Classic Boat — February 2018

Le Havre welcomes the Tall Ships

CLARE MCCOMB

CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2018 59

TALL SHIPS REGATTA

WORDS CLARE MCCOMB

Le Havre opened its port to more than 400,000 visitors over

four days as 30 Tall Ships swept in to celebrate the city’s 500th

birthday. The event was the final stop-off in the Rendez-Vous

2017 Tall Ships Regatta, the fleet having sailed 2,700 miles from

Halifax, Nova Scotia. As the ‘grandes voiles’ with a combined

25,000m² of canvas approached the concrete docks, vying for

space with container-stacked cargo monsters, it seemed like

every Havrais, from toddlers to the elderly, had turned out to

welcome them. The visiting locals I spoke to were descendants

of generations of fishermen, boatbuilders or pilots. It was a

chance for hobbling great-grandparents to show the little

ones how it had been.

Children were wide-eyed, dwarfed by soaring masts which

merged into a riotous tangle of flag and rig along the line of

moored vessels; at the same time, the boats were accessible,

queues were short and you could clamber aboard 15 of them,

with nothing to pay. Crews and volunteers were everywhere to

help and explain. Afterwards the little ones could climb the

rigging of a land-based mast, or try a scuba dive. Amid the

mêlée of families, and beneath the outstretched arms of a giant

figure wearing a Breton striped jumper, came shanty singers,

dance troupes, brass bands and drummers. In the village you

could feast on trays of oysters and langoustines, washed down

with icy Normandy cider. The fireworks were spectacular, so was

the wonderful procession of crews weaving through the crowds

to the prize-giving.

Four of the ships present had completed the whole 10,000-

mile voyage, which started in Greenwich on the River Thames

five months previously. One of them was Jolie Brise, reunited in

her home port her with Marie Fernand, the only other existing Le

Havre pilot cutter. Marie Fernand is the oldest French working

boat still afloat. Belem from 1892 was another old one present.

Across the other side of the basin was the Pen Duick fleet, four of

Éric Tabarly’s six boats. Meanwhile the emerald-green Alexander

Von Humboldt II, built in 2011, was attracting attention for a

different reason, similarly the magnificent Clipper Shabab Oman

II, which was launched in 2013.

But as much as the focus was on the boats, the experiences

these great ships offer is what many people value most. The

maturity and confidence that was evident in the faces of the

young sailors at the prize-giving, who had conquered the

Atlantic, said everything.

members was extremely hard. I was very unprepared for
the psychological effects of the trip on me, as the crew
members felt more like family. We shared so much
together, had been through the same things and had
long-running jokes. However clichéd it sounds, I feel we
will forever be bonded by the experience.
Jolie Brise went on to win her class in the leg to
Bermuda and her class overall in the Rendez-Vous
2017 Tall Ships Regatta. For me, I’ve officially caught
the sailing bug. I’ve been very lucky to have completed
my competent crew qualification on another yacht and
I am just about to set off on another voyage to gain my
watch leader. Of course, I long to sail on the Jolie Brise
again. I’m preparing myself so that next time I step on
board I am really ready.

HAVE A GO IN 2018

Sail Training International is running three events this

year. Find out more at sailonboard.com

The Tall Ships Races, 11 July – 6 August

Sunderland - Esbjerg - Stavanger - Harlingen

Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta, 25 May – 18 June

Liverpool – Dublin – Bordeaux (visiting the Mersey

River Festival, Dublin RiverFest and Bordeaux Wine

Festival)

SCF Far East Tall Ships Regatta, 23 August – 7 Sept

Yeosu, South Korea – Vladivostok, Russia