Race Week in St. Tropez

Sarah's entry-
It was Friday, a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky and the most perfect temperature. The perfect day to grab me, Sarah, out of school at noon and head down to St. Tropez! We were on the highway for about 50 minutes and then a very windy road (too windy-I felt car sick!!) Got off the highway and had gorgeous entry all the way to a great handicap parking spot! We were all so happy to be there, especially Dad, because there was a huge sailing race. When we got there we went straight down to watch the boats take off. That was very exciting!

The three of us then went to a great little restaurant. Dad got a wonderful creamy, spaghetti bolognaise. Mom got a bowl of muscles-oops, I guess its mussels, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I got a yummy tomato, mozzarella and pesto salad.

Susie's entry-
First of all, it's great to have another family member writing in the blog-thanks, Sarah. Secondly, we did have a fabulous time in St. Tropez! When you get off the Autoroute and head south to the coast on the WINDY road you arrive first in Saint Maxime, from there you look across a large bay to St. Tropez. To get to St. T you drive all the way around this bay on a road that hugs the coastline. Once in St. T, a bustling town with curvy little streets going here and there, we followed the now familiar signs to Centre Ville (the way to get to the heart of any French town) and before we knew it we saw the masts of the boats and knew we were near the port. Watching the start of one of the races was exciting. There was such a collection of beautiful wooden yachts! White sails of every kind of size and rigging against the blue, blue sky with the verdant hills of St. Maxime dotted with red tiled roofs in the background was breathtaking.

After the start of the race we wandered off to find lunch. After strolling along the harbor side reading menus and checking out all the available spots, we landed at the Jetee Restaurant, located just steps from where we'd started from! Sarah described our delicious lunch quite well above and those WERE some of the best muscles I ever ate! Our waiter was pretty cute too....


After lunch, we walked some more, visiting candy shops...

and looking at sidewalk 'art'!

By this time, all the gorgeous yachts were coming in from the races....


We enjoyed watching the crews docking and cleaning up the boats and getting settled with cold glasses of rose! Nick even ran into some old friends(see below). A stroll back along the harbor found us unable to bypass a sidewalk soft serve glace vendor. Good thing, as we each were treated to the BEST, darkest, soft serve ice cream we've ever had. YUM! Not much else could be added to this wonderful afternoon.


Nicks comment...

This was a day to remember. Dana Timmer, my old college roommate and superb sailor unbelievable sailing resume, challenged me to go to St Tropez to see the "woodies". In retrospect this was the finest squadron of wooden yachts I have ever seen. Every boat has a well deserved reputation and history of its' own yet collectively, and oh what a sight.

As a family, we had a very low key promenade through the harbor to a viewing area and watched the starts right off the beach. Again oh what a sight...then we meandered off to a nice lunch and the candy store, where, with a little arm twisting from Sarah, I must have spent $15 on a bunch of junkie sweets.
About 3:30 the boats started their parade back into the somewhat compacted entranceway of the harbor. With lots of small skiffs, the big boats were pushed, shoved and conjolded back ino their stern to berths. Again what a sight! And to add to this wonderful afternoon experience, there stood my old friend Dennis Conner with a smile on his face and a welcome greeting.

We have sailed against one another since 1973 and had lots of wonderful experiences togther both on and off the water.I felt like a priest being given confession as Dennis has been sailing his boat extensively since May throughout the Riviera and my impression is that he is just worn out with the European life style, for now. He was more than looking forward to getting back to San Diego. The night before he mentioned they had some simple Mexican food, making them feel at home. I can imagine sailing for five months in a foreign place, foreign food and always "on deck" would get old. The races were only lasting two more days before the Summer series was complete so I'm pretty assured that Dennis is now having a Margarita down San Diego way. Anyway it was good fun to be with Susie and Sarah seeing such a collection of beautiful yachts. I was especially impressed with the condition each boat . They were in all in such pristine condition and the moment will be with me forever. Thanks Dana!