Skip the landing net in his swimming pool. On one side first, then on the other. Contemplate the result of his tedious work with pride. A gust of wind, then all over again. If Jean-Jacques and Gwenaëlle Bertrand cannot boast of influencing Éole, they promise you on the other hand to simplify the consequences of his jokes. Pool side at least!
In 2005, Jean-Jacques bought the Hotel des Liserons, in Mougins. “There was a gigantic swimming pool, with trees all around, and leaves falling in every corner!” remembers the inventor. Beautiful to look at, but not a cakewalk to maintain: “I knew what it’s like to pass the landing net in the standard way. You spend a lot of time there and it hurts your back!”
“I took what I had on hand”
This back pain, for Jean-Jacques Bertrand, is no longer possible. And in a situation of handicap, it is even less simple. So, a good ten years ago, here he goes at the workbench. A bolt here, an aluminum tube there, “I did with what I had on hand” says Jean-Jacques, amused. The first prototype sinks directly to the bottom of the pool. Not enough to discourage our handyman who, from trial to trial, ends up arriving at a product that suits him: “just pull on a piece of string, that’s all!”
Jean-Jacques sells his hotel, and leaves to settle in 2018 in a house in Normandy, shortly before the start of the Covid health crisis. Soon joined by his Gwenaëlle, in order to pass the confinement together. In the course of a conversation, “I talked to my daughter about my landing net idea, but I couldn’t find it anymore!” Some research later, “I ended up getting my hands on it, and then, since we didn’t have much else to do, we started talking about it” remembers Jean-Jacques.
Three years ago, with her father’s blessing, Gwenaëlle Bertrand took the concept to the next level: making it a salable product. After a meticulous search for anteriority, father and daughter file the patent for the invention. “Some similar patents had been filed, but none had my father’s ingenuity to come up with a frameless, removable system!” remembers the entrepreneur.
A landing net that has greatly evolved
“I recruited an industrial engineer, with whom I worked for a year, and we made eight products. Each one being an evolution of the previous one” explains Gwenaëlle. And to add: “We had to simplify as much as possible. From around fifteen metal parts with threaded rods and bolts, we ended up with a single part in PA66. It is an anti-UV, anti-salt and anti-chlorine plastic that is particularly strong and durable and recyclable. The net is the only wearing part that can be changed on its own without buying the whole thing.”
The research and development part makes it possible to “find small techniques. The landing net floats because the tubes and arms are airtight and it is the air enclosed in the tubes that allows it to float” says Gwenaëlle. Exit therefore the glued floats whose materials are far from being ecological. “No overmolding but custom-made tubes, no material waste, strict specifications for ISO9001 suppliers (quality management system and associated processes, editor’s note), we wanted to obtain the most eco-friendly product possible. “ she adds.
Produce while helping reintegration
In order to employ people who are sometimes far from employment and in need of a boost to reintegrate into the labor market, Gwenaëlle Bertrand pushes the door of several establishments and work assistance services (Esat) . “My father’s idea today puts people to work for whom it is not always easy” she rejoices. “We employ immigrants in integration in France, we even have Russians and Ukrainians in the same sewing workshop! We have people with long-term RSA and physically disabled people”all united around the same project.
Twice awarded at the Lépine competition in 2021, the bronze medal and the medal of the Overseas Ministry, the Platypool landing net is now sold in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and many more. safe in France. “We started with my little crafts, with a drill, a handsaw and bolts bought from the local hardware store to end up sold all over Europe. The surface robot exists, but it costs a fortune and everyone can’t afford it, and a robot it breaks down!” launches Jean-Jacques Bertrand, not without a touch of emotion.