Southern Brittany is one of Europe's top sailing destinations. Fantastic anchor bays, charming fishing villages with Breton flair and culinary highlights. In terms of sailing, the tidal area is challenging and offers a unique mix of coastal and offshore sailing. We travelled with the Cruising Club of Switzerland in perhaps the most beautiful sailing area in France.
More than 800 small and large islands surround Brittany. The largest of these is Belle Île. The "beautiful" island lives up to its name and welcomes us with spectacular steeply sloping coasts and hidden anchor bays. Piero, who already knows the area well, had already raved about the harbour of Le Palais at the start of the trip: "It's a spectacle that we can't afford to miss!". Because what makes it so special: In addition to a large harbour basin that is independent of the tide, the Avant Port, and the middle harbour basin, the Port d'echouage, which is mostly dry, there is a very small inner harbour, the Bassin á flot, which is separated by a lock. The lock is only opened twice a day for a window of about an hour around high tide.
Impressive: the Capitainerie of Le Palais
It gets correspondingly busy with all the yachts leaving and arriving. Behind them, you're close together in large packets. The basin is so narrow that you could walk across the decks at the back from one side to the other. How the harbour staff organise it so that everyone finds their place and gets out again remains a mystery. But we are very impressed by their work anyway. As we approach the pier lights flanking the entrance to Le Palais, a queue has already formed in the front harbour. Standing in their RIBs, the captains rush to the newly arriving sailors and give instructions. One hand on the wheel, the other on the radio.
We decide not to go through the lock because otherwise we would be stuck until the lock opens the next afternoon. So we wait at a mooring buoy outside the harbour walls until the chaos has died down and we are hopefully allocated a place in the middle of the harbour basin. We are lucky. There is still a place for us alongside the quay wall below the citadel. A friendly harbour employee takes the lines and tells us to give the lines plenty of slack, to keep an eye on them as the water level drops and not to leave the boat until we have run dry.
The sun is already low and bathes the picturesque harbour of Le Palais in a warm, golden light as we enjoy our mooring drink in the cockpit. The pastel-coloured facades of the small houses on the quay glow in soft tones - pink, light blue, vanilla yellow - as if they had been painted especially for this hour of the evening. People sit close together on the terraces of the cafés and restaurants and on the quay wall, a cheerful babble of voices fills the air. The aroma of fresh fish, seafood and roasted garlic wafts through the alleyways. And the imposing 17th century Citadelle de Vauban towers above it all on a rocky promontory.
OVNI's speciality: falling dry
Although we only have this evening here, the next highlight awaits tomorrow: we want to reach the Île d'Houat before the low tide in the morning so that we can position ourselves on the beach in time to fall dry. This capability was an important reason why the CCS opted for the OVNI 450: "During the evaluation, this was a must-have criterion because we wanted to use it here in the tidal area, and the French are the masters in this field throughout Europe," explains Piero. "We had four ships on the shortlist, but this one won out in the end." The ship has an integral lifting keel that allows the draught to be reduced from 2.90 metres to 1.05 metres at the touch of a button. "We drop the anchor, raise the keel and sail backwards as far as possible onto the beach so that the surf flows past the bow. And then we wait until the water has drained away," Piero explains our plan to the crew. Doesn't sound that complicated.
We cast off at 5 o'clock in the morning. As soon as we leave the harbour behind us, it is pitch dark and the moon is obscured by clouds. We pick our way through the anchor lights dancing on the black water and set course for Île d'Houat. Unfortunately, there is - once again - no wind and we have to cover the ten nautical miles under motor.
Two hours later, we reach the bay on the west side of the island, drive as close as we can to the beach and drop anchor. But just as we are about to drop it, we realise that the surf is turning us crossways and threatening to wash us onto the beach. It gets dicey for a moment. We abort the manoeuvre, weigh anchor and move back a little. At first we are relieved, then disappointed. Is this the end of the dry run? But we don't want to give up just yet. Without further ado, we decide to try again the next morning on the east side, where the surf is hopefully smaller.
Wild sisters of Brittany
The sister islands of Île d'Houat and Île Hoëdic in the Bay of Quiberon are famous for their wild and unspoilt nature. But despite their remoteness, you are anything but alone here in the summer months. Once we have rounded the south-eastern tip of the island and the offshore rocks, we are greeted by the dream beach "Treach-er-Goured" with plenty of people. The kilometre-long sandy beach in the north-east of the island is considered one of the most beautiful in Brittany. It is correspondingly popular and crowded in summer, at least on the water. The bay is packed. Two channels marked with yellow buoys show dinghies the way to the beach. We look for a spot and take the dinghy across ourselves to stock up on supplies in the small village shop. The only village on the island is characterised by narrow alleyways and low houses with whitewashed walls and blue shutters. The slate roofs have been cemented to withstand the wind. In winter, the almost 200 Houatais, as the islanders call themselves, are partially cut off from the outside world. But now, in summer, the small grocery shop in the centre is so full of tourists that it is almost impossible to move around. The way back to the beach is through a heath landscape glowing in the sunset, criss-crossed by sandy paths. There are no roads or cars on the island.
Stranded at last
Early the next morning we start our second attempt. The conditions look good. This time it's in our favour that there's no wind and hardly any surf. We slowly slalom our way past the other boats to the beach. Apart from us, everyone still seems to be asleep. The beach is deserted. And this time we succeed. We can walk straight onto the beach from the boat. As the beach gradually fills up, there are a few astonished looks. It's an extraordinary sight to see such an 11.5 tonne boat "stranded".
As the tide comes in, we say goodbye to the island around midday and set course for its little sister island, Île Hoëdic, just five nautical miles away. While Île d'Houat was dominated by long sandy beaches and dunes, Île Hoëdic is characterised by small rocky bays. Houat and Hoëdic were not always islands. In the Stone Age, they were connected to the Quiberon peninsula. Today, they are separated from the mainland by a good 20 kilometres. In the Middle Ages, they became a plaything between the French and the English. Later, they also became a refuge for pirates and smugglers.
Time stands still on Île Hoëdic
Time seems to stand still on this granite island, which is only 2.5 kilometres long and 800 metres wide. Apart from the small fishing village in the centre of the island, it consists of vast heathland, criss-crossed by sandy hiking trails along rugged rocks and small hidden bays. We drop anchor in one of them. Alternatively, you could moor in Port d'Argol harbour at one of the four guest mooring buoys, where sometimes twenty boats are moored in a circle around it. Too much hustle and bustle for us. The small village with just under 100 inhabitants and the typical stone houses has retained its authentic Breton charm. There are no cars here either, no roads. The alleyways are sandy, iodine is in the air. In the centre there is a small grocery shop, a restaurant and a church with a panoramic view of the harbour, heath and sea. There is even a small school with just a dozen pupils. The Ecole d'Hoedic is the smallest public school in France and was opened in 2018 to prevent families from moving away.
In the evening, we sit together in the cockpit for the last time over a drink. The bay lies still in the silvery light of the full moon rising over the island. Only the gentle lapping of the waves against the hull breaks the silence. Tomorrow we will hand over the boat in Le Crouesty - a huge harbour at the entrance to the Gulf of Morbihan with over 1500 berths. Only 12 nautical miles separate us from the hustle and bustle there and yet there seems to be a whole world in between. We enjoy the peace and seclusion and reflect on this week, which was so different from what we expected. The wind was often weak and sailing was less frequent than we had hoped. We often had to change our plans, but in the end we are left with memories of sunny days, glowing beaches and wild islands as if from another world.
The Club:
The club The Cruising Club of Switzerland has around 5,500 members. Swiss citizenship or residence in Switzerland are not prerequisites for membership. The fleet consists of five sailing ships and one motorboat, which are used from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Finland. In addition to cruises, there are also training cruises, themed cruises, milestone cruises and transfer cruises. More information: www.cruisingclub.ch/de Contact: Phone: +41 31 310 11 00 Mail: info@cruisingclub.ch
The boat:
The Cruising Swiss VI is an OVNI 450 from Alubat in Les Sables-d'Olonne, 45 feet with lifting keel. The aluminium folding chandlery has proven itself on long voyages and in tidal areas. This model is the first to have two steering wheels in the cockpit.
Precinct information:
Wind & weather: The prevailing winds are mostly from the west to north-west. It can quickly become rough with low pressure from the Atlantic.
Navigation: Good lighting, but some shallows, barre entrances (e.g. at river mouths) and strong tidal currents require careful navigation. Harbours: There are countless anchorages along the Breton coast as well as well-equipped marinas. It can get very busy in high season and you should book in advance, especially in Le Palais harbour: VHF channel 9 or Tel: 02 97 31 42 90.
Literature:
- Atlantic France, Nick Chavasse, 63.50 euros, ISBN number: 9781786793744, www.nv.charts.com
- Bloc Marine: Atlantique, 36 euros, ISBN: 9782958016043, provides valuable information on currents, tides and meteorological conditions, www.nvcharts.com
- Sport boat charts "NV-Atlas France FR6: South Brittany from Lorient à Île de Noirmoutier". NV-Verlag, 64.99 euros www.nvcharts.com
