I trust when you were in La Rochelle you stopped by the harbour to pay your respect to the 'nutters' who are gathering for the start of the MiniTransat sailing race.
Started by an Englishman years ago, it's a race for tiny 21ft boats held every two years across the Atlantic, although now run by, and dominated, by the French. The boats are completely wild, but it's the cheapest way of making your mark in the upper echelons of the singlehanded sailing world. Ellen MacArthur did well in it and started her career in this race.
However the downside is it's incredibly dangerous. One year bad weather trapped them in the Bay of Biscay and almost ten per cent of them died; about the same death rate as extreme Himalayan climbing. Despite this, and an incredibly difficult qualification process, it is over subscribed by more than double.
I have a friend who has just had one of those traumatic 'parent and teenager' moments. In this case not the usual, 'I'm on drugs' or 'I think I'm up the duff', but "Dad, I want to do the MiniTransat!'