On 23 June, the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine, in Brittany, announced that the Olympic torch will pass through the “Corsair City” next June. And to mark the announcement they released a video. Here it is—alas, in French. The sailing competitions will be in the Mediterranean, so we’ll be able to sail next summer without disruptions.
Our pilot cutters: before and after
The antifouling begins on one of our pilot cutters
One of our pilot cutters as antifouling wraps up
We’re happy to report that three years of crud have been scraped from the hulls of our two pilot cutters, a process known as antifouling. A lot of hard work has gone into getting the boats ready for this season after the horrific “COVID pause.” And look at that sky! How appropriate that, as we prepare to sail again, dark winter clouds have lifted to provide us with some spectacular weather.
The most welcoming towns in Brittany according to booking.com
Auray has shown its hospitality to Americans for over two centuries. The plaque says that on December 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin, as the American envoy to France, disembarked at Auray [on his way to Paris] to negotiate the first alliance between the two countries [or between France and the ASPIRING independent country that, after the 1783 Treaty of Paris, would become the “free, sovereign, and independent” United States of America]. That alliance would provide the American colonists with much-needed military and financial assistance. The American Revolutionary War practically bankrupted France and contributed to the demise of the French monarchy.
(We got this news flash from France Bleu, a network of 44 public radio stations scattered across France)
« Auray en tête, devant Saint-Brieuc et Saint-Malo »
And it says…
“Auray at the top of the list, ahead of Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo”
Mais dans la région, c'est Auray, dans le Morbihan, qui remporte le prix de la ville la plus accueillante, se plaçant en 20e position au niveau national. En deuxième place, on trouve Saint-Brieuc (Côtes d'Armor), puis suivent Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine), Dinan (Côtes d'Armor) et Douarnenez (Finistère). Tous les départements bretons sont donc représentés.
But in the region [Brittany] it’s Auray, in Morbihan, that wins the prize for the most welcoming town, placing 20th nationally. Saint-Brieuc (in Côtes d’Armor) placed second, followed by Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine), Dinan (Côtes d’Armor), and Douararnez (Finistère). So all the Breton départements are/were represented.
Selon les commentaires laissés sur Booking.com, "les interactions amicales et les gestes accueillants sont donc particulièrement importants au cours d’un séjour, tout comme la santé et l’hygiène en ces temps incertains marqués par la pandémie de Covid-19 “.
According to reviews left on the website from booking.com travelers, “friendly interactions and welcoming gestures are particularly important during a stay, just as are health and hygiene during these uncertain times, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.“
**Now, if visitors to Saint-Malo had only stopped by the quay to say “hi,” the “Corsair City” would undoubtedly have placed higher. We are nothing if not welcoming!
Pilot cutters: “the finest sailing boat design ever”
We tell people we take teens on sailing expeditions aboard two classic pilot cutters. And some folks just shrug: “Are we supposed to be impressed?” Well… yes, yes you are. All boats are not created equal. In our last post we featured QBE founder and director Will Sutherland talking about his cutters, built according to a 19th-century French design. But, in fact, our boats are very similar to the famous pilot cutters built to ply the treacherous Bristol Channel, about 200 miles north of Saint-Malo, our home port. Here’s the first part of a documentary by Tom Cunliffe about the history of one of Britain’s most storied boats.
(The first part of the documentary is 16 minutes long.)
“Many consider the Bristol Channel pilot cutter to be the finest sailing boat design ever. Fast, seaworthy and beautiful to behold, the pilot cutter is the perfect combination of form and function - a thoroughbred perfectly adapted to a life in one of the Britain’s most treacherous stretches of water. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe explores the life of the pilots and sails a perfectly restored cutter to find out just what drove these men and their wonderful machines.”
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Maybe Paris’s best summer job. And QBE doing its part for St-Malo tourism
A reliable source once told us that the Paris Tourist Board pays (or used to pay) young couples to make out on city benches every summer to provide some romantic ambiance for the throngs of visitors that relentlessly descend on the city, a great job if you can get it. (We can't verify that our information is true, but it sounds like something the “Office Tourism And Convention De Paris [sic]” might do. After all, Disney pays youngsters to dress up as various characters in their theme parks. It seems to work for them, so why not?)
Well, being the civic-minded Malouin denizens we are, we try to provide a similar public service. When people think of St-Malo, they often think of sailing. So we park our eye-popping pilot cutters right alongside the quay for passers-by to gawk at. And they do. Constantly. We wish we had a euro for every time somebody has stood beside one of our boats, smart phone in hand, to pose for for a selfie.
St-Malo voted the most beautiful town in Brittany!
The headline reads, “What are the most beautiful towns in Brittany? Saint-Malo sits atop the list!” Congratulations! Or, as the French would say, «chapeau !»
