Ambassadors of peace

Miranda Merron reports on this year's Route d'Elissa

Two years ago, the first edition of the Route d’Elissa was raced from Beirut, Lebanon, to Carthage, Tunisia. The second edition of the race was due to start on 13 August from Carthage and finish in Beirut. However, due to the conflict in Lebanon, the race was unable to go ahead. Instead of cancelling this United Nations-sponsored event, the race organisation transformed it into a mission for peace.

La Route d’Elissa is symbolically important: legend has it that Elissa/Queen Dido left Lebanon and spent seven years in exile in the Mediterranean basin, before peacefully conquering Carthage, a city of exchange and peaceful coexistence between different peoples, religions and cultures. Since the sailing teams have not been able to deliver the message of peace to Elissa’s native country, each boat has instead, been sent to various ports in the Mediterranean basin - Naples, Monaco, Marseille, Valencia and Athens - as ambassadors and messengers of the city of Carthage, for a Mediterranean fighting against indifference and war. Sailors from Lebanon, Tunisia, France, Portugal, Italy and the UK put aside competitive racing to partake in this honourable challenge.

After a frantic couple of days preparing our boat, we received a fantastic send-off from Tunisia. The start day coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of National Women’s Day. All the local dinghy sailing kids visited the boats, and we were presented with roses and Tunisian goodies, as well as a reel of fishing line courtesy of a local fishermen (we have yet to catch anything!). Although we were not officially racing, we were given a start line and a rounding mark before heading off to our various destinations. Many spectator boats came out to watch the fun. Our (British) boat’s destination was Athens. Despite not being a race, it provided a good opportunity for improving offshore and navigational skills. Conditions were varied but pleasant, and we reached the Corinth Canal after five days of sailing. On Sunday 20th August, we were welcomed into Marina Zea, Athens, by journalists and the Tunisian Embassy. Within four hours, our mission for peace and our arrival in Athens was on the evening news.

We hope that next year we will once again be able to race to Beirut, but in the meantime we are proud to have been ambassadors for peace, and hope that this mission may have helped, even if only in a small way.

Team Athens: Miranda Merron, Jess Tier, Rachel Howe, Karen Buttrick