At last the much anticipated event had arrived - boat and car loaded I arrived at Portsmouth ferry to join the line of vehicles, many towing boats destined for the festival in the queue at the ferry port.
John and Mary Boston, towing 'Pamela' were in the same queue and we eagerly awaited embarkation.
This however was to be no easy task, as on the approach I suddenly thought "FLARES......." and sure enough the question was asked by the official by the inspection shed. I decided without too much thought to own up to the fact I had some on board, after all a search would discover them sat in their holders in the cabin and that would lead to a very red face. So I was waved over to a side bay and then into the shed where some eager, but very helpful and friendly officials descended on the boat.
However their eagerness diminished when the realised it would take me a month of Sundays to un lash the mast and gain access to the cabin. Solution..call the supervisor....after some minutes a harassed but very courteous man arrived and evidently my answers satisfied him and I was waved through..a lesson learnt - either make them accessible or leave then behind.
The other interesting story here was the questions about knives - did I have any on board...
Well yes..its a boat and knives are useful for all sorts of reasons - I also live on her so there is a full cutlery set as well...bemused faces...Do you ask these questions of the caravan and motor home owners I asked. No we don't...well think of it as a floating caravan...faces cleared, eyes winked and I was waved through.
I has elected to sleep in a reserved seat for the crossing, which was ok but not great and I envied John and Mary in their cabin, but St Malo arrived at dawn and we set off for Lamour Baden.
For those of you who fear trailing in France...don't...it is so much better than trailing over here - the roads are wider...in much better condition...less traffic...wonderful Aires or rest areas. Three hours or so with a stop at a supermarket saw us at the quayside where other members of the group who had arrived earlier in the week were already well established.
Rigged and launched we were soon tied to out allocated buoys. We ended up using a boat as a ferry boat to collect members of our group and take them to the 'party boat' as we were well distributed amongst the anchorage. A dinghy would have been useful at times but the tide races through so not the solution to everything. The locals used ribs and water taxis and it was very easy to get in and out from the shore, although they did pack up quite early and not start til 9 or so.
The gang consisted of Andy and Annie Cooper on Coaster 'Gadfly', Marcus Niner on Drifter 'Sundance' , Andy and Judy Peter on Coaster 'Blue Peter', John and Mary Boston on Coaster ' Pamela', Jeremy and Kim Brett on Coaster 'Storm'. Alex Haig and his crew on his Deben lugger, James Willder on his lugger 'Tarka, myself on the Shrimper 'Daislebee' and later in the week we were joined by Jack O'Keefe and Pat O'Leary in Coaster 'Tyboat' and David and Euan Camlin in Coaster ' Delta'
The event was so busy and varied all the days seemed to run together. There were many memorable moments - Marcus getting Andy C into oyster shucking...they were ten a penny...almost literally and Marcus is quite the connoisseur, and we h,ad a good oyster and wine party on his boat - head stand diving, boarding ladder testing - not forgetting the story about the mizzen but that'll keep for another time
The event didn't start properly until the Wednesday when we sailed a route following a lead boat for our fleet.
The participants are placed in fleets according to their size and facilities - so open boats of a lugger size where in fleet 3 - cabin-ed boats of a similar size like ours were placed in fleet 3 bis - 3 and 3 bis combined into a group of 100 plus boats under a lead skipper who motored the route with several ribs to assist. Each day we sailed from one venue to another, stopping of lunch and coffee frequently in order to wait for the ferocious tides to turn in our favour.
In all over 1400 boats took part in their various fleets, each nigh spent at a little port within the golfe where the town had a stage for music and entertainment, dancing, food stalls and a crews dining area after crews drinks had been taken. Each port seemed to be trying to out do the last for the scale of the entertainment and the warmth of the welcome - the locals were fantastic.
I have simply put a selection of pictures below to show the variety of the types of boats and some of the scenery.
For those of you who fear trailing in France...don't...it is so much better than trailing over here - the roads are wider...in much better condition...less traffic...wonderful Aires or rest areas. Three hours or so with a stop at a supermarket saw us at the quayside where other members of the group who had arrived earlier in the week were already well established.
Rigged and launched we were soon tied to out allocated buoys. We ended up using a boat as a ferry boat to collect members of our group and take them to the 'party boat' as we were well distributed amongst the anchorage. A dinghy would have been useful at times but the tide races through so not the solution to everything. The locals used ribs and water taxis and it was very easy to get in and out from the shore, although they did pack up quite early and not start til 9 or so.
The gang consisted of Andy and Annie Cooper on Coaster 'Gadfly', Marcus Niner on Drifter 'Sundance' , Andy and Judy Peter on Coaster 'Blue Peter', John and Mary Boston on Coaster ' Pamela', Jeremy and Kim Brett on Coaster 'Storm'. Alex Haig and his crew on his Deben lugger, James Willder on his lugger 'Tarka, myself on the Shrimper 'Daislebee' and later in the week we were joined by Jack O'Keefe and Pat O'Leary in Coaster 'Tyboat' and David and Euan Camlin in Coaster ' Delta'
The event was so busy and varied all the days seemed to run together. There were many memorable moments - Marcus getting Andy C into oyster shucking...they were ten a penny...almost literally and Marcus is quite the connoisseur, and we h,ad a good oyster and wine party on his boat - head stand diving, boarding ladder testing - not forgetting the story about the mizzen but that'll keep for another time
The event didn't start properly until the Wednesday when we sailed a route following a lead boat for our fleet.
The participants are placed in fleets according to their size and facilities - so open boats of a lugger size where in fleet 3 - cabin-ed boats of a similar size like ours were placed in fleet 3 bis - 3 and 3 bis combined into a group of 100 plus boats under a lead skipper who motored the route with several ribs to assist. Each day we sailed from one venue to another, stopping of lunch and coffee frequently in order to wait for the ferocious tides to turn in our favour.
In all over 1400 boats took part in their various fleets, each nigh spent at a little port within the golfe where the town had a stage for music and entertainment, dancing, food stalls and a crews dining area after crews drinks had been taken. Each port seemed to be trying to out do the last for the scale of the entertainment and the warmth of the welcome - the locals were fantastic.
I have simply put a selection of pictures below to show the variety of the types of boats and some of the scenery.
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| The fleet in Port Navalo |
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| Port Anna |
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| Port Anna |
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| Port Anna |
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| Port Bono - the river and bridge |
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| Port Navalo |
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| A variety of the big ships that attended |
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| The Drascombe 50 years celebration burgee flying proudly in the Morbihan |
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| Port Bono |
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| The other Shrimper |
We took a lovely picture of entente cordiale having spent the day 'racing' each other... we moored up together at Port Anna and had a good chat with his English and certainly that of his daughters exceeding my very poor french - but beer is a good multi national currency.
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| Entente Cordiale - Christian Grouhel - french Shrimper skipper |
The final day was the Saturday with a Grand Parade from the entrance to the Golfe at Navalo all the way up to Vannes. We sat in the lee of an island and joined in as the smaller boats came passed.
1400 boats of all shapes and sizes in a swirling tide with cannon going off and crowds lining the beaches o n the islands along the route - quite fantastic.
Hard to take pictures but this link will give you a much better idea. Note that the boats aren't really sailing...just being swept along with the tide.
You Tube video of Grand Parade
It was a wonderful trip, with great weather and good company, challenging at times but really great fun....I'd highly recommend it to anyone contemplating a visit to the 2019 event..and must say a massive thanks to all those involved in the organisation - it was so well done and can you believe,..no charges involve - no mooring fees, no launch fees, no crane fees, just food and drink and tips for the water taxis....well done Brettons you did us proud.
Footnote:-
Christian sent the photo together with a lovely little poem ..very touching
Semaine
du Golfe 2017
To
Richard
A friendly meeting
What nice days we had,
And I was so glad
To meet you
Retired too,
Sailing on a Cornish shrimper,
Built by Cornish Crabber.
Our two sister ships took their place,
Not for a race,
But for pretty trips, among the floats
Of hundreds of tiny and big boats.
Some of them were armed with guns, but not to
fight,
Just to remind us the terrible fights
Which are marred in ours books of history
Of ours two countries, formerly enemy.
A lot of spots of our coast
Remind us the cost
Of
lives paid, for peace
And let us pray for theses.
Come back again in Brittany
Our country is so pretty.
(Hope to
see you in 2019 for the tenth Semaine du Golfe.)
Christian
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