Rendre le large accessible à tous pour mieux vivre ensemble et montrer que la diversité est un levier de performance : telle est la vocation d'Estrella Lab !
Basé au bassin des Chalutiers de La Rochelle, Estrella Lab est un voilier taillé pour le grand large et repensé pour accueillir des personnes en situation de handicap.
Il prône la diversité, l’inclusion et la découverte à travers des sorties journée, des croisières avec activités sportives adaptées et bientôt des expéditions en équipage handi-valide.
Estrella Lab se fait le reflet de ce que pourrait être notre société en montrant que tout est possible quand on allie l’intelligence collective, les aides techniques et la solidarité.
Le voilier a déjà validé deux transatlantiques et plusieurs croisières aux Antilles en équipage handi-valide, et repartira en décembre pour les Canaries où nous proposons des croisières plongées adaptées.
Avec pour la suite, comme rêves dans les voiles : emmener un équipage handi-valide vers les Pôles !
Sailing
Sailing is discovering another universe, is learning to play with the elements to move, apprehending time and distances differently, disconnecting from your usual way of life and learning to live with others. It is a promise of vibrations, palpitations, acceptations. But above all, exploration. Whether human, geographic, intellectual, scientific or even artistic, it takes part in the time of reflection , very often cruelly put aside today. Being faced with an ocean as far as the eye can see while living in close proximity with a crew leaves no one indifferent. Experience, share and explore . This is what we would like to share with you on board Estrella
THE TEAM OF THE STAR
Olivia
The rolling armourer
Travel and me, it's a long love story that experienced an unexpected break when I had an accident between two destinations. It will have taken a little time for us to re-tame him and me, but our story has picked up again and has never had as much force and meaning as today ...
If my accident forced me to live a completely different adventure for a few years, namely the discovery of the world of disability, as hard as it was rich to grasp, I was able, thanks to my entourage, to a formidable medical team, and by dint of will, start dreaming again and believe that everything is possible.
From this chaotic at first sight journey, was born the desire to show that his own will carried by beautiful meetings, can make us exceed all limits.
It's been 10 years now that it's on my four wheels that I ride around the world.
This is why I founded We Wheel Rock You, an association that promotes adventure, solidarity, surpassing oneself and discovery.
It is in the continuity of the work accomplished for over three years that I decided to embark on this new challenge, the realization of a childhood dream and the values ​​that I wish to defend.
After three inclusive adventure projects, each time involving more successful actors for WWRY, I wanted to take it to the next level and get more involved.
And Estrella felt obvious. This magnificent 60-feet sailboat is the ideal tool to carry high, strong and far the colors of inclusion, solidarity, discovery and surpassing oneself that I have been defending for four years.
Allow people with disabilities to fully enjoy the experience of navigation, participate in offshore races with disabled crews to show that difference can be a performance lever, offer original themed cruises and raise awareness about the environment, while creating meetings and social ties, this is the vocation of this project.
Hissons L'Étoile organization
The Hissons l'Étoile organization has joined the ranks of Estrella Lab to carry out this project as ambitious as it is united. Its vocation is to promote access to the practice of deep sea sailing and all sporting and cultural activities for the benefit of the greatest number and more specifically to people with disabilities. Carry messages of hope, solidarity and inclusion through sailing on the Estrella boat. Its hard core is made up of a shock team that is as diverse as it is complementary, with in common a real desire to defend inclusion in all these forms.
Julien Viroulaud - President
Former crew member of Team Jolokia's Volvo Ocean racing boat, Julien has made diversity his battle. Invested in the associative environment, he initiated in September 2019, We Are Diversiti'team and his first challenge: the rope of diversity. Eight participants, all from stereotypes of diversity, set off to attack Mont Blanc to prove that our singularities are the strength of the collective. Convinced of the social utility of Estrella Lab, he joined the adventure as president of the association.
Xavier Bodiguel - treasurer
A marine biologist by training, Xavier has always had a very strong relationship with the sea. An accident that made him quadriplegic forced him to return to France while he was doing research for Ifremer in Guadeloupe. A few years later, surrounded by friends and then by the Cap Handi association, he started sailing again. Geo FINDOU, sailor and researcher, he is a real asset in the team
Valérie Montoriol - secretary
Videographer-editor passionate about the maritime world, has a dozen transatlantic to her credit, including one as a second on board the proud First40.7 of the Cap Handi association. Valérie allias Valou makes it a point of honor to describe projects that make sense in pictures. From Benoit Parnaudeau's preparation for the Vendée Globe aiming to promote fair trade, to the South Atlantic aboard the legendary Notre Dame des Flots, via Burkina Faso and Cambodia, his camera have taken her to the four corners of the world to give voice to projects with a strong social impact. At the same time, she created Passeurs d'Histoires, filmed biographies to pass on each person's story through the generations.
Thomas Favreau - adjunct treasurer
In a wheelchair following an accident, Thomas, a former pastry chef and chocolate maker, is always up for new adventures. Glider, tennis, sailing, quad ... Not much can stop him. He loves challenges, sleeping in his hammock and baking good pastries aboard Estrella, to the delight of the crew. As he says himself: it makes everyone agree!
Jacqueline Dussol - secretary adjunct
Passionate audio-descriptor since 1984, Jacqueline allias Giacomina is very involved in the accessibility of video content. She is at the origin of many events such as Individuals in the PACA Region, Images en Miroir in Luxembourg (two events around the difference mixing cinema, theater, arts and literature) or the Festival Retour de Cannes, a short film festival for change our looks.