When Murielle Ovenden talks about her greatest love—sailing—, her gaze drifts and takes us a thousand miles away, lost in the sounds and smells of the sea.
Born in Brest, in France’s northwesternmost region, sailing has always been in her blood, thanks to the rich maritime history of her homeland and family. Her parents sailed with her before she could walk and even allowed her to start dinghy sailing on her own before she started school.
“Girls my age had posters of movie stars on their wall,” she remembers. “I had ones of old boats.”
Photo: Jason McNamara/Framed Photography
Though she moved to Canada when she was six—first to Moncton then to Gatineau—she spent all her summers in Brittany with her grandparents, maintaining her strong bond with the ocean and Muriel says she survived her days at school dreaming of getting back to the sea in the summertime.
At 19 while working at a marina in Hull, she met Mark who was living there on a small 26-foot boat. They sailed together a lot and the time spent on open waters turned into love. They eventually settled on a large open lot in South Mountain, the small village in North Dundas in 2002. Despite the shift to landlocked living, the 42-year-old held onto a dream of sailing back to France one day.
Mark, ever the supportive husband and fellow seafarer, inspired and challenged her to build a boat. Not just any boat. A boat “that makes your heartbeat”.
When you start something like this, there has to be a bit of magical thinking behind it.
And so, Murielle designed a 30-ton, 51-foot-6-inch steel craft which she, Mark and a four-legged “crew” (four dogs and two cats) started building in their backyard. They lovingly named the boat Mimi Jane, after her grandmother and Mark’s mother. The boat is a replica of the tuna fishing dundees found in northwestern France and is a culmination of labour, challenges, frustration, love, and curiosity. Every square inch of this vessel—every detail, design, calculation, and configuration—was Murielle and Mark’s to decide. They have meticulously documented their every move at mimijane.ca.
Photo: Thomas Schoch/Little Red Barn Photography
“When you start something like this, there has to be a bit of magical thinking behind it,” she explains. “If we would have thought it through there’s no way I would have committed to being a prisoner of a project for close to fifteen years. No way.” But she’s quick to add that she has zero regrets about living out this lifelong dream.
“There are many things we didn’t get to do because we were doing this. I see friends that have cool careers. I don’t have that. But I have a boat. It’s really about choices,” says Murielle.
Murielle and Mark’s journey will culminate in selling all their possessions, including their home, and spending their days exploring uncharted waters, seeking out their next great adventure. The initial plan was to put the Mimi Jane in the water this summer, but the pandemic has forced the couple to make the call to wait until next year.
“Patience is a sailor’s virtue,” maintains Murielle. “A good sailor knows when to let the storm pass.”
