title Hannah and Olympic ILCA 6 Sailing, Marseille, France - 5th August 2024 intro The "Lads' Road Trip" has made it on the 700-miles-or-so drive to Marseille and the nice villa up in the hills in a gated community, only a 20 minute walk from the Olympic sailing venue where Sean's girlfriend Hannah is sailing in the actual Olympics. There's also a boost for the "school reunion" as Phil, along with Tanya, has also come over from the US for the occasion. We only have tickets for the second day in the venue itself, so for the first we content ourselves with the free-to-enter Club 2024, where it turns out there's at least a bit of shelter that's not packed with people. After the day's racing, Nosher and Hamish drop Sean off at the Team GB hotel and then stop at the next-door "La Cantine de Fred" for dinner. The next day, we're in the actual Olympic venue, where it's baking hot and there's almost no shelter, and the toilets are a mile away and mean having to re-enter the venue - sometimes with a 30 minute wait or more. The following night, our villa becomes "party central" as all the various Lymington Town Sailing Club and Cambridge University friends of Hannah, who are also staying in town, descend for drinks and a catch-up. imgp4794 Hamish follows up the pack as we head to the beach imgp4797 A view over the beaches of Marseille imgp4801 The ILCA 6's head out to the course imgp4808 The group looks out from the overhanging promenade imgp4812 Crowds on the Corniche Kennedy imgp4813 Hamish gets some tourist info imgp4815 Hamish hangs around with his binoculars imgp4818 A "welcome to Marseille" information point imgp4821 Rowan, Sean and Hamish on the Corniche imgp4823 The Maritime Gendarmerie heads out to sea imgp4824 One of two shaded areas in Club 2024 imgp4825 Everyone's on their phones imgp4831 Team GB's foiling kite heads out imgp4835 The ILCAs are now but dots on the horizon imgp4845 The kitefoils swarm around imgp4851 More distant sails on the horizon imgp4855 An inflatable climbing wall in action imgp4862 Some boys play a bit of basketball imgp4865 A covered viewing area imgp4876 There's a VR surfing game going on imgp4878 There's a huge list of banned things imgp4879 Another queue for some water imgp4882 Seafront buildings on the Corniche Kennedy imgp4884 A French tricolour flies from a balcony imgp4885 The steepest steps in Marseille imgp4886 There's a giant thumb near Hannah's hotel imgp4887 There's a "Cantine de Fred" at the Ibis hotel imgp4888 We have a bit of dinner at the Cantine de Fred imgp4890 A Fred-themed corner imgp4894 Sydney has Olympic nails imgp4895 We queue to get into the actual venue imgp4900 Nosher joins in with the Team Snellgrove photo imgp4907 The group photo breaks up imgp4911 An Olympic mascot does a photo with some USA fans imgp4918 A military RIB runs around imgp4923 Hamish waves a flag imgp4924 A couple of dudes whizz around on foiling boards imgp4927 Team Snellgrove is resplendant in bunting imgp4929 Hamish with a patriotic garland imgp4940 French flags fly in the crowd imgp4943 The ILCAs depart from the Olympic marina imgp4952 Hannah sails out from the marina imgp4965 Hannah peers out from under the boom imgp4969 Hannah's ILCA 6 sails out to the course imgp4974 Hannah's Olympic dinghy imgp4975 The fleet heads out to sea imgp4992 The multihulls follow the ILCAs out imgp5006 Hannah disappears off imgp5008 Team GB's mixed multihull imgp5020 A photographer gets a shot of the shore crowds imgp5026 Standing on a rock to get a better view imgp5028 More Team Snellgrove action imgp5029 A crowd watches the kite surfing arena imgp5043 A surfer packs away the kite imgp5050 Sydney, Rowan and Casey under the tent imgp5051 Sean takes a photo imgp5060 A kite lifts up in the breeze imgp5066 Kite boarders mill around imgp5067 Hamish gets a phone photo imgp5071 Tanya hides under a jacket imgp5075 The men's ILCA 7s head out imgp5086 A kite is wrangled in the arena imgp5093 Spray misters offer a brief respite from the sun imgp5099 Phil, Tanya, Hamish and Sean imgp5101 More flag waving from Team Snellgrove imgp5105 Flags on the pier imgp5114 The Australian mixed 470 imgp5117 Team GB's 470 comes in imgp5139 Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands imgp5147 A Belgian sailor imgp5152 The men's ILCA 7 returns imgp5155 One of the ILCAs has been abandoned imgp5159 Hannah comes back imgp5164 The ILCA 6 fleet returns imgp5167 Hamish visits the water station imgp5168 The compering team on the microphone imgp5175 Team Snellgrove hangs around waiting for Hannah imgp5176 Marit Bouwmeester comes out for interviews imgp5180 The Netherlands' Marit Bouwmeester roams around imgp5181 Snippets of flags flutter in the breeze imgp5182 A random teeshirt hangs on an Olympic ring imgp5183 Some Spanish fans get a photo imgp5189 Team Snellgrove by the Olympic rings imgp5195 A view of the back of the teeshirts imgp5201 Hamish takes a photo in the mist imgp5208 Hannah appears with the Team GB coach imgp5211 Hannah gets a hug from Sean imgp5217 Hamish is in action imgp5220 Kate Eddy, the team coach, and Hannah imgp5228 Hamish poses for a photo with the Olympic mascot imgp5232 Hamish runs the gauntlet of volunteers imgp5234 There's a big wave from the volunteers imgp5242 Hannah does a video call home imgp5246 More video-call action imgp5250 Sean and Hamish imgp5253 Hannah gets to see the family cat imgp5259 Sean and Hamish are in the kitchen imgp5268 There's a teeshirt-customising session occuring imgp5275 A Team Snellgrove teeshirt is signed imgp5279 Hamish signs the teeshirt