Watch the video and check out the proposal from the Bertrand family in St Malo, who have rescued the Brightlingsea smack, ’Madeline’.
‘Madeline’ sailed with the East Coast OGA during the 1970s and 1980s, but disappeared for many years. In mid-December 2018 the Boat Register Editor was asked for informaiton about a boat in St Malo which seemed to have been imported into France around 2003. After tireless research, it’s now confirmed that ‘Madeline’ was built by James of Brightlingsea in 1898. The owners have been in touch again with news about the restoration and relaunch of ‘Madeline’ as well as a proposal to help get her to Brightlingsea.
Our restoration work is now complete, after all these years of hard work. ‘Madeline’ is back in salt water and we’re very proud of her! She sails beautifully and her nautical qualities surprise us with each new sail. We now have another dream, to sail at least once to Brightlingsea, where nearly 125 years ago ‘Madeline’ was built. But it’s a long way…and not an easy sail. Today, ‘Madeline’ sails in the Bay of St Malo. We’ve set up an association called ‘Les amis de Madeline’, which allows anyone to come and sail with us. We are going to prepare an application for approval as a ‘Boat of Heritage Interest’. This status will enable us to classify the boat, but we still lack a lot of historical information about ‘Madeline’. If you have any further information, we would be very interested.Thank you again for all your help.
famille Bertrand, St Malo
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