On their boat 12 months per year

Photo Geneviève Quessy
Marc Girard (left), Jean-Paul Deschamps (centre) and Sebastien Mignault get warm near the stove to edge of the Buddy Joe.

Geneviève Quessy

Saturday, 24 February, 2018 01:00

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Saturday, 24 February, 2018 01:00

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Three men spend the winter in their sailing ships caught in the ice at the marina Repentigny. A normal situation for them, but that attracts attention.

Marc Girard, 49, Sebastien Mignault, 41 years old, and Jean-Paul Deschamps, 69, each have a sailboat on which they have decided to live all year round, winter included. A lifestyle choice marginal saving, but that has aroused a lot of astonishment.

“People wonder how it’s done, if it is dangerous, if it is cold. In fact, this is the most difficult to live into our adventure, it is precisely to deal with prejudices. Some take us for squatters, ” said Marc Girard, who has lived for four years on his boat of 45 feet, Buddy Joe.

Photo Geneviève Quessy

Sebastien Mignault and Marc Girard in front of the Buddy Joe. They live on a ship caught in the ice in Repentigny.

This choice is much less expensive than a rent. For example, for a boat of 30 feet, it costs $ 1650 per year at the marina Repentigny.

“Like all boaters, we pay to rent our location at the marina. One of the tenants “, says Sebastien Mignault.

40 years on the boat

Jean-Paul Deschamps was called the Admiral by his friends. All in all, he spent 40 years on his boat full-time. Prejudice, he also knows.

“Let’s say that this is not so easy with women. They are rare, those who agree to visit us on our boat, ” he says.

Photo Geneviève Quessy

Jean-Paul Deschamps on his yacht, the Pandora.

Nevertheless, according to them, there is not much that differentiates their train of life of ordinary citizens.

“I have an address and every morning, I go to work. In the evening when I get home, I heat the stove, I watch the news, and then I go to bed, ” says Marc Girard, who was in charge in SAAQ.

Their boats are connected to electricity. They have access to WiFi and showers in the harbour office and can go refill their water bottles. Far from being isolated, they say, on the contrary, have an intense social life.

“It is in the city center of Repentigny, here. And then, it is like a small village with our boats and fishing huts on the ice. On the weekends, there are plenty of people. It was a skating rink and it is often of parties. Like at Christmas, the turkey, the pies, each had its Christmas tree on the bridge, and we had fireworks, ” says Marc Girard.

Great place

The Marina basin of the North Shore is ideal for keeping a boat in the water during the winter.

“There’s not a lot of current and the tides are low. It makes sure that you are protected from waves. “As the ice melts all around boats heated, no danger that they suffer damage by ice.

“The winter navigation, it is not complicated. You heaters your stove, you take a shot, the worse you make yourself something to eat “, sums up Marc Girard.

Photo Geneviève Quessy

Marc Girard and Sebastien Mignault

“The more boring it is when you have more than propane, and you got to go look at the emergency in a storm of 30 cm, but apart from that, it is relaxation,” adds Sebastien Mignault.

After four decades on his boat, Jean-Paul Deschamps does not see winter as a challenge. But he dreams when even in the spring.

“I’m excited that winter is behind. Spend a moppe on the bridge, start the engine, hear his purr and… from. “

4 qualities to live on a boat in the winter

• Have the marine foot
• Do not be afraid of challenges
• Enjoy the community life
• Know respect the privacy of others