The pride of the Brittany Ferries fleet, flagship Pont-Aven, which operates the Cork-Roscoff route, ended its season earlier as planned so as to be at the start of the prestigious La Route du Rhum Race, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The 41,000-gross-tonne cruise ferry Pont-Aven (which had also run routine rotations on France-UK-Spain routes this summer) was instead replaced by Armorique, which operates midweek France-Ireland sailings, before taking over the roster of Pont-Aven with last weekend’s crossings to close the season. Thus, it enabled the flagship to make a repositioning passage across the Western English Channel.
Unique UK-French Connection
What made Pont-Aven’s next sailing special was the rare opportunity to cross the English Channel (La Manche) from Plymouth to Saint-Malo, in eastern Brittany, close to neighbouring Normandy. The overnight passage was the first since I boarded the flagship’s maiden Irish sailing from Cork to Roscoff in 2004 and then onward to Plymouth’s Millbay Docks.
As for this one-off ‘repositioning’ Plymouth-St Malo sailing, Pont-Aven, with just five 'foot' passengers, departed the Devon port bound for the Breton port in the département of d'Ille-et-Vilaine. Only a few scheduled sailings on this UK-France connection took place earlier in the year, and on an annual basis (for operational reasons), as such, Afloat took this unique opportunity to travel on this single sailing this autumn, before the flagship ceased crossings for the winter.
Saint-Malo-Guadeloupe, Caribbean
Saint-Malo, with its historic impressive walled city of the 'Inter-Mouros,' is the attractive host port for the start of the Route 3,542-nautical-mile solo transatlantic race to Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean. Since 1978, Brittany Ferries has been the official partner of the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe race.
Having disembarked in Saint-Malo from the flagship’s boat deck, which has its distinctive wraparound promenade, I caught a glimpse of a participating yacht, 'Use it Again' of the Ibis/Café Joyeux team before boarding a bus to the Ferry Terminal du Naye.
However, the main spectacle was last Sunday’s race start, during which the Pont-Aven made a special cruise offshore of the Côte d'Émeraude, carrying race team sponsor guests and the general public to enjoy the sailing spectacle of the famous trans-Atlantic ocean race. No doubt the wraparound promenade on the boat deck proved handy.
An All-French Affair
It was aboard the Breton’s company’s first Armorique, in 1978 (the same year the Ireland-France route was launched), that Éric Tabarly started the inaugural edition of this legendary race. This year’s race was made all the more sweeter as the winner, French skipper Tom Laperche, crossed the finish line in Guadeloupe in record time aboard the giant Ultim trimaran SVR-Lazartigue, as Afloat reported earlier today.
At 10.31pm local time on Saturday (7 November), equivalent to 2.31am UTC on Sunday (today), the 29-year-old finished the race off Pointe-à-Pitre.
Ferry Company Salutes Speedy Sailors
In addition, Tom Laperche, not surprisingly, won the ‘Brittany Ferries 24-Hour Trophy,' which recognises the fastest skipper over the first day of the famous transatlantic race. The trophy is a joint initiative of Brittany Ferries and Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe organisers, which was awarded to six sailors in six classes of racing yachts taking part in the race.
Ultim (maxi-trimarans): Tom Laperche on SVR-Lazartigue
Ocean Fifty (50-foot multihulls): Basile Bourgnon on Endered
IMOCA (60-foot monohulls): Ambrogio Beccaria on Allagrande Mapei
Class 40 (40-foot monohulls): Luca Rosetti on Maccaferri Futura
Vintage Mono (monohulls from older generations or those outside current professional class specifications): Sidney Gavignet on Le Cigare Rouge
Vintage Multi (multihulls from older generations or those outside current professional class specifications): Francis Joyon on Oceans
Guadeloupe and the BBC's Sun-Soaked Series
Guadeloupe is an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles, of which it is a sous-préfecture and the seat of the arrondissement of Pointe-à-Pitre. This is where the race's final finishing line at Pointe-à-Pitre is the second most populous commune of Guadeloupe (after Les Abymes).
The island is also where the BBC’s sun-soaked series ‘Death in Paradise' is filmed, with its British detective joining the police force set on the luscious but fictitious Caribbean island of Saint Marie. In addition to our very own, Ardal O’Hanlon played at one stage the leading DI role in the successful series of 14 seasons.
Le Havre Layover
Back across the ocean to ‘mainland’ France, upon completion of the six-hour or so spectator cruise, Pont-Aven departed Saint-Malo bound for its Breton homeport of Roscoff to assumably de-store, and where the majority of the crew disembarked. This was followed by a skeleton crew who continued on the coastal passage to Le Havre, where the flagship arrived mid-week for a winter layover.
Also in port is the ropax Commodore Clipper, which, due to gearbox failure, led in September to the premature closure of the route of Le Havre-Portsmouth, which was scheduled to have taken place last month. In addition, delays in repairs forced other members of the fleet to run the France-Ireland route, which maintains the case.
Currently serving the continental service are Armorique, Barfleur, and the E-Flexer class, Santona and Norbay, chartered from P&O Ferries. This larger ropax was meant to be replaced by the 'Clipper,' which, before entering the Le Havre link, served the Channel Islands for decades and, in recent years, exclusively Guernsey.
