Out at sea

Out at sea with Russian speakers: how it works

The series was born on board: after the first yacht trip we agreed to do it again before anyone was back ashore. The pattern has stayed the same ever since. The organiser finds a skipper and a boat, works out how many people it takes to hire the whole boat, and posts the price in the chat. You sign up by private message or in a poll, and the trip is confirmed only once there’s a big enough group. So it all comes down to the weather and to how many people answer the call.

2 July 2026: a sunset yacht from Carnon

The first trip was announced on 24 June: three hours under sail on a Thursday, leaving the port of Carnon at 18:00. Carnon is the nearest stretch of sea to Montpellier, which is why an evening like this fits into an ordinary working day. The €35 each was a whip-round for the boat hire, not an excursion ticket. A sailing yacht has only a handful of places, so sign-up went by private message to the organiser. Twelve of us put to sea.

At 18:53 a video from the boat landed in the chat with “We’ve set off”, at 20:20 came the view from the mast, and clips of the sunset and the deck kept arriving until 22:23. The three hours on the booking stretched to about five: the skipper and his brother kept the group out a good deal longer than agreed. First the sails, the wind and the sunset, then the stars and the lights of the big beach seen from the water, while those left ashore wrote in the chat: “What a soft sunset…” Dinner was cooked on board from whatever everyone had brought along, and we sang to the guitar, Russian songs mixed in with French ones.

8 August 2026: a whole day on a catamaran from Le Grau-du-Roi

The second trip went bigger: instead of a yacht for twelve, a modern catamaran with room for up to twenty; instead of an evening, a full day from 11:00 to 17:00. On board there was a fridge, a plancha, masks and snorkels, a paddleboard and an inflatable platform, so nobody had to bring their own kit, and lunch was cooked on the plancha out at sea. We swam and snorkelled, the children lay on the platform in the middle of the sea, and we came ashore on a wild stretch of coast to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. This time the price was per place: €45 for an adult and €20 for a child aged six or over. The organiser didn’t say how many people came, so we don’t give a number either.

29 August 2026: a sports catamaran from La Grande-Motte

The third trip was dreamt up twelve days ahead, in the villa weekend chat: a big sports catamaran with an enormous mainsail, from 14:00 to 17:00, heading further out to sea rather than along the coast. Taking the whole boat needed at least eighteen people. On 20 August only nine or ten had signed up, and on the 22nd a short line arrived: “The catamaran is on.” Those worried about going “far out, deep water, and no life jackets” got a straight answer: there are jackets on board, and we set the route ourselves. The playlist for the sea was put together in advance.

We went out so far that in the shot of the anchor chain there is no shore in sight at all. At anchor we swam and stretched out on the netting between the hulls, we hoisted the mainsail ourselves, and on the way back we steered for the harbour-master’s tower at La Grande-Motte. That evening the same crowd sat down at the table for the two-city Mafia at the villa. The first feedback came the next day: “the catamaran was superb, a great way to finish the summer for me.”

How to get on the next trip

We’ll announce the next trip in the chat, with the date, the port, the boat, the price and how many people it takes to confirm it. Bring swimwear, a towel, a hat and sun cream: there’s no shade on a catamaran’s netting. If you’re nervous about the water or you’re coming with children, ask in the chat beforehand what kind of boat it will be and whether there are life jackets.