l’Olivette People No.2
Philippe, Pointu Owner.
Meet Philippe, Pointu owner. Philippe owns Pirouli II, one of the forty or so Pointus which are moored in the beautiful little Port de l’Abri de l’Olivette in Cap d’Antibes.
When I met Philippe he was in the process of preparing his Pointu to go back into the water after the winter. I asked him where the name Pirouli came from and what it meant. Apparently he has no idea as it has always had that name, way before he bought it. However he did tell me that a couple passed by the port once and told him that Piroulli was a name given to a particular kind of north African Bonbon. The sweet is cone shaped with a pointy end, a little bit like a Pointu so maybe that’s where the name comes from.
How long have you had a Pointu at the Port here?
I have been at the port for many many years, to be honest I don’t count them anymore.
This is the first Pointu I have owned but it’s not my first boat. Before buying this I had had only sailing boats. The first was 23ft then I had a 27ft and the third one was 35ft. My wife and I actually lived on my last sailing boat in the port at St Laurent du Var for twelve years.
Which do you prefer, the Pointu or a sailing boat?
I definitely prefer my other boats to my current one, I love sailing boats.
Unfortunately when I owned my last sailing boat we never actually went anywhere on it. I had a full time job and I was self employed so I never had a holiday. Occasionally I would take maybe eight days a year vacation. During those eight days my wife and I would go on short sailing trips but that was it.
The fact we hardly ever used the boat for sailing didn’t bother me.
I always used to tell myself that we would have plenty of time to enjoy it in the future, after I retired. Our plan was to move around visiting different places and exploring the coastline. Unfortunately it didn’t work out like that.
When we had the boat my wifes’ mother lived in a little studio right on the seafront in Villeneuve Loubet. She was so close to the sea that she could literally fish from her window. When she started getting old my wife and I decided we would by a house so that she could live with us and we could take care of her. So we bought a house in Villeneuve Loubet, but away from the sea. That’s why we had to sell the boat, so that we could afford to buy the house.
Anyway it turned out that my wifes’ mother didn’t like living in that house at all. She was bored and she missed her friends. There had always been a lot going on around her in the little studio and she was surrounded by people every day. Our house was more isolated and quiet. Eventually, my mother in law decided to move back into her old studio and voila we were left with the big house and no boat.
Did you miss having a boat?
Yes of course but then I had the opportunity to buy this Pointu. Pirouli actually used to belong to my son but he decided that he wanted to buy something else. Something in better condition. As he was going to sell it anyway I thought it might be nice for me so I decided to buy it from him and Voila! Now here I am with my little Pirouli in this beautiful old fishing port on the Cap. Unfortunately my wife doesn’t come here with me very often. It’s not really her thing. Nowadays she spends most of her time at home. She loves to watch things on the computer. She knew nothing about computers and the internet before but one day she took a course and since then she prefers to spend her days online.
Read Story No.1 here
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