All is Quiet in St. Tropez -- But Not Dead

We have some good news and some bad news about what is happening this summer in
St. Tropez. The good news is that there are still boats there of all sizes from
the smallest to the largest. The bad news (for some people anyway) is that going
topless is now “out of fashion.” Yup, and string bikinis are gone, too. (Femi Nazis
please hold your fire.) Even in the playground of Europe’s rich and frivolous, things
have taken a decidedly sober turn. That is not to say that it is now easy to book
a table for lunch at Cinquante Cinq which has been the coolest spot to see and be
seen since Bridget Bardot made it famous in 1956. No. Bookings at the home-away-from-home
of Bernie Madoff is still on a who-do-you-know basis.

Bird’s eye view of St. Tropez. The old fishing village harbor is at the right, and the new one at the left.

The word along the dockside in what was once a quiet fishing village is that charters
this summer – the lifeblood for many megayacht owners – was slim to none. Charters
in the Caribbean last winter were dismal, so many owners had their superyachts shipped
to the Med, or went on their own bottoms, to cash in on the usually predictable
Med summer charter trade. A charter fee for a 150’ yacht might be in the neighborhood
of $125,000 to $150,000 a week, maybe more, depending on the vessel -- plus fuel,
food, booze, dockage, and 15% crew tip.

Once a sleepy fishing village, St. Tropez changed in 1956 when Bridget Bardot made the film “God Created Woman” there. Happily, there are still some small fishing boats left.

Historically, if you didn’t book your charter six months in advance or more you
would be out of luck. The boats going for charter were generally from 65’ up to…
sky is the limit. Some of the biggest boats were going for over a million dollars
a week. To people who can afford these sums, or to publicly-traded companies with
friendly boards, who cares how much it costs, its all funny money anyway. Well,
this year money wasn’t so funny, or so plentiful. Charters for July were way down
and most boats are lucky to have one or two weeks booked for August.

The 163’ Casino Royal is the largest boat ever built by Christensen. She was in St. Tropez for charter and is owned by Long Island car dealer John Staluppi, who in the late 1980s was the first owner to break the 50-knot barrier for a large yacht with his 150’ Octopussy.

We were told by a couple of industry sources that the charterers who were in the
market usually started the discussions by offering 30% less than the asking price.
By June, some owners were caving in, and happy to do it.

Real estate in this tourist Mecca is not suffering these days. Note the empty spaces along the quay – the megayachts that park there are out cruising about two miles away.

“The millionaires are feeling poor this summer,” said one St. Tropez veteran. “The
M&A boys in London and Paris who used to get annual $5 million bonuses plus
charter their yachts for 8 weeks a summer are finding themselves with no bonuses
and 1 week of charter,” he said. Ouch!

St. Tropez is an equal-opportunity harbor and will even accept production fiberglass motoryachts of most any size.

Thankfully, this sad state of affairs has not kept many owners from cruising their
boats along the Riviera -- although superyacht cruising along the Riviera is unlike
cruising most any place we have ever been. For example, in St. Tropez it typically
involves a 150’, $30 million aluminum vessel powered by huge diesels, and in some
cases gas turbines, casting off from the quay around 8 AM in the morning. Then the
glistening yacht carefully glides out of the marina, out of the harbor, then shovels
enough coal to its boilers to make 8 knots or so until it clears to point a mile
or so away.

Satellite view of the bay where the 39 famous beaches of St. Tropez are located.

Seen from beach level the area is full of families and kids and restaurants where motoryachts are bought and sold over lobster salad and rosé wine.

Once around the point, these yachts – which are glorified in magazines
all over the world for their transoceanic prowess – ring the telegraph back to “slow”
for another mile or so and drop their navy anchors about a half mile off of one
of St. Tropez beaches. There the boat will swing all day long in the balmy summer
Mediterranean breezes. Tenders will be lowered or pushed out of their transom garages
to await their owners, guests or charters.

This is the bar at famed Cinquante Cinq (Club 55) located on the Plage de Pampelonne. Madoff’s favorite spot was the forth stool from the right.

Around 1 PM a party from the yacht will take the tender into a dock at one of the
beaches, and go ashore for a leisurely lunch in one of the tony beach restaurants.

Smaller boats favor the eastern side of the bay where the water is 20’ to 40’ deep. Note there are very few sailboats.

St. Tropez beach restaurants are a bit hard to describe. Essentially they are shacks
that in some cases poor fishermen used to live in that have been converted into
kitchens and bars much like what one might have found in the Florida Keys in the
1960s. Yup, they are that humble. But that is where humble ends. Maitre d’s and
waitstaff look as if they have just stepped out of GQ and Italian Vogue. And the
world-wide recession and price reductions have not reached the menus of these restaurants.
The 39 restaurants on the 39 beaches of St. Tropez are spread across the sandy beach
with sun shades of one sort or another above and wooden walks between the tables
or a variation on that theme. Lunch is $100 to $200 per person.

This typical French couple are enjoying the shade of a restaurant on Tahiti beach, where Bardot started it all.

Local ordinances restrict the structures to their semi-permanent and ramshackle
nature and it becomes part of the charm of a unique place on the planet.

Looks like there is room for about four superyachts along this quay, the most coveted space in St. Tropez. They will be backing in around 6 PM.

Around 6 PM the boats off the beach hoist anchor and slowly make their way back
to the very same slip that they left in the morning. Well, we said slip, but it
is actually a little stretch of incredible costly real estate at quay side that
is exactly as wide as the yacht, plus its fenders. Cost is no object and there is
a waiting line for these few coveted spots. (Gratuities to the harbor master and
staff are graciously accepted.)

The sight of a superyacht slowly and carefully – but always expertly – backing up
to the dock is cause for a crowd to draw and watch. Dozens of people stand in awe
as these beautiful, lavish, and altogether other-worldly motoryachts, which are
among the largest in the world, tie up and bed down for the night.

Each evening crowds gather on the quay as a superyacht begins to thread its way into a spot little wider than its beam.

The 130’ Mangusta Celcascor has a 25’ beam and water jet propulsion and provides good entertainment for the hoi polloi on the dock.

Later in the evening, after a good nap and shower the occupants of the mammoth aluminum
and fiberglass floating sculptures emerge to walk the narrow cobblestone streets
of the village. Here and there they sit for an aperitif and enjoy the bonhomie of
their guests and the other yacht owners who are all bubbling with stories of day’s
cruising activities.

Sexy singer Maartje Weijer entertains a full house sitting behind the camera in Le Petit Joseph, just one of many seaside bistro bars in the old harbor of St. Tropez facing the megayachts.

One of the favorite watering holes is a terrace restaurant called “Le Petit Joseph”
which specializes in authentic Thai dishes, cool drinks, friendly ambience and a
delightful young singer by the name of Maartje Weijer. This Dutch beauty is only
21 but has all of the moves and already a voice that clearly have her headed for
the tony cabarets of Paris, London and New York City. She reminded us of a young Andrea
Marcovicci and her florid torch songs were a delightful way to end a day in fabled
St. Tropez.

Later at night, Maartje’s voice became a bit more husky as the good food and drink had its effect on her and on the audience. Charlotte Rampling in her youth, anyone? Man can not live by boats alone.