ABOVE: DAME ELLEN MACARTHUR
My France - ELLEN MACARTHUR
What was your first experience of visiting France?
Apart from a trip to Paris when I was at school, my first real experience of France was when my business partner Mark Turner and I were preparing for the Mini-Transat in 1997. We worked each day in Thierry Fagnent’s boatyard in Saint-Philibert – but the first time we went there, as soon as he knew we were English, he refused to speak to us! Once we managed to muster a few French words, he finally let us in... and went on to become a huge help in our sailing campaigns. Since then I have had a much less frosty reception and I feel huge affection for the French public and thanks for the warmth and hospitality they have shown me.
How did you come to be fluent in French?
My Nan absolutely loved languages and it was she who encouraged me to learn French. I picked it up while working in the boatyard so some of the phrases I have learnt are a bit... erm... colourful. My motto “a donf ” comes from the start of the Route du Rhum in 1998, when a journalist asked me for a comment and all I could think of was this phrase that I’d learnt in the boatyard. I have never had a formal lesson in my life, which has sometimes led to some amusing comments, for example at the end of the Route du Rhum 1998 when I said “je suis cuir” (I am leather) rather than “je suis cuite” (I have been cooked by the sun)!
Read the full article on page 106 of this months issue.
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