My first voyage ‘round the world, part 2

Early May, fifty years ago, I drove to meet Alexis Saudan at his house, in Chamonix. This would be my first face-to-face encounter with him, following a short telephone conversation in which I expressed my desire to be a member of his Australian team and he offered me a position. 

I remember that his wife was there, the discussion took place on the patio in front of his house, and wasn’t sure who else attended that meeting. Fortunately, my friend Marcel remembers it well: 

“Once the choice [of the candidates] was made, we had a meeting at Alexis' place to plan the next steps involved. Gérard, Go11 and me. Alexis had to call Jean-Pierre who arrived from Megève (he was chopping wood!) Alexis asked Go11 to translate the terms of the contract. Both departure dates and means of transportation were also decided at that meeting. Go11 and JP would sail to Australia taking with them the team members’ skis, while I would fly over with Christophe, Alexis' son.” 

I also remember that we talked about getting the free equipment we were getting from Dynamic and Salomon mounted and crated into the personal effects carried by me and Jean-Pierre (I think we took at least 10 pairs of skis and were allowed some 880 lbs of luggage!). 

After we had signed the contracts, I was getting excited at the idea that by the end of the month, we’d be sailing off Genoa for a scheduled one-month voyage half around the world (in those days, Suez was still closed following the six-days war)!