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Originally cut off landside by the densely forested Maures hills, St. Tropez has always been visited by sea; the Greeks, Romans, Saracens and Catalans all left their mark here and in the fifteenth century the town needed its own militia to keep the pirates at bay! Today, access is hampered by the motor car – in mid-summer the road into town simply grinds to a halt! But nowadays, the seaborne invaders are more welcome and the comings and goings of everything from tenders to eighty metre yachts is orchestrated with amazing precision. The only drawback being that everyone’s anchors get tangled into an unholy mess every night and the port divers earn a very good living sorting out the spaghetti next morning!
   
To visit St.Tropez without a means of getting afloat is like going to the races without your binoculars – you’ll miss most of the action and you’ll never understand what all the fuss is about. Going to the beach? You’ll need the yacht because it’s on the other side of the headland to the town! Every evening hundreds of yachts arrive, decanting their guests onto the quayside still salty and often still in their bikinis and beach wraps to enjoy an aperitif or browse around the chic boutiques. And for those who come to see and be seen, the deck of a yacht makes a perfect stage!
   
But it’s the sailing yachts that are really in St. Tropez’s blood and the pressure rises every October during the “Voiles de St. Tropez”. For seven days the romance of sail reigns supreme with not a motor yacht in sight. From classic yachts to up-to-the-minute carbon fibre racing machines, the Old Port is lined with thoroughbreds of a wilder kind. The sea churns and sails crack as the world’s most powerful sailing yachts jostle for position in the bay. This is St. Tropez’s annual rendezvous with its roots. Many of the locals are seasoned sailors and even the graveyard has a prime sea view. Even so, you won’t find any celebrities buried here; it’s a very exclusive club – only third generation born and bred Tropeziennes are allowed underground!
   
Perhaps it’s this determination of the locals to keep some things for themselves that contributes to St. Tropez’s lasting appeal. A resistance to change and a healthy respect for tradition and continuity of ownership has kept many of its institutions in the hands of the same families from one generation to the next. Added to this are the people like Zita who have settled here, attracted by the bohemian lifestyle, and who bring another dimension to what is a very multi-faceted community. Whatever the reason, there’s nowhere quite like it. St. Tropez is purely for pleasure; a theme park for adults where you can rub your toes in the sand whilst still wearing your stilettos and someone will pass you a glass of chilled Champagne. One thing’s for sure, when God created Woman he also created St. Tropez. 

Information
DreamCatcher of London charters from $9,936 per week in the Mediterranean, for up to six people. In the winter, she is available for charter in the BVIs. Contact: Dream Sailing, info@dreamsailing.co.uk or www.dreamsailing.co.uk

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