First a dinghy sailing activity of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, before becoming "UST Voile", this section moved to Les Canoubiers, a marvelous site particularly well suited for learning and practicing this sport.

Hosted in "temporary" premises, the Club will benefit from the equipment that we know today, in 1979, ... there have been some "developments" since!

In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.

Family atmosphere around a main activity: school and competition on "optimist". Without forgetting 4.20, Laser, even a caravel, a 5.0.5, restored by practitioners of the time, windsurfing, etc.

However, meteorology did not wait for the climate to change to offer its outbursts of all kinds, its outbursts in behavior. The human being is like that, passionate, which sometimes makes him radical to lead him to blindness damaging to the smooth running of an association.

However, the results are there. Athletes and leisure enthusiasts alike recognize themselves in an "apparently" relaxed atmosphere.

In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.

And yet, in the course of 2015, it seems opportune to merge the UST Voile with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, a return to basics?

No, the motivations are elsewhere and multiple. Let us remember that it was a great opportunity to bring together "all" Sailing under the same flag and to allow a new development of this activity in Saint-Tropez.

The "UST Voile" Association is dissolved, in favor of the "Pôle Voile Légère" created by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez by taking over all the resources, both material and human, of the UST Voile within its organization.

The Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez has become a "Grand Club", according to the criteria of the French Sailing Federation, with more than 800 licensees. There is no shortage of events, in particular the "Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the late Nioulargue, which is the major event on the calendar.

Prestigious partners provide real support for the Club. Beyond the necessary and important financial support, it is also an accompaniment to strive for excellence.

In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.

But the commitment, for some, does not end there.

In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.

Having become a partner of Voiles de Saint-Tropez, by developing a clothing collection in the name of the event, Peter Dubens, businessman, Tropezian at heart, often present in Saint-Tropez where he owns a property and who also practices dinghy sailing in Les Canoubiers, wishes to see this activity develop, in competition, in particular on sailboats equipped with foils.

This is how he will acquire two 20-foot foiling catamarans, which he will make available to the Pôle Voile Légère. These two sailboats, which cannot be put in the hands of everyone, will navigate mainly in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.

But Peter's commitment doesn't end there.

The site, which houses the Light Sailing Pole, must be a place of excellent leisure, conviviality, meetings, a haven of peace for the Members of the Nautical Society.

Among the services offered by UST Voile in its day was a snack bar around which Members could meet.

Organized in the "good franquette" style, run by young people, with simple dishes, the concept appealed even if the rules applying to such practices were not always followed to the letter.

Take up this concept but by giving ourselves the necessary means, such was the proposal of Peter Dubens. It meant :

• Offer a framework integrated into the existing one but with a comfort that Members would appreciate,

• Have technical installations that meet current standards,

• Offer a service in relation to the new framework, by having people, both in the kitchen and in the service.

• Offer other services to meet Members' requests and expectations

During an inaugural evening at the start of the 2018 season, everyone was able to appreciate the quality of the work and commitments made:

• The terrace,

• The open loggia,

• The furniture,

• The kitchen area.

• Space

It was natural to think that all these arrangements, entirely financed by Peter Dubens, became an integral part of all the existing buildings, apart from the kitchen space, the installation of which was ephemeral. It was also quite natural, for those who know him, that this approach did not include any contractual counterparts apart from a "certain" recognition.

The 2018 season is unfolding according to the principles envisaged but this does not suit everyone, including some neighbors who are surprised at the somewhat long evenings, especially as a generator also runs in the evening to provide energy. necessary for kitchen facilities

And a volley of green wood fell on everyone, the directors of the Nautical Society, the Mayor of Saint-Tropez and a few others too, no doubt, without forgetting Mr. Peter Dubens whose motives were misunderstood or deliberately interpreted. .

Mistakes were made, it's true, but did everything have to be broken? Not to mention the facilities! In any case, not only.

As if that were not enough, at the beginning of autumn 2018 the Managers of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez decided to no longer support the light sailing activity. Taking note of this decision, the form of which was questionable, the members involved, children, parents, practitioners, employees for this activity, find themselves deprived.

The Mayor of Saint-Tropez, anxious to maintain the Light Sailing activity in Saint-Tropez, is considering several solutions. It is that of a new association, the Yacht Club de Saint-Tropez, which will ultimately prevail.

We are at the end of November 2018.

The former President of the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez is approached to set up this association with the help of the Director of the Light Sailing Pole.

The Yacht Club of Saint-Tropez

It was first necessary to overcome the obstacles and red tape to create the Association. Didn't we have to wait for a structure, baptized with the same name, Yacht Club de Saint-Tropez, an empty shell of meaning and activities, to be dissolved at the end of our intervention before we could file a file admissible at the Prefecture.

The birth of the Yacht Club de Saint-Tropez will be formalized on January 17, 2019

For the new Board of Directors, made up of Founding Members, the main short-term objectives were simple to state:

• Create and maintain the jobs of 4 people,

• Relaunch activities,

• Prepare for the 2019 summer season.

As with any business, in addition to the will and commitment of those who drive it, financial resources are an important factor and condition for success.

The first provisional budget shows that the only resources, consisting of:

• Of the Municipal Grant, even significant,

• Membership contributions, as numerous as reason has led us to imagine,

• Seasonal activities, however lucrative they may be and estimated at a reasonable amount given, in particular, the 2018 experience,

will not suffice to satisfy the first requirement in the long term.

We need to find financial partners.

At the beginning of January 2019, a financial package was put in place with the creation of an external, private company, the initial capital of which is made up of a contribution from the partners behind the approaches and actions of last year.

Among the resources of this company are the retention of members paying a substantial contribution, the collection of rent payable by the Yacht Club, and determined according to the number of visitors to the activities offered. (Catering, fitness, others)

If the principles were similar to those of the previous year, the means put in place and the responsibilities fell entirely to the Yacht Club of Saint-Tropez, thus guaranteeing the control of the activities and a strict control of the quality of members to access the facilities. and catering structures in particular.

The assembly was likely to ensure serenity within the teams, the employment contracts had been signed, especially since at the same time the commitments:

• with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez guaranteed:

  • payment of salaries during the transitional period,

  • the spread of the payment for the recovery of specific equipment, acquired during the existence of the Pôle Voile Légère, and belonging to the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez

• of the City of Saint-Tropez for the payment of a substantial subsidy.

Everything was going for the best, but it was without counting the reactions of well-thinking souls, undoubtedly inhabited by a kind of "conspiratorial" phobia, imagining shell companies to smoke up reality. They doubtless think of winning a battle: weary war the people targeted withdraw.

"Calumny! Sir, you hardly know what you despise; I have seen the most honest people close to being overwhelmed by it; believe that there is no base wickedness, no horrors, no absurd tale that one does not make adopt to the idlers of a big city, by taking it well ... First a light noise, skimming the ground like a swallow before the storm ... such mouth collects it, and, piano, piano, skilfully slips it into your ear; the damage is done: it germinates, it crawls, it walks, and, rinforzando, from mouth to mouth, it goes the devil; then suddenly, do not know how, you see calumny rise up, hiss, swell, grow visibly; it soars, extends its flight, whirls, envelops, snatches, entrains, bursts and thunders, and becomes a general cry, a crescendo public, a universal chorus of hatred and proscription "

( Pierre Augustin Caron de BEAUMARCHAIS , The Barber of Seville. Act II, scene 8)

But it was also without taking into account the determination of the direct actors of the Yacht Club of Saint-Tropez, the generosity of those questioned, the unwavering support of the Municipality, to take up the challenge.

Ensuring "sailing" activities is of course essential, all managers and instructors, Olivier, Florian, Bastien, Pascal, Marine, will do their utmost!

Maintain the reception framework created the previous year: investments financed privately will be preserved, both infrastructure and furniture without counterpart.

Ensure catering appreciated by all: the arrival of Franck and Jean-Pierre, who will not count their time, will be the icing on the cake. A snack bar is open, with a renovated kitchen. The help of a few young people from the Club, with a smile, will help to provide unexpected service.

Not only the essential is assured but ambitious projects are envisaged, such as the merger with the Yacht Club of Monaco, a sports project on supports with foils, always attractive. (there it was without taking into account the events of 2020, causing the whole to be put to sleep, but that's another story)

The results at the end of the season are more than satisfactory.

Calm has returned and proof provided, if necessary, that the destination of the Canoubiers Sailing School has not been diverted.

It remains nonetheless true that, from the beginning of the autumn, we know that the financial resources, despite rigorous management, will not make it possible to settle the remaining charges, salaries, suppliers, the first deadline for the payment of the recovery of material.

Once again it was without counting on our Benefactor Members, the Municipality, our bank, the local Crédit Agricole ..

John Elkann and Peter Dubens are still there!

Crédit Agricole grants us a loan under "favorable conditions!"

The Municipality buys the equipment from the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez to make it available to us and assures us of the allocation of a grant for 2020 equivalent to that of 2019 (this commitment is also a pledge for Crédit Agricole )

So, to close 2019 and this first chapter in the history of the Yacht Club de Saint-Tropez and to sum up our gratitude with just one word:

THANK YOU

Thank you to all those who made it possible to stay the course despite a few gales.

The road is still long, the 2020 events, as for everyone, are not likely to be completely serene but we must be confident, the Baie des Canoubiers is beautiful, the Yacht Club of Saint-Tropez has its place there, and its Members, together, will be able to spend wonderful moments there