Philippe Bouchiba, better known as Bouba, spent most of his childhood in his father's and grandfather's workshops, tinkering on his father's helicopter, and his family's cars and motorbikes.
By the age of 10, he had already successfully rebuilt several scooters and motorbikes which he and his friend's rode in the local fields and woodlands.
A keen fisherman, it was at this time that Bouba built a diving bottle using water bottles coupled with bicycle inner tubes and a bicycle valve, the latter as the breathing apparatus, allowing 5 minute dives' to watch fish in their natural habitat!
After studying at college, Bouba became an apprentice mechanic in the car industry, giving him the opportunity to learn about body work too.
A move to working on sea scooters widened Bouba's knowledge and competence on both motor tuning and body work including building moulds for both carbon and fiber glass parts.
After a serious boat accident, Bouba was forced to retire from the world of sea-scooters, but returned to the boating world as a boat mechanic at St Jean de Losne in 2000.
28 years after his first tinkering, Bouba now combines his love of all things mechanic and water: As a boat mechanic he often dives under boats, now using the correct equipment!