Martigues, France

We made it to Martigues! The race was supposed to start but the wind had people quessing whether is would be safe to get out of the channel without a motor.

All the boats lined up in the water and Gimmy on his boat sporting one of the famous "Element Shield" shirt. (Remember those, guys???)
This insert is from the Open Sailing Blog : "Now that Open 5.70 has become an ISAF recognized class and with fleets growing all over Europe and here in the US it is only right that there should be a “World Cup“. The event is being hosted in the Open 5.70s country of origin – France. The racing will take place on the “Etang de Berre” in Martigues which is just to the west of Marseille. This body of fresh water lies adjacent to the Meditaranean and is perfectly suited to the Open 5.70 – relatively flat water with consistent thermal breezes which typically build to 15-20 knots everyday by the early afternoon.
3 teams from the US will be making the trip to test their skills against the best Open 5.70 sailors from around the world. Open Sailing’s own Jerome and Nik will be racing together trying to improve on last years 12th at the European Cup held in Saint Malo, France. Team Festa (Rich Festa, Tony Festa and Greg Dair) will be trying to carry some momentum from their Pacific Coast Championship victory across the Atlantic in order to claim some recognition on the world stage. The third US/Italian team will be skippered by Gimmy Tranquillo (a Marina del Rey favorite that recently moved back to Italy) with Chris Slaggerman and Dylan Porter (both Marina del Rey sailors and friends of the Open 5.70 fleet) as crew."


This is the poster in Martigues and on the dock of where the boats were left to sleep.


As we waited until later that afternoon to see if the first day of racing would be canceled or not we took a walk around the very cute fisherman style village of Martigues.


There were many streets of cute shops and resturants, cafes and bars.

Everyone gathering to hear the discussion, in French. Luckly, there was a translator for the 3 American teams. Minus Jerome, a competetor from Marina Del Rey, California ( he's French)

The 5.70s

So, the race was canceled the first day of a 3 day race schedule. But, in place of sailing they gave everyone bocce balls, as in a bocce ball set, and there was a big bocce-ball tournament for all the sailing competetors. Good trade off, but Chris and Dylan thought, "We came all the way from Los Angeles and we are going sailing!" ... and Gimmy thought, " YES, this is a perfect time to try out the boat, for the first time ever, before the race tomorrow!"

Bocce-ballers. Nick, Alyssa, and Jerome.

And there they are! Getting beat upwind in almost 40 knots of wind, this is heaven for them.

Erin and Alyssa watching the little boats capsizing and get tossed up on the rocks you can see on the right of the picture.

The Martigues Yacht Club, the Frech and Italian flags flying.

Here they come again, downwind, nice wave over the bow.

Not in these photos but there was a big yellow buoy which indicated shallow water. Apparently, Gimmy asked Chris about the big yellow buoy, he replied "Oh, dont worry about it, just go, were going so fast this is great!" Or something to that manner. (Sorry Chris if I buchard your words)

As the guys came racing by the yacht club ( hoping to cause some attention) and the big yellow buoy the bocce ballers ran from the field and over to see if the guys and to see if they would make it without hitting bottom ( I'm assuming this was one detail the French did not translate). Everyone knew what a disaster it would have been but also ( I think) they were watching with a little envy because from the shore it look like they were having a hell of a good time!