Logbook, October 30

October 30 - Sailing upwind means sailing upwind. The boat leans to one side and everything gets complicated. Standing becomes a physical exercise that tests the whole body.

If you're not used to it, you end up feeling bad about the muscles you didn't even know you had.

We talked in the cabin and someone says: we are a bit like the pacifist movement, we sail with the wind in our faces to get there. It is not easy, but it is possible.

After many hours of tight, around nine o'clock at night, we stop at a shelter on the Green Island, in front of La Ciotat. In the morning we leave for Marseille

When we arrived at the Calanques, the limestone formations that dot the gulf in front of Marseille for 20 kilometers, we decided to make a stop for an important mission: to make beautiful shots from the water to the Bamboo.

Las Calanques, white cliff reflected in the blue of the Mediterranean

The Calanques are a place in the heart of every navigator: a white cliff reflected in the blue of the Mediterranean.

We admire them while our sailor and marine biologist, Giampi, puts on his wetsuit and prepares to enter the water with the Go-pro.

The water is decidedly fresh, well, let's say cold, but it's worth it. In the end we find four videos in which Bamboo shows his white helmet gliding elegantly on the water. We watch the videos without being able to contain a certain pride: it is a very beautiful ship.

Let's do it again. Marseille is not far.

Towards 14 hours we enter the mouth of the Old Port. It is like entering the heart of the history of the Mediterranean.

Of all the cities of Mare Nostrum, Marseille is the myth of myths. They call it the city of Focese, and its inhabitants continue to be called Focesi (Phocéen, in French), the legacy of its founders, the Greeks of Focea, the Greek city of Asia Minor.

We are in the sixth century BC when the Greeks settled definitively in this area, but a few centuries before the Phoenicians had already passed (seventh and eighth centuries BC) in their travels to find precious metals, tin and other raw materials.

There is no episode in the history of the Mediterranean that has not affected Marseille

There is no episode in the common history of the Mediterranean that, for better or worse, has not affected Marseille, from the expansion of the Roman Empire to the recent attacks by the Daesh.

We moor half a day ahead of schedule (the Bamboo runs great!) At the Société Nautique de Marseille, an important place in the city's nautical history: it was founded in 1887 and has a long history of navigation, restoration of historic ships and sailing school for young people.

Caroline, one of the two office workers, asks us about our trip, our goals and, as we explain, nods decisively.

Then he smiles and shows us the pendant around his neck: it is the symbol of peace.

People of peace always find it where you least expect it. A good sign for us.

We have the aft March flag and the Mar de la Paz Mediterranean flag

The ship is moored right next to one of the main roads. We have the flag of the March aft and the flag of the Mediterranean Sea of ​​Peace in the bow. The captain climbs to the main suit to extend it well. What is not done for Peace!

In the late afternoon Marie arrives. In these weeks we wrote and got down to work to organize the stage and it's a bit like finding a friend, even though we haven't met.

We discovered that she is a professional opera singer and with her is Tatiana, who is also a singer.

The Marseille stage will be a stage of singing for peace. We say goodbye until tomorrow in the Estaque, an area northeast of Marseille where the headquarters of Thalassasanté is located, an association that has its base in a small shipyard and in which various activities are carried out “between the sea and art”.

Before leaving us, Marie leaves us her gift: a form of blue cheese. There is no lack of hunger on board and hard cheese, as the French say, "an éclair."