It doesn't get too much better than this....today we went sailing in Antibes. We had had a heck of a time finding a place we could rent a sailboat. Charter a yacht, no problem, but rent a small sailboat like we are used to - very hard to find. We would have loved to go out on a large day sailing trip, but they seem absent as well despite lots of searching on the internet. So, anyway, we decided to go to Antibes as there seemed a better chance they might speak English. We envisioned having to explain that we owned a similar sailboat and that we did know how to sail. We also picked this place because it had a 'happy hour' concept - if we rented a boat between 11 and noon, you got an extra 1/2 hour for free.
So, we took the train to Antibes this morning, walked 2+ kilometers to the sailing school location and told them that we would like to rent a Laser 2000. [This is a boat similiar to the one we have up at the Cape - a little larger, but they put smaller sails on it. It was actually a really terrific little boat - more comfortable than ours.]
Anyway, they didn't even ask us if we knew how to sail. They just said fine. The fact that there was little to no wind may have factored in, as we couldn't really go fast enough to get in trouble.
We donned life vests and climbed in the waiting boat. Larry took the helm first and we sailed very slowly away from shore.
We hoped that as we got more out into open water, the wind would pick up. I had also checked the forecast and it was supposed to get winder as the day progressed.
The wind did pick up and we had a great little sail in the bay - cruising by the old castle which Picasso lived, which is now the Picasso Museum. A nice new vantage point on the town for us.
We relaxed on the beach and took a swim afterwards then walked back to the train station and took the train back to Nice.
The trains here are really nice. We finally (sort of) figured out how to get senior tickets which saved us a few bucks on this trip...but I later researched it and found that we are supposed to have bought an annual senior pass. Oh well, I guess that was in the small print somewhere.
Just looking at your photos makes me want to go sailing again! And I think the two of you had a good time, even though you are just beginners! Don’t worry, with a little more practice and you will surely get the hang of it! Maybe you can handle the Laser 200 on high winds! [Melanie Daryl]
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