The Giraudel family, exchanging a house for a boat.

Christophe is 45, he lives in Sainte marie de Ré on Ré Island together with his wife Corinne and their 2 children. He created a saltpan on the island and he has been exploiting it for the past 10 years.

In terms of sailing, Christophe is quite experienced: before he dropped his bag on land, he had spent a great deal of his professional life at sea. During 20 years, he crisscrossed  oceans delivering boats and doing charter, first as a crew member and soon as a skipper. Under his belt, he 's got a circumnavigation and several crossings of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As a permanent skipper of a yacht for charter, he has scoured the Carabbic together with Corinne. He has also been involved in boat building supervising and technical preparation of new yachts.

Christophe and his tribe have been living on dry land for the past 10 years but the appeal of the open seas is ikling again and they are planning to return to sea for a whole school term. The problem is they are not prepared to buy a sailing boat, for the time being.

They discussed their plans with a friend who suggested they had a look at Seemysea. What if swapping was a solution?

Here is Christophe's proposal:

"We are looking for a 40' sailing boat, with 3 cabins, for the duration of a scholar term, ideally from September 2010 to September 2011.

We have noticed that a great deal of sailing boats go out to sea very seldom, not at all for some, and there must be one out there which could answer our wishes.

Used boat market is very slack at the moment and some owners finding it hard to sell might appreciate a 12 months respite without port, insurance and maintenance bills, at the occasion of an exchange.

Our swap proposal might also be of interest to families who live on boats and wish to spend some time on land.

So far, our ad on Seemysea has generated a single contact request from a family that had never thought that a home - boat exchange was possible and they are keen, so the potential is there.

We've got enough competence and experience to convince any owner to entrust us with his boat. The counterpart is our comfortable house, located in a pleasant and quiet area, with a sight on the sea and the vineyard. Ré Island is a popular resort and a great place to live. The vicinity of La Rochelle is the cherry on the cake."

He also says:

"To us, swapping seems the simplest and most equitable solution (...). It goes without saying that an experience like the one we are considering is likely going to create durable ties between both parties."  

2 swaps in 2009, who says better?

A New-Zealand / Brittany meeting

Based on the far west of Brittany, Jean-Noel has swaped his boat with Brian from New Zealand.
We are pleased to share their experience:

"When I read about SeeMySea in the newspaper, I immediately joined the idea.
Sailing in Southern Brittany, then in Northern Brittany, Cornwall, Scilly, Channel Islands, I wanted to discover other areas of navigation. We had the project with my wife, to go back to New Zealand where my son lives.
Having planned to stay 2 months, we've thought of doing a boat exchange for 3 weeks with the opportunity for my son to join us a few days.
There was an offer for a boat based in Opua in the "Bay of Islands", in the northern country.
I offered an exchange with our Bavaria 32 based in Port la Forêt.

Agreement was reached after a few emails, and in early February 2009 we arrived in Opua where Brian and Joan welcomed us warmly.
After a night on board, then a day taken in hand, they have left the boat for 3 weeks.

Their boat, Windemere II, is a very well equipped ferro-cement 12 meters.
We explored the surroundings of the Bay of Islands, and the Cavalli Islands (a diving area where has been immersed the Rainbow Warrior), Whangaroa Bay a little further north, where a flotilla is based
We were on anchor everywhere except at Opua, where the owner of the boat had a mooring buoy.
There’s a lot of wind-protected anchorages around the islands.

Our stay was spent in the best way, encountering no worry at all.
This was the month of August, Brian and Joan have taken possession of our boat in the same conditions.

They’ve been delighted with their navigation in the area of Concarneau, the Glénan Sainte Marine...
We were fully satisfied with this experience, “bravo and thank you SeeMySea” without whom this wouldn’t have happened.
Jean-Noel Lefeuvre

Holland-San Francisco exchange

We wanted to tell your members about a wonderful experience we had with an exchange from Belgium, their boat situated in Holland, ours in San Francisco. Georges-Eric came to San Francisco Bay first and sailed around the Bay, then ventured on the Pacific taking a tour down the coast to Monterey/Carmel. We also did two races in the Bay on Georges' insistance (they'd never raced before) and it was great fun. When our turn came, the next month, we had a most wonderful time in Holland doing the standing mast tour. We're looking forward to doing a local exchange next month, and more are planned in the future.

An american in Morlaix

Waiting for the water lock to open

Following the request of a boat owner from Maine -USA- through SeeMySea, I welcomed Maurice Gegerre for a day outing and to improve my English.
The problem with Morlaix is the water locks (3 of them, that morning) so we had to make arrangements for a rendez-vous on the port of Morlaix in order to leave his car at the port of Diben where he was due  to disembark at the end of the outing.
Once we have cleared the water locks, I entrust Maurice with the steering wheel en route to the Morlaix bay on the river meanders, according to strict navigating alignments. Once we reach the bay, we raise the sails and silence retakes its rightful place. Maurice is elated and passing in front of the Taureau castle seems to impress him, even more when the depth sounder plays yo-yo: "there are many rocks under the keel...watch out, Maurice".
At the Stolvesen buoy we decide to go to Trebeurden. The wind is weak, I raise the gennaker and our surface speed reaches 5 knots with a bottom speed of 9 to 10 knots.
A snack and Trebeurden is getting close. We lower the gennaker and after tacking in the fore harbor, it is close-hauled. Very soon, we must tack, rock tips are visible here and there and it breaks. Maurice, a little bit wary, asks me if it is safe ahead... it must surely be impressive. Then he describes the Chesapeake Bay, where he goes sailing in shallow waters and where there are no rocks... an inland sea!
After a few tacks, at speeds reaching 7 knots with Maurice at the helm, we haul the sails down and I stop alongside a trawler. Maurice congratulates me on my boat (Sun Fizz) and tells my girlfriend she can steer better than both of us ...and the automatic pilot!
We had the opportunity to meet a very nice person in love with the sea and boats. I thought I was going to practice my English but it turned out that Maurice speaks French... so we spoke  Frenglish. I hope I made him feel like telling others about the beauty of Brittany, in spite of the mediocre weather of this summer 2008.
We are invited on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean...for a day sailing.
Warm and salty regards, Maurice.
Marc GUYOMARD.

Jean-Jacques, first swapper, gives his vision of boat exchange

Jean-Marc Blancho, pioneer member

source: Benoit Chauveau