Roger Barnes, September 22nd, 2025 – Exploring the Forgotten Canal
An inland voyage. Avel Dro sails down the eastern section of the Canal de Nantes à Brest in the Pays de la Loire and Brittany. I navigated between the River Erdre and the River Vilaine, together with Mary Dooley in her SCAMP dinghy. The passage starts with a few days participating in the festival of jazz music and small boats on the Erdre itself.
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 book, The Dinghy Cruising Companion
- Join the Dinghy Cruising Association
John Hoy says:
A lovely voyage, and nicely arranged for an armchair voyager. Thank you, Roger and Mary. I don’t feel quite so odd keeping a British Seagull at the ready, but finding encouragement to get out on the water is the important part, despite rain, etc.