A cruise on the French Riviera

Owen Moorhouse leaves the wilds of the New South Wales coastline to explore from Nice to Grimaud and back in a borrowed Jeanneau 33

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Meeting Etienne Le Caër by chance on a neighbouring berth in Corsica, resulted in his daughter, Geneviève, visiting us in Australia. She sailed with us in Jervis Bay on Balnagowan, our 25ft Adams. Not long after my business interests took me to Kenilworth in the UK, where I exhibited my agricultural equipment at the Royal Show.

With that, came an exciting invitation to sail Briseis, her father's Jeanneau 33 that was berthed at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur. I could hardly wait for the exhibition to conclude and hastily rearranged our schedules to fly to Cannes, from where we hired a car to Cap Ferrat.

Etienne was the retired maritime pilot of the Port of Dunkirk and a very affable man, but it takes a special person to place his treasured boat in the hands of another yachtsman. I could hardly believe my good fortune.

Borrowing a boat

While my wife and daughters shopped for supplies, Etienne took me on a familiarisation sail across the bay to nearby Monaco. The coastline was sparkling and I soon felt comfortable at the helm of Briseis. It was on this relaxed passage that he also introduced me to the ultimate yachties' lunch called a 'pan bagnat' a large crusty, wholewheat bun stuffed with a generous serving of salade Niçoise. It is a particular specialty of Nice. We Aussies would have cut the bun in half, but when you have one hand on the tiller or are trying to pull in the mainsheet, a pan bagnat clamped between one's jaws is definitely less vulnerable to spillage. This staple of French nautical cuisine has since become a favourite of mine.