Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez Regatta
A renowned regatta on the Riviera
It's the beginning of October and the crazy summer crowds appear to have left the port of Saint-Tropez. The painters still display their art, but in a month they too will take their easels elsewhere, perhaps working on next year's supply.
Then suddenly, the madness returns. The access roads are blocked once again by frantic drivers, the parking lot is full, the outdoor cafés packed, the quays filled with a slow-moving crowd. But instead of the oh-so-fashionable and oh-so-thin girls or the leather-clad rockers of the summer, we see ruddy faces, polo shirts, colorful shorts, and ... boat shoes. Of course, it's sailing week in Saint-Tropez.
Until a few years ago, Saint-Tropez hosted the Nioulargue, an internationally renowned regatta, during the first week of October. There were superfast maxis and gleamingly beautiful wooden classics. Races were held in the Bay of Saint-Tropez during the early afternoon. Thousands of people flocked to the town, especially to see the boats return to the port. Then a terrible accident happened during a race, whereby a skipper drowned. The town decided to stop the Nioulargue, blaming the accident in part on poor management of the organizers.
The following year, and the year after that, around the end of September, a sadness fell over Saint-Tropez. Townspeople and tourists severely missed the sight of wooden boats in the port, instead of the many-million-dollar mega yachts, of wind-blown hair, instead of meticulously coifed blondes. Then, someone had an idea. Why not organize a regatta, sort of along the lines of the Nioulargue, and call it Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez? Brilliant.
And so, this October we witnessed the second year of the Nioul.., eh, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. The crowds were there, the maxis were there, and above all, the stunning wooden classics.
