aspttnice.asso.fr
The official site (French) about sailing and other sports offered in NIce. Choose 'Voile' from the left hand side menu for more details.
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Learning to sail a Catamaran
in Nice.
I hope I LOOK as though I know what I'm doing.
The sailing schoolis called ASPTT Nice Voile and the reception and booking office and can be found by a small harbour sandwiched between the Port and La Reserve beach. The Headquarters is on the first floor of a somewhat makeshift wooden building. Access is via the steps down to La Reserve Beach and the Club Nautique de Nice, then follow the path to the right, behind the canoe club.
Withihn this genearl area, there appear to be two sailing schools plus a diving school, canoe club and the rather grand looking Club Nautique de Nice (which teaches rowing) so you need to work out the relationship of everything and everyone to each other.
Alain is the instructor and chap in charge and he speaks a bit of English. The courses for the children are really aimed at French school children as a school holiday activity but they welcomed the daughter and she seemd very happy to join in and even picked up a bit more vocabulary that week. The instructor for the children was Dominic; he speaks very little English but he was great with my daughter and she shared her boat with an assortment of French children over the course of the week and they all took turns to help her - she really enjoyed herself.
The courses are held most of the year. During the summer months, the courses seem to consist of either five mornings from 9am-12noon Monday to Friday or five afternoons from 2-5pm Monday to Friday. Lessons are available for all sailing levels. Our fellow trainee sailore that week happened to all be language students from the ABC International language school in Nice and we met Americans, Italians, British and Dutch people. We were the oldest on the course :-( Everyone seemed to be in their 20s but they were kind to us oldies.
The Hobie Cats need a minimum of two people to sail and a maximum of four. We were a three which I think was the best combination; two is hard work all the time and four is a bit overcrowded. In a group of three, the third person gets a chance to take photos, sunbathe and generally absorb some of the information being shrieked at you from Alain on his motorboat. We shared our boat with a charming American young woman who, luckily for us, had already had a week's instruction.
For the first couple of days, I thought Alain was swearing at us. It turned out that French for the jib sail (the little one at the front) is 'foc' Like how you might imagine the Queen would swear. Great source of jeuvenile pleasure for the rest of the course using that word at every oppportunity.
Both the children's boats and our Catamarans were towed out of the tight harbour by the instructors to the open water of the Med. Using various landmarks, we were drilled (all in French) in turning, stopping, steering etc. The huisband took it all very seriously and did quite well. I was fairly useless but enjoyed it, especially the chance to hang off the edge of the boat with all that bondage gear!
All aspects of sailing are covered including the prepararation of the boat and dismantling afterwards, A short overview and theory lesson is taken at the end of the lesson, even for the children.
Alain and Dominic are qualified instructors with the Federation Francais de Voile and at the end of the week, we were all presented with 'Le Passport Voile' and a qualification 'Carte de Niveau', with comments and level attained. This is on-going and we hopefully will continue the course next Summer in 2005 with a view to improve our basic skills.
The cost of the course in 2004 was 100 euros for children and 115 euros for the adults. I considered this to be excellent value for 15 hours of qualified expert instruction.
It IS great fun and quite exciting on a windy day. It is good exercise and a great way to get a good tan without trying as well as improve your French. You don't need any specialised equipment and you get to see some wondeful views of the coastline of Nice.
All you need is a swimsuit and a liberal application of (waterproof) suncreme. I also wore a hat and sunglasses although you do take a risk of losing both to sudden gusts of wind. The safety jackets are supplied. Children must bring suncream, hats, swimsuits and water. You will need a change of clothes for later. Any items can be stored in the Office which is always staffed. I wore sandals too as my feet got sore scrabbling about on the wet platform of the boat. It's a bit hard on your knees too. You just have to get on with it.
We took a waterproof camera with us - make sure yours is tied on! We were so glad we did, we got some great photos, but you do need a waterproof one - a disposable one would be fine..
My only complaint is the lack of a nice loo; all they have is a grotty portaloo, so try and go before the lesson. There is a snack kiosk on the main road just by the sailing school (the same one that serves La Reserve public beach) if you need to re-fuel.
This was one of our best weeks this Summer, I would recommend it.
The daughter is towed out to sea to start her sailing lesson.
She is second in line. They are being towed out by Dominic, the children's sailing instructor.
Contact details:
Alain Grillon
Tel: 04 93 89 65 37
Fax: 04 93 56 77 99
email: aspttnice.voile@wanadoo.fr
50 boulevard Franck Pilatte
Nice 06300
We bought an underwater version of Sony's tiny Cyber-shot U digital camera and were very glad we did; you can get quite wet and this was peace of mind.
We didn't capsize but we had a couple of windier days which generated some big waves which all added to the general excitement.
Click here for more details or on the picture above. At the very least try and take a cheap disposable underwater camera.
I wish I had bought it in time for the PGL holiday, it would have been perfect for the Ardeche descent. Still, it will come in very handy for next Summer's scuba diving...