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Canua Island in the storm: a founder's rant

2023-06-10T10:32:45.967Z

Highlights: Marc Audineau, former world No. 1 in Olympic dinghy 49er, rebels against the "smear campaign" of which is the subject of his nomadic floating island. Seven years since the project began, Canua Island is blocked in the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer. Sixteen million euros are at stake, one hundred direct jobs in addition to the three hundred indirect, threatened. The entrepreneur went into debt of five million euros. The countdown on the countdown on Canua: The controversial floating beach of French coast is not crossed yet.


Marc Audineau, former world No. 1 in Olympic dinghy 49er, rebels against the "smear campaign" of which is the subject of his nomadic floating island, blocked in the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer.


Two months that the controversy lasts. Seven years since the project began. What has fished for Canua Island, this hybrid place of art of living at sea, islet hotel, restaurant, beach club, eco-designed platform to raise awareness of the protection of the seabed, island classified as a ship, to find itself blocked in the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer at the time of completion?

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At the end of May, Canua Island left its production site in Italy by sea. Its launch in the blue waters of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, on the Côte d'Azur, was announced in the aftermath, three years after Le Figaro Magazine had first told the genesis of this innovative initiative unique in the world, as part of its series, "Traveling to the future". "We didn't explain enough who we were, what we were doing. If not, it would not be mounted in the media like that, "laments Marc Audineau, at the origin of the adventure launched with Tony Philp.

" READ ALSO "We have zero doubt": the designers of Canua Island defend their controversial floating beach

If the giant trimaran (1750 m² with one floor), obtained on May 31 the green light from the safety commission to receive the public, it is still waiting for a final validation from the direction of maritime affairs. Some local elected officials and associations denounce an ecological impact and unfair competition for professionals on the Côte d'Azur.

'Feeling of disgust'

Behind the scenes, a political battle between Renaud Muselier, president of the southern region and Sébastien Leroy, mayor of Mandelieu, rages. And shareholders are getting impatient. Sixteen million euros are at stake, one hundred direct jobs in addition to the three hundred indirect, threatened. Everything is at stake now, at the dawn of the summer season.

Canua Island sunbeds Canua Island/Press photo

Communication may be late. "Despite a meticulous instruction by the state services and that we are 100% compliant with the regulations and ecologically well above the standards practiced on the coast every day, we have still not received the necessary permits for the exploitation of Canua," warned at a press conference on June 6 Jean-Bernard Falco, president of Canua Island, with Marc Audineau and Tony Philp who are both high-level athletes, lovers of the sea.

It was Marc, the Cannes, who convinced Tony, with three French, Australian and Fijian nationalities, not to succumb to the sirens of Dubai or West Africa who always call for the project, to develop it in France, where he was born.

Marc Audineau Personal Collection

I was proud 7 years ago to embark on entrepreneurship in France on an innovative project, a 1st world, on the sea, my DNA.

Marc Audineau

So at Le Figaro, the former world number 1 in Olympic dinghy 49er, repeats his bitter words that he wrote on the professional network LinkedIn: "I represented my country, the France, in sailing at the Olympic Games in Athens with pride, after being world No. 1. I was proud 7 years ago to embark on entrepreneurship in France on an innovative project, a 1st world, on the sea, my DNA ... With the support of the State, alongside many 100% French entrepreneurs and with the financing of 4 French banks [...] And now, today, a few days before the opening, this same country whose colors I proudly wore, closes the door to me because of an elected official who welcomes liners and yachts, and who opposes our ship, on the pretext that it pollutes... While CANUA ticks all the boxes of the ecological transition, uses biofuel".

Marc Audineau admits a "feeling of disgust". He storms, echoing his post on LinkedIn: "Yes, I am ashamed of my country and these elected officials who supported me yesterday, encouraged me to invest, to undertake, pushed to sell my house to finance the project, to put my wife and my 3 children in danger". The entrepreneur went into debt of five million euros. The countdown is on. "If no later than Monday, June 12 in the morning the green light is not given to us, our shareholders will lay off everyone and the company will be in bankruptcy," announces Marc Audineau. Before concluding: "But I am a sportsman. As long as the line is not crossed, we can still win."

See also - Canua Island: The controversial floating beach arrived on May 22 off the coast of French Riviera.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-06-10

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