Thrashing oars, baying crowds and men tumbling from three-metre-high platforms into the Sete Royal Canal. This is water jousting, a traditional Languedoc regional sport believed to have been brought to southeastern France in the 13th century. "It's our national sport" says one of those taking part. "It's our World Cup". Water jousting events have been organised in the southeastern French town of Sete every summer since 1744, interrupted only by the Revolution, two World Wars and the Covid-19 pandemic.