Meeting Etienne Le Caër by chance on a neighbouring berth in Corsica, resulted in his daughter, Geneviève, visiting us in Australia. She sailed with us in Jervis Bay on Balnagowan, our 25ft Adams. Not long after my business interests took me to Kenilworth in the UK, where I exhibited my agricultural equipment at the Royal Show.
With that, came an exciting invitation to sail Briseis, her father’s Jeanneau 33 that was berthed at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d’Azur. I could hardly wait for the exhibition to conclude and hastily rearranged our schedules to fly to Cannes, from where we hired a car to Cap Ferrat.
Etienne was the retired maritime pilot of the Port of Dunkirk and a very affable man, but it takes a special person to place his treasured boat in the hands of another yachtsman. I could hardly believe my good fortune.
