Hi All,

Its seems that some sailing days blend into another but the 7th August in Ajaccio has been a day packed full of interesting experiences.

First the meeting with Jack the 84 year old sailor from California. Then in the late afternoon a 42ft yacht came into the marina with a family onboard. After our experience of charter yachts in Greece often ricocheting off everyone we prepared to jump into action to fend off or help take warps for the arriving yacht alongside us.

The mooring was very difficult, tight and involved a 90 degree turn at the last to get into a berth not really long enough for the yacht. We watched as the skipper reversed and swiftly threaded the yacht through others and into the slot without even touching the sides… a pleasure to watch.

The family had 3 sons of various ages fro 12 to 18, they mobilised, helped their dad tie up, tidied lines, put their kit away and moved like a ballet all over the yacht as their Mom went ashore to shop.

Tony and I have all to often watched families where the parents are working really hard to give the family a fun sailing holiday, sorting the boat, sorting the sails, prepping food etc etc whilst the kids play with their mobile phones and text their friends as if they were the adults, sunbathing on deck.

This family were almost unique in their crew-like manner and obvious real enjoyment of what they were doing and clearly having fun. The boys opened lockers etc and out came a cacophony of sailing/ waterspouts toys…. surf, kayak, helmets, snorkels, windsurf kites etc etc.

The boys laid out their kit having fun, using hoses the wash down everything and each other in the hot august afternoon.

It was so great to see a family so enthusiastic about sailing and helping their dad to sort the yacht and clean and pack away their endless kit.

Tony called across to their dad….’Can we adopt them !!!’ Their dad smiled and a little later came over to Tioram with his eldest son and was admiring our rig.

We chatted to them, they were a French family from Brest on holiday chartering the yacht. They said they had been before to the area to sail in the turquoise seas and anchor in the beautiful turquoise bays…..’very different to Brest !!’, they said.

We commented how wonderfully he had moored the yacht. He said he was a Figaro sailor in France.

This is worth looking up on google as the Figaro amateur sailors sail single handed offshore, highly difficult and competitive. Most skippers go on to do the single handed Vendee globe round the world race.

He mentioned that his ambition was to do the Vendee Globe and he was looking for a sponsor……so anyone out there who would like to sponsor him look up Gildas Morvan.

We commented how wonderful his boys were and their enthusiasm, he seemed very pleased.

He very modestly said his eldest son was a champion kite surfer too.

He talked about his desire to do the Vendee Globe and how his friend Raphael Dinelli had competed.

Dinelli was the French sailor who was rescued by Pete Goss from a lifereaft after Dinellis yacht capsized during the race in the Southern Ocean. Pete Goss, British sailor returned after 140 days at sea to France to receive the legion of honour award.

We continued to talk about sailing before he said a final goodbye and he returned to his family. They were leaving very early the next morning to catch a ferry home to France, their car full to the brim with water toy kit.

The next morning we got up and went on deck in the marina. We found a magazine with a little note t us and contact details. On the front cover was a picture of the dad ….Gildas Morvan, professional world class sailor and inside a further article describing how many races he had won or finished in high positions over the years.

We realised he had been very modest.

A wonderful enthusiastic sailor and obviously he has a lovely family.

We wish him every success in his professional career and hope to see him skipper a Vendee Globe yacht in the future.

The joys of travelling by yacht is the interesting characters and people you meet en route…. magic.

Photo of Gildas Morvan.

Love to all

T and T xxxxx