Martin Gander
ABOVE: Jolie Brise
can be chartered
BELOW LEFT:
Lessons in basic
seamanship
BELOW RIGHT:
Engine repairs
in La Havrescenarios on each layer. Now Adrena, PredictWind
and the B&G plotter learn Jolie Brise’s polars and
crunch the algorithms. Choices and decisions are
made with much more information. Through Iridium
Go and Fleet broadband, they have global internet
access, although some of it can cost an arm and a leg.
I caught up with Toby, as he made preparations
ahead of the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta,
racing from Europe to Canada and back as part of
Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
They had taken delivery of a new wardrobe of
sails from Mark Flew – all spanking new, as was the
standing rigging. The lifejackets had been replaced,
fi tted with PLBs, state-of-the-art B&G electronics
installed, everything set and ready for whatever the
sea was going to throw at them.
Toby said he thought Jolie Brise looked ‘as good
now as the day she was launched,’
and more than ready for the
regatta. The ship previously
raced across the Atlantic during
the 2000 Tall Ships Race, and
was the overall winner.
LEARNING ON THE JOB
The Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships
Regatta started in Greenwich and
ended at Le Havre, with different
legs between Sines in Portugal,
Bermuda (where they saw the
America’s Cup teams on the
water), Boston, the Gulf of St
Lawrence ports, Quebec, Halifax
and fi nally, back to Le Havre. Jolie
Brise carried different crews for
each leg, with no one sailing the
whole odyssey. The opening race
to Sines involved young people
from Greenwich and Teignmouth,
some of whom had minimal
sailing experience. Other legs
carried adults, some of them
Dauntsey’s parents, some long-
term Jolie Brise crew, some justpeople who had applied to give it a go. Many crew
members were self-funded; others were sponsored
by different ports and organisations, including the
Jolie Brise Wetherspoon’s in Teignmouth.
Toby skippered the passage back from Nova Scotia
to Le Havre with a crew made up entirely of current
Dauntsey’s students. One of the joys when working
with Jolie Brise is watching how young people grow
and develop over the experience. I can vouch for this
myself, having visited when they fi nally berthed at
Le Havre. If Toby spoke, everyone listened instantly
and carefully, then carried out complex tasks with
effi ciency and calm. During downtime they were
relaxed and friendly, joking with their skipper asADVENTURE