Stopover in Sète 2024: “These carpenters are life”, the Sète people at the bedside of the Corsican feluccas

Sétois Robert Contreras, Raymond Dublanc alongside fishermen Xavier D’Orazio and Joseph Silvestri on the port of Ajaccio. Hélène Amirals

Raymond Dublanc and Robert Contreras busy on the Anna Lucia in the port of Ajaccio. Hélène Amirals

Les pêcheurs corses comme Jean-Claude Poggi (en bleu) ont apprécié l'aide des charpentiers sétois, à l'instar de Robert Contreras. Hélène Amiraux

With Raymond Dublanc and Robert Contreras, on mission to the port of Ajaccio.

Barely off the ferry in Ajaccio with their caulking boxes and a utility vehicle filled to the brim with tools, Sétois Raymond Dublanc and Robert Contreras set to work. The first industrial tribunal of Ajaccio-Cagèse and Propriano, Xavier D’Orazio, invited the two shipwright friends to join the tiny careening area, lined with magazinis (workshops) of the port of fishing Tino-Rossi. There they find some of the last fishermen in traditional boats on the Isle of Beauty busying themselves on their fragile feluccas (*). Among the most slender and elegant hulls in the Mediterranean. The last ones from Corsica, 60 years old for the most recent ones, signed by the now defunct local shipyard, Nobili.
Museum pieces, rare Corsican fishermen continue to take to the sea with them, to bring up lobster traps and fillets of small fish for the famous local bouillabaisse.
"There's work", confides upon arrival Robert Contreras, owner of his own shipyard in Sète, and long-time accomplice of Raymond Dublanc. It was on a construction site in Sète that a solid friendship was born between these two specialists in the restoration of historic rigging. At Stento.

Marine carpenter Robert Contreras in the middle of caulking on the barque “Anna Lucia” in Ajaccio. Hélène Amirals

Corsica evokes strong memories for each of them. "I supplied the island during the strikes of 68", remembers Raymond Dublanc, co-president of Escale à Sète, about the time when he was "State sailor", hired when he was only 17.

"It takes ten years of practice to become a marine carpenter!"

While Robert Contreras jumps from a gozzo (Marseilles boat), into a Catalan and up to a felucca, to re-caulk a hull (waterproof with hemp or cotton), replace a bulwark or recreate a chamfer , Raymond Dublanc, tackles a very complex task, with a fine saw blade in hand: "To pick a broadside (remove a decrepit board below the waterline) , you have to go about it delicately." Without this operation, Joseph Silvestri's Catalan barque Anna Lucia could… to flow. "Building a new boat is a profession, it takes ten years of practice to become a marine carpenter. But restoring is yet another profession", professes Raymond Dublanc, passionate about the history of rigging. He is a true scholar, to the point of having created a dedicated association, l’Arbre de Mestre, with Magali Mondange. "The past is important for the future. Helping to revive this Corsican past which is dying is a fight", summarizes Raymond Dublanc.
And it is this precious knowledge that the Sète duo came to offer on Corsican soil, which is in the spotlight this year at Escale.
Indeed, Raymond Dublanc and Robert Contreras were commissioned during this first week of study last January to inventory and analyze the state of the last traditional Corsican boats. With the ultimate goal of saving them. And with them, artisanal fishing. Knowing that there would only be a dozen feluccas left on the Isle of Beauty.

La Santa Liberta, “a piece of memory”

During their journey to Corsica in the footsteps of traditional boats in distress, marine carpenters Raymond Dublanc and Robert Contreras came across small treasures like the Santa Liberta felucca, decorated with a swordfish on the bow, signed Nobili. It is owned by Jacques Fieschi, a former transporter and trader based in Propriano. Built in 1967 for the shipowner Languilion, this boat was then bought by the Gianetti brothers, fishermen. Then, quickly sold to a Parisian bookseller who had difficulty keeping it.

Bought in 1979 by Jacques Fieschi, collector of feluccas, she sailed for almost 40 years. For pleasure, in regattas, but not only that. "It is magnificent, it’s a piece of memory, it defended the Corsican coast", confides Jacques Fieschi, who renamed it Santa Liberta. The boat can no longer sail. However, it will be visible in the Corsican village of Escale.

The felucca A Scopa saved by “Bibi” its owner thanks to an integration project. Hélène Amirals

“A Scopa”, felucca saved by a sailor

This is a signature of the Nobili shipyards in Ajaccio: the swordfish on the bow. The A Scopa felucca is therefore no exception to the rule. This boat designed by a Sardinian architect and designed in Corsica in the 1970s, presented in the Corsican village during Stopover in Sète, is the pride of its owner. Abdallah Elmessalih, better known in Ajaccio under the name of “Bibi” is one of the last sail manufacturers in the country.

Sailing enthusiast of speed, founder of an integration project with the Ajaccio Nautical Society, he is at the origin of the rescue of AScopa, among the dozen feluccas that were rescued by the Ajaccio Nautical Society. rsquo;he still remains in Corsica. It was with the American Simon Berner, passionate about boat restoration, based in Asprettu on the Isle of Beauty, that his project to restore the boat, emblematic of the local maritime heritage, was born.

The felucca will be presented alongside the Santa Liberta in Sète. The first should sail during parades. Bibi and Simon Berner will also be present at the festival to share their experiences.

 

The Santa Liberta felucca like the one called A Scopa will be exhibited in the Corsican village. D.R.

"Magnificent exchange"

The work carried out by the Sétois will also be presented on Sunday March 31 during the festival, during a conference led by Pierre-Jean Campocasso, director of heritage of the community of Corsica.
The first industrial tribunal, Xavier d’Orazio, is more than anyone convinced of the merits of this original twinning. He who always fishes with Sauveur, the family felucca, decorated with a bow in the shape of a swordfish, appreciates this "magnificent exchange".

“Sauveur”, the felucca of the first industrial tribunal of Ajaccio, Xavier d’Orazio. Hélène Amirals
His boat left in 1962 by the Nobili shipyard is even more precious in his eyes than an element of heritage. She bears the name of her uncle, "the only one who was not a fisherman", who died suddenly. "We will never sell this boat, it’s like a child", insists Xavier d’Orazio. The boat supported several families for decades. "We haven't had any shipyards here for over twenty years, the last shipwright is 90 years old. So we do the repairs ourselves. If you're not too manual, the work won't hold up. The job of these carpenters is life!" Raymond Dublanc will have this sentence: "C&rsquo It's nice to help people, and the happiest person is the one who gives the gift!"

(*) Felucca: traditional, fast Arab sailing boat, suitable for coastal fishing in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
During Stopover in Sète, the Corsican village will be inaugurated on Thursday March 28, at 6:30 p.m., Quai d’Algiers. I subscribe to read more