Inaugurated a week ago, the Sea Hub “Alpes-Maritimes Department – Loïc Leferme” is already operating at full capacity. Its manager, Joseph Strazzanti, has many projects in mind. Aided by headliners like Jean-Pierre Dick, and with local support, the Sea Hub continues to surprise and is developing beyond the sporting dimension.
Smiling at the idea of presenting his new “baby,” Joseph Strazzanti, manager of the Sea Hub in Villefranche-sur-Mer wasted no time settling into his new premises.
Present for 35 years in the Alpes-Maritimes department for the development of water sports, he today embodies the vision of Charles-Ange Ginésy, president of the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council, to create a space that brings together everything related to maritime affairs.
From sports to science, the Sea Hub was designed to bring together all players in the maritime world, in order to benefit from each person’s expertise to optimize success.
This Sea Hub succeeds many policies to promote the marine environment in the Alpes-Maritimes. What were the origins of this project?
« If we look back to the past, the first part was to ensure that sailing clubs could operate all year round, because before, sailing instructors were sailing instructors in summer and became ski instructors in winter. So in winter, there was no one in the clubs, and nothing happened. Since the sailing plan arrived in 1991, we were able to introduce schoolchildren to water sports basics during PE classes, and this allowed us to employ instructors year-round. We were able to develop water sports facilities, make salaries permanent and move into competition. Quickly, the department became number one in France in sports results. »
Concretely, what will happen at the Sea Hub?
« The idea of the Sea Hub is really to bring together offshore racing, freediving, as well as the scientific side around the preservation of maritime heritage. For offshore racing, we are fortunate to have the Nice native Jean-Pierre Dick who is making his boat available to train young competitors and pass on his knowledge. We have a partnership with the French Sailing Federation, they select young sailors of a very high level throughout the year who want to try offshore racing. We entrust them to Jean-Pierre and the Sea Hub and we will prepare them, we will have them sail with him on his boat which is hyper high-tech to see how they manage with single-handed sailing maneuvers. Then, if they really take to it, we will help them find sponsors, build their loyalty, and create a solid project. It’s similar to what was done with Nathan Mesiano, who had spent several days at sea with Jean-Pierre in January.
For freediving it’s the same principle. The entire team of Claude Chapuis, Loïc Leferme and Guillaume Néry managed to make Villefranche’s roadstead the Mecca of world freediving. We held five world championships here, so it still made sense to associate freediving with the Sea Hub. »
And beyond the sporting dimension, what are the projects?
« We have a major program in the department on the Mediterranean Plan 06 which covers many areas related to the environment. The idea is that there will be conferences here, meetings on these topics concerning the preservation of marine diversity. We also have a small museum section at the Sea Hub where young people can become aware of good practices to adopt with the marine environment through books. The objective is to try to capture everything related to the sea and make it benefit as many people as possible. »
How will all of this be organized on a daily basis?
« Well, there are three of us at the Sea Hub so we are going to try to set up room reservation schedules. Associations that want to hold their general meetings or training sessions will be able to do so. We will try to group all of this together, to ensure that there is coherence, fairness, and that it is not always used by the same people. Initially, our first purpose was associations, organizations, federations. But ultimately, since we opened, we see that we have plenty of individuals coming. The limit will be our presence as three people. We will organize a rotation so that it is open for as long as possible. »
It’s been a week since the Sea Hub was inaugurated, what has already changed in a week?
« Frankly, a lot has already happened in a week, for example for the water sports section of the Nice STAPS it’s more convenient. For years, every Thursday they would go with a truck to do their activities, and they would change in the truck. Now they can come change in the locker rooms, put their things down. We also have a small kitchen with a fridge, where they can leave their meal.
And we also have surprises every day. We have retirees from the area, sea lovers, who offer to help us by volunteering sometimes. Just this morning, Rudy Sadiche, a craftsman from the port came to see us to put a boat he is currently buying at the Sea Hub’s disposal, a little gem, ‘L’Amadour’. It’s a magnificent sailboat that has been in the Villefranche port for ages and we wanted to try to preserve it. And he just brought us the former skipper of the boat who says “I am at your disposal to run it voluntarily.” It’s still in progress, but the idea would be that the boat becomes the ambassador of the department at the major events we finance, the Royal Regattas, the Sails of Antibes and that we can develop a training program. Seeing so much enthusiasm around the Sea Hub is wonderful, for me it’s a dream coming true. »
Photo: Ulysse Vincelot
What are the other projects underway?
« We have plenty. We are working with the Nice AI Hub on a project to create cameras that film underwater diving. It’s a very specific tool, and we would like to innovate in this area, because it’s a Romanian company that has the monopoly on this type of equipment and it’s very expensive to buy.
We held a maritime safety day with the maritime prefecture and it’s great because in fact pleasure boaters, they have equipment on board imposed for their safety, but no one teaches them how to use it. So we organized an event to show them how to open a life raft, how to get into it, how to put on a survival suit. It’s the kind of thing we want to do again too. »
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