Having been told the other day by the usual idiot on MyT that we were “living the high life in Antibes”, we thought we ought to do something to deserve this description. So, having finished the ironing – and how high life is that? – we went out to look at the yachts taking part in the annual Voiles d’Antibes regatta.
This is the first of the regattas of the Mediterranean yachting season. It involves some of the larger gin-palaces leaving their berths in the marina to allow the visiting yachts in, so they have to go and park themselves in the bay. Since it’s very rare to see any of these enormous boats moving, that in itself is quite something.
I looked up the regulations for the regatta and of course there are different categories, depending on the age and size of the yachts. It is possible to see former America’s Cup boats gliding past with an enormous area of sail. The course is quite simple: round the Cap d’Antibes to Juan les Pins and back. The confusing bit to me is the absence of visible, at least from the shore, start and finish lines. This means that while it is lovely to watch them, we haven’t got a clue what is actually happening in race terms.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Crumbs you are living the high life. Ironing 🙂
why worry about what others think, what may seem exotic to one is normal for another.
Some years ago when I worked for a bank my sister came to visit me in the office all she saw in my area was St Pauls Cathedral that filled the entire view from my window, must say to me it was there everyday and I ignored it. At the same time here office window was filled with the Acropolis (still not finished) and she never noticed it.
I don’t worry about what other people think, RR, but I do like extracting the michael!
Sheona sounds like me.
Sheona, I saw that the Russian Plutocrat Abramaovich parks his gin palace in Venice where it obscures views of the lagoon and other tourist favourites. The word is he does it to avoid paying for hotels and being bumped off by enraged creditors. Now don’t tell me ironing isn’t preferable!
I read about that, Janus, but Roman keeps one of his minor yachts parked here in Antibes too. I hate seeing any large ship moving up the Giudecca in Venice. They are just so out of place. Rumour has it that the “high life” would actually be sitting on one of the gin-palaces watching the yachts from close up, but I’ve got to go and put some washing in the machine.