as an individual envisioned and wasn’t planning on making a ton of them, it was a one-off and as a result making a ton of tooling and everything like that really isn’t going to be an effective way to do it.”

• Right, making every part yourself is time consuming

• Fiberglass is strong and cost effective, the 40s-50s was the beginning of the fiberglass era

0:06:12 “Having watched the film, how much is the technique different from what you do now?”

• The biggest difference is the materials

• Wood veneers, polyester resin

• Wood hull, rest was fiberglass, but similar techniques

0:07:18 “When I watched those guys making that in the movie I thought they have no masks on no nothing and it seemed very toxic, is that correct?”

• Yes, polyester resin is way more toxic than epoxy resin, more expensive but not as difficult to work with

0:08:19 “So did you have an architect to help you redesign this or did you do all the redesign yourself?”

• Basics done himself, structural stuff aided by naval architects

• Jean had no formal naval architect experience

• Anecdote here about Jean building the boat and feeling it was too powerful and having to cut the masts shorter

0:10:13 “So what did they rename that boat?”

• La Creuse (the name of the department in France where Jean Filloux grew up)

• Not renaming a boat is a superstition

0:11:14 “Do you know where that superstition came from?”

• No idea

• There’s a whole ritual to change boat names

0:11:34 “For instance, for theatre, whistling backstage, actors will freak out if they hear anyone whistling backstage, that superstition comes from the fact that people that knew rigging to be able to do the flies and the drops and the scenery and stuff were sailors, and they would signal each other by whistling before they had headsets and stuff -- was dangerous to whistle because you might accidentally signal something early

0:12:34 “Tell me when you were watching the film of Jean Filloux making the boat, what sort of things did you react to, what did you see as like ‘oh I’m doing that’ or ‘that’s really fascinating’ what was your initial reaction”

• Using all the chemicals without protection

• Really likes cold molded boats, beautiful style of boat building

• Very strong and less maintenance required than other wooden boats

• Pressing of the panels to make bulkheads is the same

0:14:03 “I don’t know if it’s true but my understanding it was one of the first sailboats of that size that was made with fiberglass that was exclusively laminated”

0:14:38 “Was there anything to learn from that or was it all stuff you already knew?”

• There were a few things not seen before

• Tools used that he made himself he hadn’t seen before

0:15:24 “Do you think that the orientation of the veneer strips had a structural component?”

• Yes

• Almost 90 degrees to each other

0:16:00 “Did you have any thoughts about how he was laying up these rolls of fiberglass? I noticed you spend a lot of time making sure there’s no air behind it”

• Used a ton of resin instead of getting all the air bubbles out

• Used to fill the air holes with resin

• Resin was darker in color

0:17:29 “As he was mixing his epoxy he was mixing in that powdery filler, what does that do?”

• Probably doing faring, adds volume and gives mass to the resin so it can be sanded into shape

• Also, to thicken the resin to make it stickier and glue in bulkheads

• Smooth transition from plane to plane, fill corners with glue

0:19:15 “When you were talking about how they really didn’t know the strength of fiberglass at the time and so they might have overdone things or just made it too thick, did you feel that when you were watching like ‘that’s excessive you don’t need that much’ or did you feel like he did a pretty good job of guessing at the time”

• Hard to tell since they don’t have the exact number

• The wood added all the strength to the boat

• Fiberglass is just for waterproofing and impact resistance

0:21:22 “When you saw the final product and saw it as it was being built, as a sailor how did you feel about just like ‘oh I could sail that boat’”

• Would love to sail any boat

• Would love to sail it because of its sentimental value

0:22:42 “I am going to give you a terrible scenario, so you’ve put a lot of work into this boat and have had financial support from donors and things like that, if one of those donors came to you and said ‘so we want this boat back now you can’t have it’ what’s your general gut reaction to that possible scenario?”

• Never received a donation big enough for that

• Happened to Jean, stole his boat

• He built it to sail the world, they lived on the boat and the perfume company sued him for the boat and the boat was impounded, took 2 years to get the boat back, when it went to court the judge said it wasn’t only Jean’s but it didn’t belong to the perfume company either, so he moved to San Diego to study oceanography

0:25:24 “Throw yourself into that scenario and tell me what you might do and how you might react”

• Really hard to imagine

• Heartbreaking, not only time but mental effort as well

• Doing this for the journey of building, not just the end result

0:30:04 “Because you’re a big ocean sailor, put yourself in a 1950s boat and tell me two things, is it the thrill of being a sailor that’s sailing around the world and the terror of it, what is the fear factor of doing sailing like that?”

• Disconnecting from society for that long

• Really rewarding to be able to sail yourself that far

• Beautiful out there, constantly changing, become in tune with the water and the weather patterns and other sea life

• Notice more about the environment

• Racing is nonstop, really fast and crazy and requires teamwork, exhausting and exciting

• Sailing like cruising is also exhausting, not a lot of sleep and eating the same food over and over again, but very rewarding

0:33:49 “How is sailing on the open ocean different from sailing down the intercoastal waterway?”

• Ocean is less calm and flat, monster weather patterns and the like

• On the ocean you are at the mercy of the weather especially before the technology to predict it came along

• Always someone awake on the boat

0:36:43 “Have you ever gotten the two of you into a situation where you’re truly worried?”

• No, sailed in stiff weather but trusts his boat

• Uncomfortable but not dangerous

0:37:37 “How would you feel if the two of you had a toddler or baby, do you think you could still take a trip like this?”

• Yes, just have to keep an eye on them

0:38:17 “What would it take to derail this project from you guys then, it seems like you don’t have any barriers what would slow you down?”

• Financial problems

• Injuries

• House burnt down, boat burnt down

0:39:26 “What’s your date in your head right now of you guys hitting the water”

• Shooting for done in a year and a half (by his 40th birthday)

0:40:03 “How long do you think you’ll be out there to make your circumnavigation?”

• No plans yet, just enjoying the project

• Visited many places

0:41:27 “Do you have a first sail in mind?”

• Across the bay to Mystery Bay just to see if it works

0:42:10 “Have you ever had any up close and personal experience with the orcas then?”

• Yes, last summer he followed whale watching boats

• Saw a whole pod of orcas

• Within 100 yards

• Heard a story of a humpback ramming a boat’s keel until it sank

• Talks about rudder plans

0:46:59 “So when I’m cycling, I carry an innertube and extra chain links, what are your emergency parts that you travel with?”

• Depends on the journey, if it’s long, pack extra to the point of redundancy

• Rebuild anything that breaks

0:49:01 “So I recently keep hearing stories about the sailboat ramming into that cargo ship, is that really that often of an occurrence?”

• Don't think he’s been that close

• In the fog it's hard to judge distances

0:51:04 “So with this boat being a one-off, and I’m sure it’s attracted a lot of interest from other boat builders just because of the nature of how you’re building it, it being on YouTube, do you feel like it will inspire other boats to be built similarly?”

• Many people had never seen carbon chain plates

• Most people are more familiar with wood construction

0:52:19 “Is there anything that you would say that you invented?”

• Nope

• Just a collection of what other people have done

0:52:47 “What about the general idea of buying or getting a boat designed exclusively for racing but then transforming it the way you have”

• Hopes it encourages people to fix up other boats

0:54:02 “Say there’s a boat built in the 50s, could you take that boat and make it modern enough that you could still use it?”

• Yes

0:54:25 “If you have the time to put into it and the energy to put into it, is it more economical to rebuild an old boat than to buy a new one?”

• Depends on how much you value your time

0:55:24 “I think this would be an entirely different project if it wasn’t in your backyard”

• Exactly, wouldn’t be possible

0:55:46 “Does your wife help you with any of it as far as the construction?”

• Not the construction but the documentation

• She’s a good writer and good at storytelling

• Good at videography

• All work is with an Iphone and a Gopro

0:57:24 “What’s the story behind the art in the boat?”

• No clue

0:59:16 “Have you ever had contact with his fiancée?”

• No but his sister sent them a bunch of stuff

1:04:37 “Didn’t initially when he was doing the rowing, he got a camera from Jacques Cousteau?”

• Cousteau and him had crossed paths before

• Cousteau’s main videographer gave Jean a camera and film

• Jean used chocolate foil to fix a car once

• Stories about Jean and his wife here

• Talked about the whole Filloux family