The largest wooden boat in the world has anchored in the port of Sète. More than 47 meters long, 11 wide, 1,964 m2 of sails: the Götheborg laid down its moorings on Thursday in the Hérault and will lift them on Sunday. One year before the 2024 edition of Stopover in Sète, the largest gathering of Mediterranean boats. Completed in 2005, this magnificent three-master is a replica of a 1745 Swedish East India Company trading ship.
On board, seventy people. A few officers who know the ship and its miles of rope in every corner. And a majority of sailors, who, for the most part, know little or nothing about such a boat before having set foot on it. But come to suspend time above the water. For the dream of a lifetime or just a step on something bigger. Among them, Grégory Bardou. This resident of Félines-Minervois, in the Aude, originally from Albi, dreams of reaching the Marquesas Islands on his own sailboat. This “great project rocked by the younger reading of Moby Dick” involved the discovery of this timeless boat.
Here, there is no question of enjoying an all-inclusive cruise vacation
But to have the privilege of setting foot on the Götheborg bridge, you have to commit. Financially, first. The boat is expensive to maintain. Very expensive: around 1.3 million euros per year. It is essentially visits to its ports of call (12 euros per ticket to board this weekend in Sète) and apprentice sailors, which ensure its financing. Not easy: the foundation, which had built it, had been forced to put it up for sale in 2016, for lack of the resources necessary for its maintenance.
Physically, then. Here, there is no question of enjoying an all-inclusive cruise vacation. The ship is an anthill where everyone has to get their hands dirty. Life is punctuated by shifts of four hours each: three teams take turns sharing them. “And it’s very physical,” continues Grégory Bardou. The sails are set up by hand. You have to fold them, unfold them, orient them according to the wind. We pull ends (ropes) all the time. Even holding the bar is difficult. Guided by the officers, we get down to it in twos or more depending on the weather conditions”.
Rather berth or hammock?
Rest times are on bunks or in hammocks. “But life on board is a great luxury. Already because it is far from Spartan. We wash in showers, we eat very well. And then the atmosphere is really very good. I experience it as a superb human adventure”. This 44-year-old accordionist even made a song out of it…