When they begin the bisquine...
We were lucky to happen upon the passage of the schooner, La Cancalaise, through the rocky strait between la Pointe du Grouin and l'Île des Landes, which forms the outer limit of the Baie du Mont-Saint- Michel. The craft is a replica of "La Perle," one of the powerful and agile fishing boats, or bisquines, that typically navigated around the bay and the Côte d'Emeraude from the 1800's to the early 1940's.
The Ile des Landes is a continental island isolated from the Brittany mainland by virtue of the water level; just beyond it is the starting point for the legendary Route du Rhum, a solo translatlantic 3,510 mile race between Saint-Malo and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. The break-neck speed sailing event is held every four years during the month of November. The next will be in 2014.
Vocabulary
la côte: the coastline; also rib, hillside
émeraude: emerald
une île: an island
une goélette: a schooner
For information about going on a day-long sailing adventure as a "crew member" on the Cancalaise, click here. No experience necessary.
©2011 P.B. Lecron
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