Martinique, 29 July 2018
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Introduction
In the summer of 2018, we decided to join our son in the French Antilles, a set of Caribbean islands that belongs to France. He just finished 11th grade in the canton of Zug and during his six weeks summer vacation, he had to get engaged in a four-weeks mandatory foreign-language exchange. He decided on the French language in the field of marine biology. After looking for available options, he decided to go to Point-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea.
Guadeloupe is a very green island and consists of two main islands with two origins, one volcanic and one tectonic, being separated by a narrow salted river. There are other small islands around it. A rich and thriving tropical forest, many fascinating waterfalls, crystal clear rivers and much more make your stay worthwhile.
He had the chance to attend a mangroves research program at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana (Fouillole University). It was a fantastic chance to speak French all day and get immersed into the Creole culture, plus to research the microelements in the mangrove water.
We joined him in Guadeloupe when he completed his summer program. After our stay in Guadeloupe, we scheduled to go to Martinique (a French island) as well, a 4.5-hour fast-ferry ride with a 30-minute stop in Dominica island (today an independent country but devastated by a tropical storm last fall).
In Martinique, we went to their main sailing port on the South side of the island, Le Marin. We booked a trip on a fast 74 ft catamaran from Martinique (Le Marin port) to the English-speaking St Lucia island (also an independent country).
The “Tour des Yolles” Regatta
The catamaran skipper informed us about an important week-long sailing event in Martinique that was scheduled at the end of July. This sailing event, a traditional open-water regatta, named “Le Tour de la Martinique des Yoles Rondes “ or shortly “Tour des Yolles” has now evolved to Martinique’s biggest sports event of the year.
He was able to provide quite detailed information about the regatta and he got in touch with us after our return from St Lucia to Martinique. With his help and a bit of luck, we were able to get in touch with a local organizer and secure three places for us to attend the regatta starting the day, 29 July 2018. We were able to board a 40ft Lagoon comfortable catamaran. Later we realized that we were the only tourists on this boat, the rests were locals or people based in Martinique.
More info about the Regatta Tour des Yoles: https://www.tourdesyoles.com/tour-des-yoles/tour-des-yoles-2018
The day started at 07:30 AM local time when we were dropped off at Madiana Beach (in the city of Schoelcher, very close to Fort de France – the capital of Martinique) where we were supposed to be picked up by our skipper Yann at 8:00 AM.
On the beach, we were able to see the regatta preparations for two of the participant teams. The other teams were doing same preparations on the nearby beach, just North of Madiana beach, in Schoelcher, where the regatta was officially scheduled to start at 10:30 AM.
The competition boats, called “yole”, is about 11 meters (36 ft) long, with a canoe-like hull of laminated wood. Its masts are made of unlaminated wood from the trunk of a single tree and its sprits are usually laminated bamboo. The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar (known as the sprit).
We saw trucks that were loaded with too-long wood logs, nicely coloured red for one team and blue for the other one. The teams unloaded the trucks and deposited the beams on the beach.
The team started to roll different lines and tapes on the mast and started to prepare them for the final position and the start.
Each team pushed the boat on sand beach closer to the water, then the mast was forced into a mast-hole and the boat was raised by hand and team weight.
Some team members climbed the side “log-beams” to contra balance the wind and the light waves. About 10-12 people were on each boat. Some were walking in the water and pushed the boat into the deeper water until the boat was fully raised.
The wind was quite strong, and the boat started to roll over water nicely in the front of us and headed North to the start line, where most of the participants boats were ready for the race.
Fantastic sail colors, hundreds of accompanying boats waiting for the start and many people on the shore made the atmosphere simply fantastic.
The start was made between 10:30-11:00 AM. The race was heading North to Prêcheur.
The constant strong wind made the race more interesting. After about 30 minutes the first boat capsized, so the whole team had to swim.
The day one race was quite a long one, about 35-40km. The strong wind helped the race to go ahead faster and was completed in 3.5-4 hours for first teams. We were following the race with the other boats nearby.
The race was filmed from a helicopter and directly from the water. On the local radio, we had live broadcasting about the race.
From nearby villages and Port-de-France, many sea-doos were coming and going, making the whole event more active.
One of the teams that were early on the preparation beach where we arrived in the morning won the first-day race.
At the finish line, many people were cheering for their teams from the shore. The organizers arranged special local buses to bring the fans to the regatta start-line and finish-line.
After the race, we turned back and headed to “Le Carbet” beach, where most boats anchored and the party started. Rum Agricole started to flow, mixed drinks and cold beer poured in glasses, the music and well-disposed guests started to dance on their boats or in a set of boats attached to each other. The very decent atmosphere brought both young and old people together.
By 6 pm when the deep darkness was installing we left the boat and a minibus was waiting for our crew and we did head back to Madiana Beach.
Next day the regatta was heading on the same West cost, it could not be run as usually around the Martinique island because of “Sargasso” – macroalgae that were surrounding many local beaches, especially on the East side. This “sargasso” has a huge impact on local beaches because of the smell and quantity, impacting local tourism.
Read more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargassum
Things I’ve learned
What did amazed me the most:
A relatively small regatta that takes a week, mobilizes lots of people from around the island and many tourists
Teams are based in several regions making competition on water and between cheering supporters very active
The idea to follow the regatta from another boat allowed viewers to see what happens live
The party at the end of each day brought joy to many people and made good sales for boat rentals and local businesses
An event like this one was capable of bringing regatta and sailing closer to a wider audience
Some Conclusion
This event brought some inspiration and made me come up with some ideas:
● In August we have Jeden-Abend (“each evening”) Regatta in Zug. ● Let’s provide each evening with a few places in power boats or non-participating sailing boats for guests, friends, and family - and follow closely the regatta. This way club members and other sailing interested people can watch the regatta, enjoy the Zug lake view with many boats, learn while watching about sailing and our club, take pictures/videos and let them share it in their own circle. ● We need to invite adults and kids, school-aged kids and students to these events and get them excited about how fun is sailing by experiencing a regatta first hand.
Have a good fall and winter.
Best wishes, Marcel Ban Zug