Coming up · date to be confirmed
September trip out to sea: what we know
The sea series continues: after July's sailing yacht and August's catamaran, we plan to go out a third time. Right now we are negotiating for a catamaran that takes fifty people — but there is still no exact date, no confirmed boat and no price, and we are not going to invent them.
What has been decided, and what has not
This page announces an event that is not in the calendar yet, so let us start with an honest split into three parts.
Decided. The sea series continues: the community is planning a third trip out to sea for September 2026. We want to repeat the August format — a full day on the water, swimming, snorkelling and lunch cooked on board.
Under negotiation. The community is currently negotiating for a catamaran that takes fifty people. Negotiating is the right word: talks with the owner of the boat are under way, the charter is not confirmed and nothing has been paid.
Not settled. The exact date, the specific boat and the cost of taking part. The 15 September date that sits in our events calendar is a marker for the month, not an appointed day: it exists so the event has its place in the timeline.
Why we need a bigger boat
The reason is simple and rather cheerful: on the August catamaran there were not enough places for everyone who wanted to come. The boat took up to twenty people and more than that wanted in — and this was already after the July yacht, which fitted just twelve. Hence the idea of going out a third time on something noticeably larger.
The same fact creates the main difficulty. The bigger the boat, the fewer suitable options there are along this coast, and the more the final cost depends on how many people actually come. That is why we cannot name a price in advance — any figure right now would be an invention rather than a calculation.
How our day at sea works
The easiest way to picture September is through the two trips that have already happened, both of which we wrote up in detail.
The first was on 2 July: a sailing trip out of Carnon. Someone found a skipper with a sailing yacht and twelve of us left the port of Carnon at 6 pm. Taking part cost €35 a head — a whip-round for the charter, not a ticket for an excursion. Dinner was cooked on board out of what everyone had brought to the shared table, and somebody brought a guitar. The boat was booked for three hours and we stayed out for about five: sails, wind and the sunset first, then the stars and the lights of the big beach seen from the water.
The second was on 8 August: a full day on a catamaran out of Le Grau-du-Roi. A modern catamaran with room for up to twenty people was chartered from 11 am to 5 pm. A ticket was €45 for an adult and €20 for a child from six years up, and that price already covered both lunch and equipment: on board there was a fridge, a plancha, masks and snorkels, a paddleboard and an inflatable platform you could simply lie on in the middle of the sea. Lunch was cooked on the plancha out at sea, and there was a landing on a wild stretch of shore. That page carries a gallery of twelve photographs — the port, the boat under sail, swimming, snorkelling and a group shot; it shows the format better than any description.
We want the September trip to follow the August pattern — a whole day rather than an evening. But every specific detail (what time, from which port, what will be on board) depends on the boat we have yet to agree on.
What “negotiating” actually means
In our case it is not a figure of speech. Negotiating for a catamaran for fifty people means discussing the date, the cost and the terms with the owner of the boat, and it can end in several ways: a different boat, a different date or a different price. Until there is an agreement, this page will carry no port, no meeting time and no sum — we make a point of not publishing things that do not exist yet.
For the same reason there is no sign-up for the September trip: there is nothing to sign up for. As soon as the owner and the community come to terms, an announcement with the date and the conditions will go out in the community chat and channel — the same place both previous trips were born. If you want to be on board, the surest thing is to be in the chat by then: on the past trips the places went within days, and the number of berths on a boat is limited by definition, even when the boat is a large one.
Do you need experience, can you bring children, what to pack
No sailing experience is required: the boat is handled by its owner and the rest of us are passengers. Neither in July nor in August was anything expected of the people on board beyond wanting to spend a day or an evening at sea.
Children are welcome, and that has been tested: there were kids on the August catamaran, they had their own ticket from six years up, and they were the first to start asking about the next trip. How the September outing will be organised depends on the boat, so we will confirm the terms for children in the announcement.
As for what to pack, on the August trip swimwear, a towel, sun cream, a hat and water were enough — everything for the water was already on board. On the July yacht it was the other way round: the food was a shared potluck, discussed in the chat beforehand. What September will require will be in the announcement.
Where to look next
Sea trips are only one part of what the community does in real life: all our meet-ups by date are collected in one timeline, from barbecues and hikes to beach gatherings. Close to the sea theme sit a beach day in Carnon — from the same port the July yacht left from — and a beach gathering in La Grande-Motte, the resort next door to Le Grau-du-Roi.
If you are still just looking around: what the community is and how it works is described separately, and most members live in Montpellier and the towns around it — less than half an hour from the sea, which is exactly what makes trips like these possible on an ordinary weekday evening.