Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer sits on a peninsula that curves around the entrance to Toulon harbour, which means your first morning under sail already puts the whole Riviera in front of you. The water here is one of the cleanest stretches of the French Mediterranean — visibility past 20 metres in places. That clarity is why sailors keep coming back, and why anchorages empty of engine noise feel almost unreal.

The Îles d’Hyères — Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant — are a short sail from your berth, and Porquerolles has been a protected national park since 2012. No cars, no rush, just pine-backed beaches and shallow turquoise water. You do not visit Porquerolles, you anchor in it, swim off the transom and watch the sun drop behind the cliffs. That is the whole itinerary.

Everyone talks about the mistral, the wind that rips down the Rhône valley — but the real secret on this coast is the sea breeze. It builds almost like clockwork after lunch, gives you a few hours of perfect sailing, then dies at sunset. Plan your hops around it and you look like a genius. Your captain already knows.

A cruising catamaran this size does not heel, does not roll and does not rush. Your morning coffee stays in the cup, your guests stay in a good mood, and your skipper gets to look like the calmest person on the Mediterranean. Solar panels mean the silence holds all evening.

Solar panels are not a gimmick — on a week-long charter they are the difference between a generator running at dinner and total silence. Your fridge, air conditioning and music keep going without a sound, and the calmest bays stay calm. That is the whole point of an eco solar week.