French Almanac "Votre Livre de Bord"

A

anniebray

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 Nov 2006
Messages
388
Location
Marchwood, UK
Visit site
French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Already dreaming of this years cruise as you do & I'm getting all my pilot guides together for The Channel Isles & North Brittany. "Votre Livre de Bord" is highly recommended by "Ladyinbed" & other forum members & I thought some might like to know how easy it is to mail order from France. I've ordered mine today from www.blocmarine.com at a cost of E21 + E5.34 p&p which totals £24 english .
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Very impressed by friend's bloc - he lives aboard in Dunkirk, but potters between Boulogne and Ostende. Good chart (lets), VHF/ phone numbers , info on facilities, lock opening times. Maybe has tides as well? Also make good reading when off watch
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Excellent almanac and as good as many pilots. The charts are very good for planning and harbour details etc are in English as well as French. Also contains a logbook and full tide data and streams. Far better quality and certainly better value than Reeds if you are South Coast based as it covers the whole Channel and extends from Holland to Gibralter. We buy ours on the first trip over to France each year but last year Piplers chanlery in Poole had some copies on sale at not too much of a mark up.
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Bloc marine alamanac is excellent in both French and English.

It is the only french tidal prediction I have been able to work with.

They also have aerial photos of ports which help.

A must and much more usefull than Reeds Who i belive are owned by Bloc ??
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Planning first trip to France - Could someone with experience advise please

http://nautisme.meteoconsult.fr/bloc-marine/votre-livre-de-bord.php

is there any useful difference between the Bloc Marine publication & Bloc Cotier - the Cotier edition is cheaper and seems to be aimed at those not venturing offshore. Given that the "venturing offshore" will have been accomplished by the time we arrive in France, is the coastal edition all we will need as a Pilot ?

Thanks
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

I keep my boat in France and the Bloc Cotier has been fine for coasting. However, the Bloc Marine has the information in English but the Bloc Cotier doesn't ( at least it didn't last year).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

sailswim said:
Planning first trip to France - Could someone with experience advise please
[...]
is the coastal edition all we will need as a Pilot ?
Click to expand...

Where in France are you going? I've heard that the French pilots are better for dodging among the rocks in Brittany and visiting little places off the beaten track, but are you going to be doing that on a first visit? For the usual ports visited by British yachts, the normal UK books like Reeds and the Channel Pilot should be fine.

Pete
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

As Pete says, saying where you are heading from / to helps people give specific advice.

A copy of Dover tides and a copy of Channel tide stream charts ( http://montymariner.co.uk/tide-stream-charts/733-2/ ) are handy to have, then an Almanac that's a few years old will suffice to get you there. You can browse, then buy a copy of Bloc (full edition is best) when you get there. :)
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Thanks parsival & prv & Lady

The English translation swings it absolutely for the full edition, I had noticed that before & then mislaid the information in a dark cobwebbed corner of my mind...

The intended route is Cork - Scilly - Houat - Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie - La Rochelle and possibly Glenan on the way home. Avoiding Chenal de Four & the Raz.
So in some ways a little bit off the beaten track maybe and I hope the Bloc will be useful for Houat and Glenan especially.
Itinerary may be altered of course by weather or if anywhere else attractive comes up on the radar
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

its always useful to have access to a lady in bed ! !
thanks I will check that out.
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

Bloc Marine Cotier 2016 is now in French and English again at last ( last few years French only).

Its a good almanac.

Good for tide height predictions but remember that Heure Legal which is what the tide tables are published in is Summer time in the summer and winter time in the winter ie don't work back to CET/ GMT/ Zulu, set your watch to French time and use that.

Its much easier to use than Reeds.

Probably cheaper to buy it from Amazon.fr rather than UK.

Advertisers get a bunch of free copies to sell, find an advertiser in the UK they probably have copies for sale.
 
Re: French Almanac \"Votre Livre de Bord\"

"Itinerary may be altered of course by weather or if anywhere else attractive comes up on the radar "

You have probably seen this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Anchorages-Brittany-Imray-Cumberlidge/dp/0852887574

In truth most of the stuff is not such a big secret but it is a pleasant book to look at and it has a few ideas which are nice to think about. A used one for £15 might be worth having.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top