Stopover in Sète 2024: the boat arrival parade canceled due to the weather

Les vagues pourraient atteindre 4 m en matinée à Sète. Illustration Midi Libre – PATRICE CASTAN

Rain, gusty wind at more than 60 km/h, the weather conditions forecast for Tuesday March 26, especially in the morning, change the program for the opening day of Stopover in Sète 2024 .

A Mediterranean episode planned for Tuesday March 26 forced the organizers of Escale à Sète 2024 to review the schedule for the opening day of the great celebration of maritime traditions. Météo France is indeed announcing rain, intense around 1 p.m., with the added bonus of a drop in temperatures which fall below seasonal norms to reach a maximum of 13 degrees, but above all a lot of wind from the morning on Sète.  A strong east, southeast wind is expected to blow in the first part of the day with gusts that can exceed 60 kilometers per hour with waves that can reach 4  m. A time not to put an old rig outside.

The festival will not open to the public until 2 p.m. Tuesday March 26

The management of Escale à Sète therefore decided this Sunday, March 24, at a management meeting, to cancel the inaugural parade of tall ships which was to be held from 8 a.m. Tuesday March 26 to open the event. Furthermore, it was also noted that the start of the week of festivities will be postponed to 2 p.m. this Tuesday, March 26. "For safety reasons due to strong winds", indicates Wolfgang Idiri, director of Escale, the festival site will be closed to the public all morning.

The boats will of course be visible and open to visitors at the quay from 2 p.m. Most have already arrived in Sète, having anticipated these poor sailing conditions. The Shtandart, the Don du Vent, the Santa Maria Manuela and the Belem are heading towards Sète.

The rest of the program for Tuesday March 26 is maintained. In particular the opening of the different villages, conferences and exhibitions dedicated to seafarers and their professions today. The maritime careers forum scheduled for 9:30 a.m. under the Géode will probably be moved to a location yet to be defined like the other events initially planned for the morning.  "The weather is changing favorably for the afternoon so we are working to reschedule as many activities as possible that were planned for the morning", indicates the director this evening .

To follow the program live hour by hour, Escale à Sète has set up a mobile application which will give you the detailed program each day.

Rest assured, the weather will become more stable from Wednesday with the tramontane so as not to miss any of the major events organized by Escale à Sète.