Disabled sailor to compete in the Transat across the Atlantic.

“Une transat dans un fauteuil!” : tétraplégique, il se lance à l’assaut de l’Atlantique

 

Jean d’Artigues, un chef d’entreprise de 52 ans atteint de la maladie de Charcot, une maladie neurodégénérative incurable, s’apprête à traverser l’Atlantique sur un voilier. Jean d’Artigues est tétraplégique. Il veut faire parler de la maladie de Charcot et faire avancer la recherche. Un projet soutenu par France Info et qu’il a baptisé avec humour “Une transat dans un fauteuil !”

The 52 year old business chief suffering from the Charcot, an incurable neurodegenerative condition is preparing to sail across the Atlantic. He is severely handicapped and he talks openly about his illness and refers to his attempt humorously  as “The Transat in a Wheelchair.” His attempt is being supported by FranceInfo radio.  

La traversée de l’entrepreneur démarre en octobre, de la Trinité-sur-Mer, dans le Morbihan, jusqu’en Guadeloupe. A bord du voilier seront présents deux marins professionnels et trois marins soignants pour accompagner Jean d’Artigues : “A bord, mon ambition c’est d’être un équipier pas tout à fait comme un autre mais un équipier comme un autre quand même : capable de participer à la vie du bord, et non pas d’avoir cinq personnes autour de moi en assistance permanente“.

The crossing by the entrepreneur starts in October from Trinité-sur-Mer, dans le Morbihan, jusqu’en Guadeloupe. Also on board will be two professional sailors and three other sailors to ensure Jean d’Artigues can finish the event. “My aim is to equip the boat with enough sailors not just to help me all the time but to act a crew to ensure we can live properly on the trip.”

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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