Brittany Charts- Admiralty or SHOM

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AJB43

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I am planning to take my boat across to Brittany this summer- SWMBO wants to go somewhere warmer ! As it's cold outside I thought I would do some planning ahead and was looking to get some charts.What is the view on using the french SHOM charts rather than the British Admiralty ones. From reading my shiny new pilot book it seems that they are the virtually the same. Are the SHOM charts cheaper and if so, how can I get them whilst still here in UK e.g. Is there a French online chandlers who could supply them?
Thanks in advance.
Andy
 
AJB43 said:
I am planning to take my boat across to Brittany this summer- SWMBO wants to go somewhere warmer ! As it's cold outside I thought I would do some planning ahead and was looking to get some charts.What is the view on using the french SHOM charts rather than the British Admiralty ones. From reading my shiny new pilot book it seems that they are the virtually the same. Are the SHOM charts cheaper and if so, how can I get them whilst still here in UK e.g. Is there a French online chandlers who could supply them?
Thanks in advance.
Andy
Click to expand...

2 yrs from last purchase of SHOM, in a French Swindelry, then same price so guess GB now 30% cheaper. This is proper BA versus French Leisure. Detailed charts (say Isles Glenan) have more detail but, on basis of that one chart, not much help over BA. Isles de Sein (rock so may not change) French chart might have been helpful but it was a bit too windy for us to visit. We are going to do a whole summer in France in 2011 and will get Bloc Note, Livre du bord (probably wrongly spelt but basically French equivalent of 1990 Reeds) and it is brilliant. About E25 so now £22 and it has both annual tide tables and accurate pilots guides for all of France, many not in current British Pilots (Etaples, St Valery sur Somme and other interesting trips 10K up the beach). I gave a (good?) talk to the CA on Etaples, "How to get there and its role in Pandemic Flu" if any yacht clubs need a speaker in next few months.

John

PS DO NOT go (esp Moribhan) in August!
 
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AJB43 said:
I am planning to take my boat across to Brittany this summer- SWMBO wants to go somewhere warmer ! As it's cold outside I thought I would do some planning ahead and was looking to get some charts.What is the view on using the french SHOM charts rather than the British Admiralty ones. From reading my shiny new pilot book it seems that they are the virtually the same. Are the SHOM charts cheaper and if so, how can I get them whilst still here in UK e.g. Is there a French online chandlers who could supply them?
Thanks in advance.
Andy
Click to expand...

My preference has always been to use the Imray charts which are based on the Admiralty ones because these have additional harbour plans not on the Admiralty version. However we carried the SHOM chart for Isles De Glenan which is much larger scale than the UKHO one.

Whichever you chose, get the Bloc Marine 'Votre Livre De Bord' almanac which is excellent. It has tide data for lots of ports even many of the secondary ones plus harbour detail and chartlets better than most pilots and with most in English as well, it even cobvers the South Coast UK harbours. There are also very good navigation quality charts included from Holland to Spain. If you can read schoolboy level French the French 'Pilotes Cotiers' books are very good and you can pick up the relevant ones at your first stop. The Bloc Marine book is available on-line I believe but also Piplers in Poole had it last year on sale.
 
Robin said:
My preference has always been to use the Imray charts which are based on the Admiralty ones because these have additional harbour plans not on the Admiralty version. However we carried the SHOM chart for Isles De Glenan which is much larger scale than the UKHO one.

Whichever you chose, get the Bloc Marine 'Votre Livre De Bord' almanac which is excellent. It has tide data for lots of ports even many of the secondary ones plus harbour detail and chartlets better than most pilots and with most in English as well, it even cobvers the South Coast UK harbours. There are also very good navigation quality charts included from Holland to Spain. If you can read schoolboy level French the French 'Pilotes Cotiers' books are very good and you can pick up the relevant ones at your first stop. The Bloc Marine book is available on-line I believe but also Piplers in Poole had it last year on sale.
Click to expand...

Thanks Robin, I think bloc notes is a notebook. Yours is the correct title and Andy will find it on sale in every marina.
 
The Admiralty have recently replaced the passage charts for North Brittany (3668, 3669, 3670, 3674) with 2025, 2026, 2027,2029 mostly at 1:50,000. These are ideal passage charts but you need the more detailed charts 3672, 3693 etc for harbour and inshore rock hopping. The Imray charts don't have this level of detail but are much cheaper as you need fewer of them.
Not sure of the price of SHOM currently but I supplemented my Admiralty charts with a few folded SHOMs 7124S & 7125S these are 1:20,000 with plans on a greater scale and these really let you explore.
 
datums

i'm sure you are aware of datum differences, and not teaching granny etc...the shom charts i bought and used this summer worked on ED50 datum. So care was needed when brittany rock hopping.
cheers
dave
 

I'd second Robin with Imray charts, I do not know Admiralty chart for the area but I have both SHOM and Imray and ended up using only Imray.
Notable exception, as said, Glenan archipelago and gulf of Morbihan you need a SHOM chart imho; if you use it, bear in mind last edition of SHOM Glenan chart was in ED50 datum


Bloc Marine is nice but I found its glossy pages are thin and paper curls easily -except if kept flat or pressed between other books- after a few weeks the book is almost bent in two; there is also the "Almanach du Marin Breton", more compact, better stiffer paper, though it is not in ENglish (at least it wasn't, don't know now) and information is very similar to Bloc Marine; the Almanach has aerial pictures too, marina plans are slightly better in the Bloc imho.

re price, all shom charts are sold at 21 euro (20.90 IIRC), some sellers offer them with reduced VAT but as it is 4% it does not make a lot of difference

also, if you plan to spend some time inside the gulf of Morbihan (which I personally adore, even with 2m draft) , I'd suggest the SHOM tidal stream atlas "CÔTE SUD DE BRETAGNE, D'AUDIERNE AU CROISIC", last edition has 13 detailed plans for the Morbihan gulf which give *a lot* more information vs the rough sketches found in other publications; it's a bit tricky at times but apart from Mouton and Faucheur (one white rock and one green pole at the entrance, both well marked), tidal streams won't generally bring you against rocks, so it is perfectly feasible with just a bit of care


anyway, welcome to the area, sure you won't be disappointed (except maybe for, erm, warmer weather :smile:)
 
Many thanks for all the replies. I had forgotten about the Bloc Marin book- I saw one a few seasons back and was very impressed. Imray also sounds good for the harbour details.
We are planning to get as far as Quiberon and the Morbihan by end July as my son is hoping to be dinghy sailing in Carnac around that time.
I too draw almost 2m so the detailed SHOM charts for the GdM will be required.
Thanks again
Andy
 
Bloc Marine

I liked the look of the Bloc Marine Almanac, especially as the little coverage diagram on the front cover showed, in a heavy red line, the Atlantic coasts of France, Spain and Portugal.

Having bought a copy in haste, I later discovered that the coverage finished at Northern Spain, then jumped to Martinique.

Caveat Emptor

:(
 
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