Challenger visit to ENVSN, Quiberon

Damien Seguine, French Paralympic medallist and World Champion, leads the fleet during the Challenger event in Quiberon © Richard Johnson

French champion Damien Seguine during the Challenger event in Quiberon © Richard Johnson

Six boats from Rutland Sailability and four boats from Clyde Cruising Club visited the French National Sailing School ENVSN at Quiberon, Brittany during the first week of June. The visit was at the invitation of Jean-Claude Loiseau, an incredible French sailor who lost an arm in a bad accident but sails not only Challengers but also regularly spends his summers on his 505 and kiteboard. What a lifestyle!

We were looked after all week at ENVSN by Jean-Jacques Dubois, who is in charge of all French high-level disabled racing and is an amazing Coach. There was a guest appearance by Thierry Poirey, the French 2.4mR Paralympic Coach, who was brave enough to give us a lecture on Rule 18 (rounding marks) IN ENGLISH! That's really the way to make a complicated subject difficult but Thierry did an excellent job and made everything clear to his British audience.

Quiberon bay is a sailing paradise, being sheltered from the worst of the Atlantic by the archipelago on which ENVSN is located. The winds are good but the water is relatively flat, meaning that Challengers reached maximum speed on the windy days. Thankfully the tides and currents are easy to understand - great for the group of lake sailors who came from Britain and making it just as easy on the calm days.

Each day started with a lecture, followed by lunch. Because of the tides, the fleet didn't go afloat until after 2pm and was ashore between 5pm and 6pm. We had two days of training and four days of racing and were joined by different French sailors each day. On Friday, we were joined by special guest Damien Seguine, World and Paralympic Champion, which could be compared to having Britain's top sailor Ben Ainsley in the fleet for a day.

Thanks to Jean-Claude and ENVSN it was a fantastic week which everyone would be very keen to repeat. As winner of the race series, Graham Hall received a basket of traditional local fare wrapped in the flag of Brittany. Everyone else received a prize courtesy of French sailor Laurent Gouves, who runs a shop nearby and we had excellent wine all week, provided by a friend of Jean-Claude who is a wine producer... a most unforgettable event.

The British Team (plus at the back Laurent, in red, Jean-Jacques, blue & white, David Newton, dark blue) during the Challenger event in Quiberon - photo © Richard Johnson