I'm not sure if five beers at the bar with one of the Porthole editors counts as a 'management meeting' but I was getting a bit worried I'd been shirking my responsibilities as a journalist. With just two days before the print deadline I'd still not spoken to my proposed interviewee and I was thinking up excuses as to why pages eight and nine were going to be blank. Then in walks this beautiful French woman with an air of sophistication. We were introduced (re-introduced, actually, as I'd taken her lines once or twice before) and was told Sylvaine Ilario is not only a female solo sailor but a concert pianist too. My next interview was staring me in the face: this was too good an opportunity to miss...

 

Sylvaine's passion for the sea probably stems from her grandfather who was an under-water archaeologist, though the fact her father was a sailor too has something to do with her getting into diving and sailing when she was just eight years old. Before all this, however, Sylvaine had already spent three years playing the piano. I quickly learned that Sylvaine has in fact spent 20 years in many different countries, from Austria to Canada to the UK,

studying her art and playing on international stages for her career. As a young girl this was a difficult role to grow into. She quit school early and fell into a strict regime that meant practising for hours on end every day. As a classical musician she loved it though and it is clear she is very dedicated.

“I love playing from the Romantic period, which includes Chopin, Schumann and Rachmaninov, but I also enjoy composers such as Astor Piazzolla and Gershwin.”

 

How do the two interests compare?

 

Music is my blood and the sea my

oxygen.

 

I grew up on the sea in the south of France and in spite of my career on the international concert stage, between hotels and flights, I never neglected my love for the ocean, always sailing or diving between tours when my agenda permitted it.”

 

The travelling and practising took their toll, however, and Sylvaine became very ill. “At that time my father was selling his Gib Sea 126, 'Apis II', and knowing what the sea meant for me suggested I should take advantage of Apis as my heritage. I'd been sailing since my childhood, of course, but it would be an escape from the toils of concert performance. I love travelling and obviously do a lot whilst playing the piano but doing it by boat instead seemed the obvious choice. After spending 25 years playing on international stages, with great orchestras and solo musicians, choosing the sea for the second chapter of my life is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

 

“In 2004 I decided to live on board Apis, still playing concerts in between sailing, but now with the goal of one day changing my routine for a life on the water. This would be in stark contrast to the world of applause, success and, don't forget, stage fright, that old bed-fellow of all artists!”

 

In 2006 Sylvaine did her first big solo sail, the 400-odd mile trip from Cap d'Agde to St Remo. “I felt tiny

THROUGH THE PORTHOLE

Sylvaine of ‘Apis II’

portholenews@gmail.com

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