A journey from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean
The Hermione-La Fayette Association has unveiled the route taken by the Hermione on its next voyage, which will take place in spring 2018 from Rochefort. The frigate will leave its home port of Rochefort friday, February 2, 2018 to reach 11 stops, through the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Lion, along the Lusitanian coast, Trafalgar, among others. The agreements of support to the trip with the cities of call, will lead it to the ports of La Rochelle tangier (the gateway to Africa), Sete where the Hermione will be guest of honor at the maritime festival "Escale à Sète", Toulon, the Old Port of Marseille port-Vendres, Portimao (Portugal), Pasaia (Spanish Basque Country), and Bordeaux before its return to Rochefort on Saturday, June 16, 2018. Two stopovers are yet to be confirmed: Barcelona and Monaco.
A partnership with the International Organization of the Francophonie
Entitled "Libres ensemble de l'Atlantique à la Méditerranée" (Free together from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean), this voyage will see 350 boatmen follow one another. Among them, 100 young people from all over the French-speaking world, thanks to the partnership with the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), will be on board as volunteer boatmen. The OIF is an international institution for the representation of the French language, for the support of artistic and economic initiatives of young people.
The Hermione-La Fayette Association is part of the OIF program called "Libres Ensembles" which promotes projects and experiences between young francophones of different nationalities and social origins. This program corresponds totally to the values defended by the association, which are sharing, diversity, freedom, solidarity, citizenship, social integration and opening to the world.
Libres ensemble, a citizen's movement of francophone youth
Free Together is a vast mobilization campaign around the values of fraternity, peace and solidarity, launched on March 10, 2016 by young Francophones and the Secretary General of La Francophonie, Michaëlle Jean, to block the messages and acts of fear, withdrawal and barbarism perpetrated in the world.
A crew of professionals and volunteers
The Hermione's crew will be made up of fifteen professional sailors, under the command of Yann Cariou, and nearly 350 volunteer sailors. Some of the latter were trained during previous voyages. The new sailors will be about one hundred from the French-speaking world. The rest of the crew will be made up of candidate sailors selected solely on their physical abilities and their motivation to participate in this exceptional human and maritime adventure.
All new gabiers will follow the preparatory training process for the handling of the frigate, individual and collective life at sea and the promotion of the values of the Hermione and the "Free Together".
The crew will be divided into groups and will take turns at each stage (leg) of the voyage. On these occasions, the crew members will participate in welcoming the public on board, the Hermione being open to visits at the quayside in the ports of call throughout her voyage.
