Biographical Notes and
Cruises aboard Jean-du-Sud
Born Jan. 17, 1939 in
Montréal, Québec, Canada. Studies in Montréal.
1958-61 : Trained professionally as an
actor at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique du Québec.
1961-70 : Actor, director and producer
for stage and television.
1963-66, Summer cruises in the St.
Lawrence River and Gulf as crew and skipper on various boats.
1967 : Purchased 24 ft
fiberglass sloop. (Olympic Star, Hull no. 11), named Jean-du-Sud.
First
self-steerer on stern of boat
1968 : Jean-du-Sud
is fitted with a first self-steering sytem designed and built by Y.
G. (with vertical axis vane and
Hasler type servo-pendulum), and carried to Sept-Iles on the North Shore of the St.
Lawrence as deck cargo on a freighter; cruise to
Percé, then single-handed across the Gulf of St. Laurence to the
Magdalen Islands, Anticosti
and Natashquan, where I had the honor of meeting the real
Jean-du-Sud, the father of poet Gilles Vigneault.
The real
Jean du Sud
1970-75
: Worked as first assistant-director on feature-length films for the screen.
July 1973 : Purchased
present boat, named also Jean-du-Sud (Alberg 30 hull no. 399) and
fitted it with a self-steering system designed and
built by Y.G. (with horizontal axis vane and
auxiliary rudder).
Second
self-steerer
Nov. 1973 :
Cruised
to the West Indies (offshore between
Beaufort NC and
St. Maarten),
as far as the Grenadines.
Spring 1974 : Returned
to Québec via the
Bahamas and US East Coast.
June 1975
: Single-handed cruise to Bermuda; return to Martha's Vineyard Island. Began
working on the design of a permanent self-steering system for JdS.
Single-handed passage from Martha’s Vineyard Is. to Martinique via
Bermuda. First season of charter.
1976 : Single-handed
return from St. Thomas USVI to Norfolk VA. Cruise from Norfolk to St. Paul
Québec alone with my two daughters, 6 and 8 years old.
1976
: Third voyage to the W. I. Single-handed passage from Beaufort to St. Barth.
Second season of charter.
1977 : Sailed from St. Maarten across the
Atlantic to Açores and Falmouth, England. Cruised the Cornish coast.
Wintered near St. Malo, in Brittany.
1978 : Cruised to the
Baltic via Holland and the Kiel canal, as far as Uppsala, Sweden, to
visit the new home of my daughters, who had moved
there with their mother. Return to St. Malo in the
Fall.
1978-81 : Worked in a boatyard in Plouër-sur
Rance (near St. Malo). Started to prepare my boat and myself for a
single-handed non-stop circumnavigation. Worked on the preparation of a 16
mm film narrating the voyage.
Plouër in 1978
Sept.-Dec. 1979 : Translation of a book
by H. A. Rey, The Stars, A New Way to See Them into French for les
Éditions Maritimes et d'Outre-Mer. Title in French :
Sachez lire les Étoiles.
Translator at
work
1980-81 : Pursued the design of a
self-steering system, construction and test of a prototype. Further
preparation of the voyage and the film.
Sept. 1, 1981 : Left
St. Malo, France, bound for Gaspé, Québec, the long way around the world,
through the Roaring Forties and around Cape Horn, alone aboard
Jean-du-Sud. Financed the voyage by transmitting daily reports through
Ham radio, that were re-broadcast on a network of radio stations in Québec.
Rounded Cape of Good-Hope Nov. 16 1981, Cape Leeuwin Jan. 1st. 1982.
Force 10
.
Feb. 15, 1982 :
Jean-du-Sud was capsized through 360° and dismasted in the Pacific.
Reached Chatham Islands under jury rig after 169 days at sea. Flew back to
Montréal to finish the editing of the film narrating the first leg of the
voyage.
.
Ashore at the Chatham Islands
May 1982 :
The film Jean-du-Sud (Part One)
broadcast on the French network of
Radio-Canada.
Oct. 1982 : Film
broadcast in France.
BFlew back
to the Chatham Islands to repair and refit Jean-du-Sud. Left Dec.
23, rounded Cape Horn 39 days later and sailed into Gaspé, Québec, May 9th
1983, after 28200 miles and 282 sailing days.
Arrival at Gaspé
Oct. 1983 : International Sailing Film
Festival of La Rochelle, France :
the film
Jean-du-Sud
(Part One) won the Grand Prize (unanimous jury) and
the Prize of the Press.
1983-84 : Lecture tours with film in
Québec.
June 1984 :
The film Jean-du-Sud (Part Two) presented
on the French network of Radio-Canada.
Jean-du-Sud sailed up the St. Lawrence from Gaspé
to Québec without an engine.
The film Jean-du-Sud
(Part Two) at the Toulon International Sea and
Exploration Film Festival: Grand Prize (unanimous jury) and Prize of the
Public.
August 1984 : Laval University of Québec
granted an Honorary Doctorate to Yves Gélinas for the excellence of
both his artistic and sailing accomplishments.
Doctor Gélinas
Dec. 1984 : The
film Jean-du-Sud (Part Two) at the
Turin Sport Film Festival (Italy) : Grand Prize.
1985 : Awarded a grant by the Canada
Council, Y. G. begins writing the narration of the voyage.
Summers 1985, '86, '87 : Engineless
cruises in the Lower St. Laurence River.
Oct. 1985 : Jean-du-Sud (Part Two)
at the La Rochelle International Sailing Film Festival : Grand Prize.
Nov. 1985 :
The film Jean-du-Sud
(Parts
One and
Two
put together) at the Troiá International Film
Festival (Portugal) : Premio da Regiao de Turismo da Costa Azul.
(Presented
in feature-length version,
the film was in competion with theatrical
35 mm films)
1986 : Lecture tours with film in France.
1987 : Jean-du-Sud (parts one and
two) at the Rome Festival Internazionale del video e del film di mare
(Italy) : Gran Premio.
Feb. 1988 : Publication of the book (in
French) Jean-du-Sud et l’Oizo-Magick, the narration of the voyage (Éditions
Leméac, Montréal).
May 1988 : Jean-du-Sud (condensed
52 min. English TV version) at the Houston 21st. Annual
Festival of the Americas : Silver Award.
Summer 1988 :
JdS Sailed up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers
to Oka without engine.
July 1989 : Creation of Cape Horn
Marine Products, to manufacture and market the Cape Horn
Integrated Self-Steering System Gélinas had designed and tested during the
circumnavigation.
Summer 1993 : Sailed
engineless up the Ottawa river to Ottawa, Ontario.
Anchored
in front of the Parliament building, Ottawa
Summer
1995 : JdS is fitted with an
outboard engine. Cruise to the Thousand Islands, upper St. Lawrence river.
Summer 1996 : JdS
hauled to Padanaram Mass. Cruised between Nantucket and Block Island.
Wintered in Bristol RI.
1996 : Second Edition of Jean-du-Sud
et l’Oizo-Magick in France by Editions du Plaisancier and Loisirs
Nautiques.
Summer 1997 : Cruised
from Padanaram to Maine. Hauled back to Oka.
Berthed
at the Museum of Yachting in Newport
Summer 1998 : JdS
hauled to Newport RI to participate in the commemoration of the Joshua
Slocum Centennial. Yves Gélinas receives the Golden
Circle Award from the Joshua Slocum Society International.
JdS Sailed from
there to Nova-Scotia and cruised the South-West Coast to Halifax. Hauled
back to Oka.
Summer 1999 : JdS
hauled to Fredericton NB. Sailed down the St. John River, into Bay of Fundy
through the Refersing Falls. Cruised
along the Eastern Seabord to Annapolis MD.
Hauled back to Oka after the US Sailboat Show.
.
Anchored in the St.John River
Summer 2000 : JdS hauled to
Midland Ontario; cruised Georgian Bay to the North Channel.
In Georgian Bay
Summer 2001 : JdS
hauled to Caraquet NB. Sailed to Magdalen Islands, then
sailed across North Atlantic to
Ireland, then England and France. Came back
to Saint-Malo and Plouër 20 years after leaving for
the circumnavigation. Wintered in the Seine River, 50
km downstream from Paris.
Plouër in 2001
Summer 2002 : Cruised
up the Seine to Paris, then the French canals and rivers;
wintered in Numansdorp, Holland.
Summer 2003 : From
Lowlands to Highlands. Cruised northward through Holland. Sailed through
the North Sea from Den Helder, Holland North to Peterhead, Scotland, then
Inverness; Passed through the Caledonian Canal and the three Lochs : Ness,
Oich and Lochy. Cruised through Hebrides and along the East coast of
Northern Ireland and Eire. Sailed across Irish Sea from Dublin to
Hollyhead. Winttered in Port Penhryn in Menai Strait, Wales.
Urquart
Castle, Loch Ness
Summer
2004 : South Brittany : Passage through the Irish Sea from Menai Strait
to the Isles of Scilly, then Brest. Coastal cruise of South
Brittany to La Rochelle. Wintered in Rochefort.
Summer 2005 : Around
Spain. Sailed up the Gironde, then across Bay of Biscay to Santander,
Spain. Cruised the coasts of Galicia, Portugal, through Gibrtaltar
into the Med ; wintered in Ibiza.
Porto, Portugal
Summer 2006 : Corsica
- Sardinia. Sailed from Ibiza to Barcelona, then Marseille, Corsica
and Sardinia ; back to Marseille to winter near Martigues, in the Étang de
Berre.
Cala
Greco, Lavezzi, Corsica
Summer 2007 : Cruise along the Italian
coast. Return via Corsica, Minorca, Majorca, Ibiza, Gibraltar, Porto Santo
(Madeira).
2008 : January :
Single-handed Passage across the Atlantic from Porto Santo to St-Martin, WI.
Spring,r eturn to Oka, Québec, where Jean-du-Sud
will at last find its home port.
2009
: Jean-du-Sud on the hard behind the CapeHorn shop undergoes a
complete refit, as maintenance had been minimal during the 7 years it was in
Europe.
2010 :
Cruise up the St. Lawrence, to the Thousand Islands and the Bay of Quinte.
2011 :
Cruise down the St. Lawrence towards Gaspé. Passage towards Magdalen
Islands, then the West Coast of Newfoundland. Sailed North along the
NFcoast towards Strait of Belle-Isle and Blanc Sablon, at the border between
Québec and Labrador. Return via the Lower North Shore of the St. Lawrence.
Bay of Islands, Newfoundland
October
2011 : Yves Gélinas elected to the Hall of Fame of the Québec Sailing
Federation.
2012 : Return
to the Lower North Shore of the St. Lawrence : Jean-du-Sud is hauled
to Sept-Îles, Québec and launched there. Cruise during July along this
coast as far as Blanc Sablon. Then it is hauled up river to Iroquois, Ont.
to spend the month of August in the Thousand Islands
Fog Rainbow on Lower North Shore
2013 :
Jean-du-Sud is hauled to Gloucester MA. Sailed South through Cape Cod
Canal, cruised to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard waters, Newport, through Long
Island Sound, New York, NJ shore, up Delaware Bay, down Chesapeake. Hauled
back to Oka after the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis.
Hadley Harbor MA
2014,
January 17 : On the day of Gélinas' 75th birthday, the film
Jean-du-Sud is re-mastered in High Definition in a New York studio
thanks to the generosity of Don Peebles, a film and sailing enthusiast.
Summer : Launched in Rimouski Québec, half way down the St. Lawrence. Sailed down the
river, crossed to Magdalen Islands, Cape Breton, through strait of Canso,
south along the coast of Nova Scotia, crossed the Gulf of Maine, cruised
Maine as far as Boston ; hauled back to Oka from Gloucester.
East Point Gut NS
Oct. 2015 : Jean-du-Sud
Hauled from Oka 1000 km to Galesville MD ; Sailed down the Chesapeake, then
out to St. Maarten, WI. South along the Lesser Antilles to the Grenadines.
Return via Cuba, then North through the Bahamas and Florida. Hauled 2300 km
back to Oka in April 2016. Click here for a “Succinct
and Illustrated Account” of the cruise.
Suite : The "Performance" of Yves
Gélinas
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