1 Biche, the 1936 dundée thonier à voiles de l’Atlantique 2 The small baleinière Stérenn
alongside Jantje 3 The 42m (138ft) two masted gaff -topsail schooner J R Tolkien 4 Exmouth
Shanty singers 5 Général Leclerk, a 1948 coquillier (scallop fi shing boat) 6 Enterprising sailor
selling crêpes which are sent up to the quay in a basket 7 Marie-Fernand, the only original
Le Havre pilot cutter left in France 8 Eulalie, a fi shing boat built in 1995 from 1900 plans
9 Golden Leeuw, topsail schooner of 1937, and three-masted lugger Corentin 10 Iris, a herring
lugger launched in 1916, being checked out by 1904 Seine patrol boat Vigie1 2678394105There was so much going on beyond
the pageants, the spectacular fi rework
shows, the music and dancing and sheer
pride of so many diff erent boating
cultures. I carried away in my memory the
earthy smoke of an Irish peat fi re, the
rousing choruses of the Exmouth shanty
singers, folk dancing and bands marching
everywhere, and the delighted faces of
thousands of children watching the
parades of sail.
A favourite memory from visiting the
diff erent tent villages was when a jazz
ensemble, clad entirely in random red and
black garments, appeared after I’d sat
down for a rare fi ve minutes.
One amazing woman, with short grey
hair and hooped scarlet and black tights,
swayed with her clarinet, eyes shut, lost in
the music. The drummer was a pirate with
devil horns sticking out of his hat who
battered out a mean beat. It felt like they
were playing just for me.