Ask Nat!

Nathalie Person (above in the dinghy) is the head coach at the Club Nautique d'Antibes. She answers your queries about the day and afternoon courses planned for May and June.


How many courses do you advise me to take?

At least four half-day sessions, if you are a complete beginner. After four half-day sessions, we expect you to be autonomous enough to rent out catamarans from us in the Baie of La Salis in the summer months. Windsurfing is a bit trickier, but some of you are able to achieve an adequate level after four afternoon sessions too.

How much does the course cost?

We offer group courses at 40 EUR per person per day. Contact your INRIA organiser for the details (you might be getting some other discounts).

Is an insurance included in the course fee?

Yes. In the fee that we charge you.

What do I wear?

In the month of May, it's not very hot yet. So advice for the windsurfers:

1. Wear a shorty wetsuit. 
2. Wear neoprene slippers. They'll stop you from slipping off the board too often.
3. a pair of mittens (optional)
4. Don't forget the sunscreen

For the catamaran sailors:

1. Wear a pair of shorts, 
2. a T-shirt, 
3. a sweater (optional), 
4. a windbreak jacket and 
5. an old pair of running shoes you don't mind getting wet
6. a hat is always nice. 
7. And don't forget the sunscreen.

Anything else I need to bring?

An extra set of clothes and a towel so you can shower after the course. Plus bring your picnic!

What happens if the weather is bad?

The course gets postponed to some other day or is cancelled. Your INRIA course organiser is in charge of informing you if the course does not take place on the morning of the planned session. We do not charge you for a cancelled course.

Thanks to Glauco Scandaroli and Riccardo Masiero for submitting this list of questions.

Renting Equipment at the CNA

Starting this month, it is possible to rent catamarans, kayaks and windsurfing equipment from the CNA via INRIA-AGOS. You can read about the details on the internal INRIA Boat Club website. Buy the tickets from the club committee. Note that ticket sales are open to INRIA agents only.

If you've never sailed or windsurfed before, why not join the classes?

After 4 half-day sessions ( =  2 full-day sessions), you become eligible for renting catamarans at the Club Nautique d'Antibes. You are sufficiently autonomous to take two other people with you (this is a nice little outing for people who come visit you on the Côte d'Azur for instance; ladies, this is an opportunity to impress the gentlemen, and vice-versa).

Depending on your level you reach in the windsurfing classes, it should also be possible to rent windsurfing equipment too.

Day and Afternoon Courses

As promised, we've booked some day classes at the Club Nautique d'Antibes especially for you. The details are as follows:

Catamaran PM
May : 1 (sat), 2 (sun), 8 (sat), 9 (sun)

Catamaran Whole Day
June : 20 (sun), 27 (sun)

Windsurf PM
May : 16 (sun), 23 (sun), 24 (mon), 30 (sun)*

Currently, the prices are fixed at (AGOS / No AGOS discount):

PM only: 15 EUR / 23 EUR
Day: 28 EUR / 40 EUR

If you book for more than one day, a further discount will be available.

If you are interested, please enter your preferences in this Doodle and contact Franca or Sapna. Places are open to Mines Paristech and EURECOM students too.

*Course is full.


Erratum: One afternoon session costs 15 EUR (with discount) / 23 EUR (without) (instead of 12 EUR / 5 EUR as previously written). We apologise for this mistake. 

I Want my Man to Smell of Old Spice!

Connaissez-vous Old Spice ?

Une des choses qui me fascinaient quand j'étais enfant était de regarder mon père se raser tous les matins et se tamponner le visage d'Old Spice à la fin de ce rituel quotidien. J'avais oublié que le logo de cette marque, dont le nom fait allusion aux explorateurs de l'ancienne route des epices, était un clipper et que les mythes associés à elle tournaient autour de la mer... jusqu'à ce que je tombe sur cette nouvelle pub. Plus je la regarde, plus je la trouve hilarante. Pas vous ?

L'agence Wieden+Kennedy qui a créé cette pub en propose aussi une autre qui est bien marrante aussi. Vous les retrouverez ici.

WHY not?

Don't think billionaires have it easy.  Billionaires have their worries, though admittedly of their own kind. How best to flaunt their wealth is one of them. Here on the French Riviera, we are quite familiar with the concrete monstrosities born out of one billionaire's desire to outcompete his neighbours. However, if appropriately fuelled by money, design meets technology, and we cannot help but feel relieved (and impressed too) then.

In this category, the Wally Hermes Yachts partnership wins our approval. Of course, we find it all the more endearing that Mr Antivari who is funding this project should love the sea so much. Perhaps someone should just tell him that driving his motorboat at highest speed is not really gentle on marine life?

In the meantime, check out more of the sleek design, and read more about it from Mr Antivari himself.

Photos from: Wally Hermes Yachts

Sail and surf

The term courses are starting this Saturday 6th of March at the Club Nautique d'Antibes at La Salis beach. They will take place, weather permitting every Saturday until the month of June.

There are places for beginner catamaran and windsurfing courses.

You need to be able to swim 50 metres unaided.

Some French is required. Otherwise, finding an English and French speaking friend to navigate with you can do the trick.

If you are interested, contact us ASAP. More details will follow.

Sapna

Get ready!

La deuxième session d'entraînement pour les régates interentreprises aura lieu le samedi 27 février 2010. Si vous voulez y participer, contactez JC (ext. 5026) ou Olivier (ext. 7894).

Pour connaître les dates de toutes les sessions et vous y inscrire, voici le Doodle spécialement créé pour.

Des questions ? Écrivez-nous !

Photo : Marc Barret. 

Dès que les vents tourneront, Nous nous en allerons !

Un nouveau départ pour l'année 2010 : Franca et JC sont Capitaines du Club de Voile de l'INRIA. Franca (à gauche) est principalement responsable de la section `loisir' du Club, alors que JC (à droite) s'occupera de la section `compétitive', notamment des régates organisées par le Comité Départemental de Voile des Alpes Maritimes 06.

Les journées `loisir' seront organisées à la demande à partir du mois d'avril jusqu'au mois de juin. Les cours au trimestre reprendront en avril aussi. N'hésitez pas à contacter Franca pour toute info et pour lui prêter main forte !

Les entraînements de régates ont quant à eux repris le samedi 23 janvier. JC vous attend ! Les novices sont les bienvenus, tout comme ceux qui sont plus expérimentés.

Accessoirement, JC est aussi le Président du Comité Départemental Alpes Maritimes du Sport d'Entreprise (qui inclut le CDV06). Pour plus d'info, n'hésitez pas à lui envoyer un mel ou consulter le site web ici.

PS. Sur ce comité, vous verrez aussi de l'INRIA, Olivier et Marc.

The Cool Supreme is off to Germany

Tobi's story with the Sailing Club started with his sending a couple of e-mails enquiring about catamaran courses and discounts. Shortly after, at his first club lunch, he came across his name on posters and contact details as `Catamaran Captain'. After the initial shock - no one had asked him beforehand whether he'd agree to it or not -, he was rather amused by Sapna's mix of blind belief (`I thought you wouldn't mind really') and panic (`You don't, do you?'). `I am still the Club President, i.e. the boss, though,' she went on to reassure him, `coz I'm the one with the contacts. Is it okay with you?' This sort of banana republican pseudo democratic club concept would have probably scared anyone else off, but Tobi guffawed. It was just too crazy, dude.

Whether it was out of pity or not that he decided to help anyway remains a mystery. Soon enough though, he was out there gently coercing (there is no better word for it, and we maintain that it was done in the gentlest possible way) people all over INRIA Sophia to try out courses at the CNA, take part in regattas, and just generally to open their eyes to sailing. He spoke to them in French, cajoled them in English, replied to their questions in Spanish. Getting people involved at INRIA is not impossible, but it is tough. It takes a lot of patience and conviction. He did so well though that at his second club lunch, six months later, Sapna decided to hand over the Presidency to him.

Tobi kept on with his cool sunshine attitude, convincing the sceptics that a day at sea was just a perfect day, and - with JC - reassuring those prone to seasickness that homeopathy could cure them and they, too, deserved the happiness that such outings could bring to others. In the end, he also spoke Portuguese, Italian, and his maternal language, German, in order to reach out to more people.

Participation at courses swelled. Crews for regattas were always complete. Granted, he was not the only one to deserve credit for this: JC, Franca, Aurelie, and Sapna canvassed support and interest tirelessly at his side. But all of them will agree that it was just wonderful to work with someone who was so dedicated, positive and generous in sharing his passion with others.

At his farewell lunch at INRIA last Tuesday, Tobi handed over the Club Presidency to Franca and JC, in the presence of six other members, plus two of our partners and friends from Les Mines Paristech. JC was not there, and is probably not aware of this, but we think that he will keep on Tobi's spirit of laughing at the cheek of the previous Club Captain.

Ciao Tobi! We will miss you! The club is in good hands, though, so watch out this space for other adventures at INRIA-sur-Mer ! ;)

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Dear All,

2009 has been an exciting year for the INRIA Club de Voile: 64 people participated in at least one of the activities that were organised, an INRIA crew qualified for the National Interenterprise Championships, and a new activity was launched: boat licence courses. At committee level, Tobias also successfully built on the previous club committee's experience with spreadsheets et al, and managed more effectively the budget. Of the 2800 EUR allocated at the start of the year by AGOS-Sophia, only ~200 EUR were left unspent. We also got in touch with W3C/ERCIM and strengthened our ties with Ecole des Mines: though in the end we were not able to organise anything with them, we got some very cool ideas about potential outings.

Thank you to all of you who took part in the club's activities in 2009: it was great for us to meet you and share our love for boating. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did.

The INRIA interenterprise crew has been extremely fortunate to have two experienced helmswomen, namely Odile Pourtallier (INRIA) for one training session, and Virginie Raybaud (INRIA - LOV) for all the others and the competitive regattas. We thank them immeasurably for their patience and their generosity.

There have also been some notable individual achievements: Jean Christophe - JC - trained for the interenterprise regattas and gained substantial experience as No. 2 of sloops. He should by the end of this season be able to take over as No. 1 (the helmsman). A special mention goes to INRIA Women's Captain Aurelie, who made it possible for INRIA to clinch the second position in the regional regatta in June 2009 (dixit Captain Virginie Raybaud). Belated thanks are also due to Franca who organised, in addition to those of 2009, all the day sessions at the CNA in 2008 and consequently gathered a massive attendance for this year (let's not forget the esteem from Eric and Marina, and the 2800 EUR it also brought us!).

This is all to say that the Club de Voile INRIA is alive and thriving.

Have a great 2010!