Roger Barnes, November 16, 2025 – AVEL DRO at the Golden Chestnut Festival
Avel Dro visits the town of Redon on the navigable River Vilaine in Eastern Brittany for the autumn festival of chestnuts, La Bogue d’Or.
This is an unusually short video, made up almost entirely of “B-roll” footage, as most of my “A-roll” footage managed to lose its sound track. That’s why there are few pieces to camera. But YouTube seems to want shorter videos these days!
AVEL DRO, my own boat.
Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France in 2003 to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again. The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century – hence her simple boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. Modern Ilurs are slightly different from mine, as they have more built in buoyancy. The name Avel Dro is Breton, Avel = wind, Dro = to turn – so it means a whirlwind.
- Length 4.44 m
- Sail area 12.2 m²
- Beam 1.70 m
- Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m
INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING?
- Read Roger’s books, The Dinghy Cruising Companion and Sailing The Shallows
- Join the Dinghy Cruising Association
Jerry Wachter says:
Short but enjoyed it.