September 24th 2025
August 3rd 2025
July 17th 2025
July 5th 2025
June 23rd 2025
February 19th, 2025
The Knut awaits repairs
And us in the meantime… We’re working like hell!
Dear friends,
It’s been five months now since the Knut with the broken wings has been waiting for his building site. The the first bout of stress and then the first bout of blues, we had to get to work to get down to work without delay. Because delay is not an option.
Logistics
A minimum two-stage project
May: A one-ton crate of raw materials (aluminum) and tools tools (welder, machines…) will leave for Greenland, first by truck then by ship. Many thanks to Morand Constructions Métalliques for their logistical support!
June – August: MaréMotrice’s heavy-hitters set off for Greenland, and
start the job, cutting out all the damaged parts of the hull and structure
and structure – almost the entire starboard side of the hull. Then they
rebuild it all.
August – September: The boat, almost empty but solid, to Brittany for the next wintering period, followed by the rest of the work in 2026 (interior, equipment, engine and batteries).
Finance
By far the biggest job
We know how to cut, grind and weld. We know how to use our hands. But how do you finance a project so far away and so big? That’s what we’ve been working on relentlessly since the autumn. And it’s thanks to you, our friends and the public, who have been so encouraging and generous over the past five months, that this boat will be saved. This boat will be saved. To complete this first stage of the project, just over half of the budget remains to be provided, i.e. around approximately 30,000 chf.
Thanks to the artists who have lived on the Knut, we’re going to repair this dream factory. Mainly by selling art and dreams. Shipwreck will be overcome by poetry.
Justine Mettraux
A talk organized par MaréMotrice (in french)
Back from the Vendée Globe, Justine tells us about this
incredible experience. Justine Mettraux is a talented Swiss sailor. She is the godmother of the Knut.
Aula du CO de Bulle – Switzerland
Sunday, march 23, 2025
Knut…
An art-sale by MaréMotrice
38 artists to discover
La Distillerie – Chemin des Crêts 10 – 1630 Bulle – Switzerland
March 14 to 23, 2025
Opening Thursday March 13 18h-20h
Wednesday & Thursday: 2pm to 7pm
Friday & Saturday: 2pm to 8pm
Sunday: 11am to 4:30pm
or online here
(painting above ©Megan Broughton)
December 16th, 2024
In the name of Art
How do you cope in a crisis? Turn the problem on its head, shed new light on it.
Thanks to the collaboration of nearly 40 artists who came to stay on the Knut, we were able to put together a magnificent polar exhibition. This exhibition-sale serves as crowdfunding, and will enable us to finance the first phase of work to be carried out this summer. This involves Cut out the damaged part of the hull, and rebuild the structure and sheet metal. Fix the keel and rudder.
This first phase, which does not affect the motorization or equipment of Knut, should enable us to put her back in the water and sail her back to Brittany. We’ll see what happens next, but let’s take it step by step.
Estimated cost: 50,000 swiss francs
Support us by coming to the exhibition, or by visiting the online version:
www.maremotrice.ch/knutfunding
Thanks!
A time for reflection
October 1st, 2024
In the kitchen, under the sink, you can open a cupboard to take out a saucepan. But instead of pans, you’ll find a hole the size of a football.
The word “tomber” (to fall) glued to the ceiling. What remains of Knut’s extensive library.
The interior of the boat after three days of intense… and emotionally demanding clearing and cleaning. Just about all the equipment is out of order, but at least it looks a bit like a boat interior again.
The (electric) motor has been removed from the boat and rinsed with fresh water. We know that most of the hi-tech installation linked to the motor has to be redone. But let’s hope we can save the engine itself. The solar panels, from Solbian, have miraculously all held up. It’s clear from this picture that the entire structure beneath the aluminum sheeting has been affected. It’s all going to have to be cut out and rebuilt. But as our fellow builder and skipper Gaël says: It’s only aluminium!
In orange, areas to be completely rebuilt
Finances
We Swiss don’t like to talk about money. Yet money will be the lifeblood of this rebuild. We’re not afraid of manual labor, and MaréMotrice has been working for a decade with friends who are highly skilled and motivated when it comes to getting things done.
We are currently in the process of drawing up a logistical plan for this mission, and will only know our budget once this plan is well established. Let’s stick to estimates for now.
What we do know: Thanks to your donations, we’ve been able to save the Knut!
Over 20,000$ has been raised. The rescue cost us around 12,000$. With the money left over, we’ll be able to pay for the rental of the parking on which the Knut rests until next summer…
A first estimate leads us to believe that we still need to find the sum of 50,000$ to get the boat back on the water, ready to sail. To which we’ll need to add between 20,000$ and 30,000$ to get the engine working again.
We will be creating events and activating our networks to raise this sum. Your donations are most welcome! Bank details at the bottom of this article. You would like to get your company involved? Please contact us: benjamin@maremotrice.ch
Goals
In order to keep the horizon within reach, we plan to break down the task ahead, concentrating for the time being on the first two points.
Raise CHF 50,000 this autumn-winter-spring.
Carry out a major refit on the boat in Greenland, from mid-June to the end of August 2025, to make her seaworthy, giving us the possibility of repatriating her to Europe if necessary, sailing like the big boys.
Then (winter 25-26) to finance and complete the motorization of the yacht.
We’ll be sailing again – with you – in the spring of 2026!
In the short term
Organize a collective exhibition-sale of MaréMotrice artists. Over fifty artists have shared an adventure aboard the Knut. It would be a wonderful opportunity to reunite this large family and show off all these magnificent works. We’re working on it. To be continued…
Thanks again for your support!
Association MaréMotrice
Clos Derrey 28
1638 Morlon
Suisse
IBAN: CH49 8012 9000 0096 0076 7
SWIFT-BIC: RAIFCH22
Banque Raiffeisen Moléson
Rte Principale 174
1628 Vuadens
Switzerland
Paypal: benjamin@maremotrice.ch
Twint: Mélina Repond 076 416 75 35
September 20th 2024
Just opposite Nuuk, where I was shipwrecked, there’s an island, a small, sad island that serves as a boat graveyard. Boats that have come to the end of their lives are brought there and laid to rest for eternity. I came within a hair’s breadth of ending up there. It was just one road, and that was it.
On Friday September 13, the crane finally showed up. It sat there, on all fours, and carefully, delicately, lifted me out of the rocks.
The manoeuvre wasn’t easy. I was all sideways in the rocks, leaning to starboard, nosediving. And that’s how I ended up on the truck bed: it was impossible to flatten out the boat once it was suspended under the crane. Obviously, the truck isn’t used to my kind of size, so we had to improvise. My interior is often heated by burning pallets, and it was also on pallets that I spent a winter in Svalbard years ago. Once again, the famous pallets saved the day. Sketchy!
But it wasn’t just the pallets that saved me. Without you, without your donations which poured in as soon as the disaster was announced, I don’t know how I would have got through it. Without your touching support, I would have felt very alone in my fight, and so would my captain. Without the help, hospitality and support of my friends Martje and Joshua, the battle would not have been the same. Such a shipwreck is as unexpected as it is emotionally violent. It’s only gear, say the humans, but it doesn’t matter. All the same, I was not far from ending up abandoned on a small island opposite Nuuk, known as the boat graveyard.
The first stage, the first victory of my rescue ends there. I’ve been discreet and haven’t shown you my wounds yet. They are substantial, but absolutely repairable. There still is a great human story to build around this project. I’ll tell you all about it in the next chapter.
Thanks to all of you !
September 12th 2024
They call me the KNUT. I’m an old sea dog, I’ve seen a lot of countries, crossed a lots of oceans and storms.
But that storm the other day was too much. I still don’t know what happened, whether my three anchors dragged or my chain broke… whatever: I ended up in the rocks. There was nobody on board, so at least I didn’t lose a human being, because that would be another kind of worry.
But worries I carry. And pain. Once in the rocks, pushed by the storm, I only lasted three quarters of an hour. It was violent. I’m strong, very strong, but this was too much. Too much wind, too many waves, and me wallowing in too aggressive rocks.
For the first time in my career, I gave up. And let the water in. All the way to the ceiling. No matter how strong we are, we all have our limits. It’s a fine line.
At low tide I’m empty, at high tide I’m full. A hellish routine. But I’m not giving up. There are hardly any roads in Greenland, but fortunately I finished my race on the side of a road. This will enable the rescue. If they put me back in the water, I’ll sink instantly, and my career will end there. Only a big crane can get me out of this hellhole.
I’ve done a lot of sailing during this past decade, hopefully helped people dream quiet a bit. I still have oceans to cross and dreams to transport. But the magnitude of the task ahead is enormous. I must continue to believe in myself, in you. Rebuild myself completely. Step by step, step by step. We’ll get there.
But I need help, I can’t do it alone. The biggest crane in Greenland is coming to take me out of my element. They’re going to put me on a huge trailer. The trailer has to move me a few hundred meters, onto a piece of land that will be my hospital bed for this winter. That’s my first objective: Security.
Then come the repairs, next chapter.
People, equipment, cranes, trucks and stuff all run on a strange thing call money, and my owners obviously don’t have any. In fact, it’s the main obstacle to my rescue. If you can help us, we’ll be eternally grateful.
I’ll continue here to tell you about my recovery, step by step. We’ll get there.
Thanks for your help!
Love,
Knut and family
Association MaréMotrice
Clos Derrey 28
1638 Morlon
Switzerland
IBAN: CH49 8012 9000 0096 0076 7
SWIFT-BIC: RAIFCH22
Banque Raiffeisen Moléson
Rte Principale 174
1628 Vuadens
Switzerland
Paypal: benjamin@maremotrice.ch
September 12, 2024