Audience : You are releasing a children’s book, The Super Powers of Marine Animals. Is talking to young people important?
Maud Fontenoy: It’s the best way to make things happen! Education is a lever for action and that is why I am dedicated to it with my foundation. In this book, I wanted to talk about the ocean through the prism of marine animals and their link with humans. There is a lot to learn by studying species, of which we only know 3 to 5%! For example, the whale has a 600 kilo heart, which inspired battery-free pacemakers for humans. Likewise, shark skin prevents bacteria from adhering: this helped to design a coating for the interior of our hospitals. Today, it is almost selfish to preserve the oceans as they provide solutions for our survival…
Are we not doing it enough?
In France, the second largest maritime power in the world, we have an exceptional natural heritage which provides us with very concrete solutions. But we invest much more in space than in ocean research! It is time that we devote ourselves to the sea. The oceans are 22,000 medicines, the cooking pot of humanity, climate regulation, marine energies… It is the machinery that allows life on earth .
“My children are my whole life. I love them madly, I do everything with them.”
It is not too late ?
I am always optimistic! The subject is taking up more space in the media and 2025 will be the year of the sea in France, which will host the United Nations Convention on the Oceans! Things aren’t going fast enough, but they’re getting better.
How to act individually?
First, manage your waste better: plastic thrown on the ground will end up in the sea, then on your plate of sushi in the evening! Then, eat smaller fish like sardines or mackerel, and move towards sustainable farms. Finally, by the sea, avoid sunscreen oils and use creams with natural filters.
“At sea, I want to keep my femininity.”
If you were offered the Ministry of Ecology, what would you say?
There are different ways to hold your beliefs. With my foundation, we have made more than a million children aware of these issues. This is where I think I am most effective.
You sailed throughout your childhood with your parents, boarding a boat at just 7 days old. What is it like to be young on the water?
It’s true that I spent more time on the oceans than on dry land! This environment rocked me and made me grow. I couldn’t see myself moving away from it, having chosen to live in Nice. Salt runs through my blood!
How did you manage entering final year, after a life on the water?
It was a nightmare! When you were raised on the margins, on a boat, you don’t learn the codes to play in a playground. We are less adapted to a life on earth. On the other hand, we learn autonomy, the realization of our dreams, the fact of being satisfied with little… This education has served me enormously, in my maritime adventures as in my daily life.
When you spend five months alone on a boat, what is the hardest thing?
I’ve experienced it all: the boat turning over, the mast falling, the watermaker breaking down and forcing you to drink your urine… But the hardest part is the loneliness. Not being able to interact with anyone and depending only on yourself, knowing that death is very close, is difficult.
You say you made sure to maintain your femininity at sea. Why?
Keeping my femininity, putting on a little perfume, allowed me to keep my human identity. My mental strength and morale depended on it.
Was it complicated for the men in your life to accept the dangers you were taking?
People who know me know that I am rigorous, not reckless. This doesn’t stop worry, but when you love someone, you like to see them develop and realize their dreams!
Has becoming a mother convinced you to stop extreme adventures?
Yes. I have always traveled the oceans and continue to do so. But I don’t want to impose the stress of dangerous adventures on my four children. On the other hand, everyone crossed the Atlantic with me: I want them to know the sea…
Would you see yourself traveling around the world with them?
I would have dreamed of doing it and they would have loved it too. But there are life circumstances that impose things. I don’t want to take them away from their fathers.
“The unfriendly thing I did? Give birth in Polynesia!”
What kind of mother are you?
My four children are my whole life. I love them madly, I do everything with them. We learn cooking, we read every evening, we go for sea trips on the weekend. I try to devote myself as much as possible to them and to be the perfect mother who thinks of everything. (Laughs.)
What are the least eco-friendly pleasures that you indulge in?
The least eco-friendly thing there is is going to give birth in Polynesia! Otherwise, on a daily basis, I try to set an example and be careful. I push my children in this path.
Comments collected by Maëlle Brun
Biography
September 7, 1977
Birth in Meaux, to a father who was CEO of a real estate group and a mother who was a pharmacist. She spent her youth on the waters, sailing with her family.
2003
©JEAN LOUIS MACAULT / BESTIMAGE
At the age of 25, she began crossing the North Atlantic in the west-east direction. She is the first woman to achieve this feat.
2012
©Shootpix/ABACA
Supporting Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election, she will be the Republicans’ environment delegate. But politics no longer interests him.
December 2023
With The Super Powers of Marine Animals (ed. Nathan), it shows us that the future of the Earth is at stake at sea. An essential read!