French sailing isn’t all high-tech multihulls and Minis, there is a huge interest in traditional boats, which were often unique to a small stretch of coast. They are all classed under the term “chasse-marée” that originally meant a fast fishing boat. Here is an unusual example that came out to watch the Mini regatta–an open longboat with three lug sails. It looks as if it could also be rowed if the wind dropped…and the crew was hardy enough.
Peter Marsh grew up in Greenwich, England, started dinghy sailing in 1963, and was on the dockside in Plymouth in 1964 before the second Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race start. He has been fascinated by nautical design and performance ever since! He emigrated to the US in In 1972 and in 1981 designed and built the small trailerable trimaran that he still sails. He continues to follow ocean racing in Europe, returning to France in 2012 to see the end of the Vendee Globe and again in 2013 to watch the start of the Mini Transat and Transat J.V. He lives in Astoria, Oregon, and also writes PR materials for boat builders and related businesses.
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Hi Peter,
We were glad to have you for that windy night camping at our place earlier this week! Let s try to stay in touch and hope we can spend more time together next time we see you.
I will send you the French text about the abbey in case you can spend some time trasnlating it in proper English, as you offered ; the English translation I will also forward you is an amateur one, as you will see. Please send us your email.
All the best for your “Tour de France” and Isabelle is now out of hospital… 😉
Jerome and Dad (host at breakfast)