French family recalls sea adventure

Speaking at his family’s room in the Hotel Normandie, St Ann’s, Bazin recounted how his yacht, the L’ile Deal, was damaged by rough seas during a voyage from Martinique to Venezuela with his wife Joelle, son Alexis, 12, and daughter Melanie, 13, on board.

“We left Nantes, France (where we live) on February 9 and ten days later we were in Madeira (the mid-Atlantic, Portuguese island),” Bazin said. “Thirty-eight days later, we arrived at Marie Gallant (an island in the Guadeloupean archipelago),” Bazin said. Later, they docked in Martinique.

“The sea condition was very bad. Then there was — what is the word? A tidal wave? It was one big wave,” Bazin said. The wave caused a rupture of the port side of the boat’s hull.

A major leak sprung up in a bathroom. “Water entered the bathroom but we could not repair it,” Balzin said.

Despite a previous mishap earlier in the expedition, the family pressed on with the trip, posting the message, “Now, we will sail to the Caribbean, in the middle of pirates perhaps!” on their electronic online bulletin board.

On Christmas night, however, with the water welling into the boat, the family was forced to abandon ship and about three days later, dehydrated and sun-burnt, they were rescued after a joint exercise by the TT and Martinique Coast Guard.

Yesterday, Mrs Balzin, a secretary at the University of Nantes, prepared a lunch of hops bread, cheese and ham for her family in their hotel room.

“We are alive all four of us but very tired. We should return to France in the next few days,” Balzin said.