‘Ketch’ Me!

After sailing along the French Riviera aboard a restored 1930s wooded ketch, Raul
Dias comes back with tales of battling sea sickness and pesky gulls

“Always train your eyes on a fixed object on land and suck on this!” were Captain
Andrew Cully’s first words to me, never mind the expected “hello” or even a “wassup?” I
was reluctantly boarding the magnificent 22-metre Bermudian wooden ketch Eilean with
bouts of dormant sea-sickness already welling up somewhere within me. Handing me a
packet of candied ginger to quell my queasiness, the British skipper instructed his seven
person crew to gently easy the ketch out of the rather tight spot she was berthed in at the
crowded Antibes marina. We were to sail around the French Riviera from Antibes in the
west to Nice in the east, constantly hugging the glamourous Côte d’Azur in order to take
in the best sights this hedonistic paradise had to offer us as well as ogle at other sailboats
from around the world that were in Antibes to participate in the Les Voiles d’Antibes, the
first European event of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge 2010.
As Captain Cully killed the engine a few metres out of the marina, his hard-working
crew quickly scurried along the gleaming polished Burmese teak deck of the boat in
preparation for what he called “tacking” which I soon figured out meant that the four
sails straddling Eilean’s two masts were to be unfurled in all their bellowing glory.
With the engine shut and the soft whooping sound of the wind in her sails, the ketch
leapt forward with a renewed vigor and vim ready to take on the placid waters of the
Mediterranean sea.
Built in 1936 by the legendary Scottish boatyard Fife of Fairlie, Eilean, I was soon to
find out is quite a celebrity in her own right. Completely restored last year in 2009, she
is owned today by Italian business magnate Angelo Bonati. But it was in 1982 that she
truly achieved stardom as she made an appearance in Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ video with the
band’s lead singer Simon Le Bon sitting on her bowsprit singing his heart out as she cut
though the cerulean waters of the Caribbean. Also to her credit are 36 Atlantic crossings
in her 70 years. Not bad for an old girl!
With the simmering summer sun well above us, the cool blue waters of the Med below,
and somewhere in between Eilean’s soft purr lulling us into a serene submission, the
crew informed us that lunch was to be served al fresco on a table just next to captain
Cully very imposingly manning the steering wheel. So out came a bowl of garden salad
with the trés French anchovies dressing, ham and cheese sandwiches, bottles of the
bubbly prosecco and fresh fruits likes cherries, strawberries and the luscious gooseberries
to round off the picnic lunch. With all thoughts of sea sickness left behind, thanks to the
candied ginger and the constant, omnipresent sight of Nice’s landmark The Negresco
Hotel, I gave in to the lure of food and wine with the hunger of a shipwrecked modern
day Robinson Crusoe.
Now, on the seas when there is ample food, what follows next is kind of obvious--
seagulls! The nimble footed marauders quickly rediscovered their propensity for stealing
and would every now and then swoop down to pick up scraps of ham and even bits
of crumbly Roquefort blue cheese right off the table. Talk about having the audacity,
especially after facing Captain Cully’s booming yells shooing them off.
Letting the skipper get himself a spot of lunch, I willingly took over Eilean’s wheel
under the constant supervision of Marco, the dreadlocked second officer. The feeling of
commandeering a vessel such as this beauty was not only overwhelming, but intimidating

in a good way, though I didn’t really have to do much more than keep the wheel ramrod
straight and not move a millimeter until told to do so by the hawk-eyed Marco.
A little after 6pm, as the sun started to dip in the twinkling water that had begun to
resemble an endless deep blue silk carpet, my magical ride aboard a piece of living
history was soon to end as I handed control back to the captain who steered her towards
shore.
Recreating my own Simon Le Bon meets Leonardo Di Caprio moment standing at the
bowsprit, I could see the fairy lights shine not far away in the marina, signaling that my
dream-like time aboard the Eilean was up and that reality was soon to take over…

(First Published in DNA Viva)