Marina berths in Brittany

ashtead

ashtead

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I was just considering the merits of keeping the boat next year in Brittany for a while as retirement beckons . I am told there might be long waiting lists but welcome suggestions ?
 
As mentioned above there's a website for waiting lists for berths in Southern Brittany, it also tells you where you may be on it:

Accueil

If you don't want to go that far the wait varies with the marina, we booked a contract for this year in Roscoff (2900 euros for a 12M boat in a very smart marina) last December, there was no wait at all but we'll be off back to the Morbihan when we rise to the top of one of the lists we're on

The only issue for me with the Morbihan is it's probably not a good place to go if you don't like crowds but as long a you stay away in July / August (look at AIS at the moment) it's a stunning place to base your boat, my previous Port Haliguen contract was 10 months in the water and July / August out of it - suited us well.

If I had to go back to the UK it would probably be time to give up !

I think the channel side of Brittany East of Roscoff is more difficult ?
 
Have a look at Lorient, I spent 6 months (winter) living aboard.
(The liveaboard aspect was never mentioned by me or the friendly staff.)
Rates were much cheaper than any marina in the UK, and included free unmetered electricity, which was great for heating and power tools in winter.

There are basically three marinas, one on the ouskirts of Lorient, by the Eric Tabarly museum, which has quiet pleasant surroundings and some historic racing yachts, and a huge supermarket a mile away. Plenty of cheap clean buses all over the place.

Coming up river there is a much smaller marina which is a short ferry trip to Lorient city proper. I only visited there by foot, but it's a quiet, pleasant village.

The main boatyard/marina is pontoons along a side branch of the main river, about 3/4M of pontoons IIRC, including a professionally run boatyard with hoist, hardstanding and the usual facilities. I hauled out for antifouling etc and was pleasantly surprised by the low prices.
The heads and showers are spotless, and there's a marina/club bar.

You are 3-4 mins walk from the town centre, although you wouldn't know it, and it's all very laid back unless there is a circus or canival in the local park.

Because Lorient is, or has been, a mega racing yacht centre there are specialist carbon fibre and laminating people, and I got a pair of custom stainless cooker gimballs fabricated for £25. ('Celtinox'.)

I had to come back to England and felt safe leaving the yacht, it's an easy high speed train ride. Coming back to Lorient I drove, Brittany Ferries to St Malo which allows you to sleep on the ship and wake up fresh as you arrive.

There are one or two British yachts but not a lot.

The weather on the S side of Brittany is very different, I was painting and sanding outside in the middle of winter. It really is calm and mild most days.
(There was one horrendous storm which did a bit of damage further down the river, but not up in town. 24 hrs out of six months though.)

Anyway I think it's worth a look.
 
R.Ems said:
Have a look at Lorient, I spent 6 months (winter) living aboard.
(The liveaboard aspect was never mentioned by me or the friendly staff.)
Rates were much cheaper than any marina in the UK, and included free unmetered electricity, which was great for heating and power tools in winter.

There are basically three marinas, one on the ouskirts of Lorient, by the Eric Tabarly museum, which has quiet pleasant surroundings and some historic racing yachts, and a huge supermarket a mile away. Plenty of cheap clean buses all over the place.

Coming up river there is a much smaller marina which is a short ferry trip to Lorient city proper. I only visited there by foot, but it's a quiet, pleasant village.

The main boatyard/marina is pontoons along a side branch of the main river, about 3/4M of pontoons IIRC, including a professionally run boatyard with hoist, hardstanding and the usual facilities. I hauled out for antifouling etc and was pleasantly surprised by the low prices.
The heads and showers are spotless, and there's a marina/club bar.

You are 3-4 mins walk from the town centre, although you wouldn't know it, and it's all very laid back unless there is a circus or canival in the local park.

Because Lorient is, or has been, a mega racing yacht centre there are specialist carbon fibre and laminating people, and I got a pair of custom stainless cooker gimballs fabricated for £25. ('Celtinox'.)

I had to come back to England and felt safe leaving the yacht, it's an easy high speed train ride. Coming back to Lorient I drove, Brittany Ferries to St Malo which allows you to sleep on the ship and wake up fresh as you arrive.

There are one or two British yachts but not a lot.

The weather on the S side of Brittany is very different, I was painting and sanding outside in the middle of winter. It really is calm and mild most days.
(There was one horrendous storm which did a bit of damage further down the river, but not up in town. 24 hrs out of six months though.)

Anyway I think it's worth a look.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a sailers heaven
 
I was sad to see the Pro Sailing tour - 50' trimarans, unbelievably quick even in the light winds, they passed through Cowes last week and were largely ignored, even though an English guy ( Sam Goodchild) was in the hunt to win (eventually finished 2nd) there must have been all of a half dozen of us watching the start
 
ashtead said:
I was just considering the merits of keeping the boat next year in Brittany for a while as retirement beckons . I am told there might be long waiting lists but welcome suggestions ?
Click to expand...
I moved to live in Brittany in 2006 and immediately started looking for a place in a marina or a mooring.
I was told that it was like in the UK when as soon as a child is born they put the child's name down for a good school.
I went round various boatyards where they had boats for sale and thought that as I did not speak French if I was buying a boat the boatyard could ring up marinas for me. I was told about one town where they had moorings and were putting 50 new moorings down, so I went there , fortunately the Mayor spoke English and when I enquired about a mooring he said he had none, I mentioned that I had heard that they were putting 50 new moorings down and he said they were for the 50 people on the waiting list,
Went to La Roche Bernard and looked at a yacht for sale and thought that if I bought it the pontoon space could be allocated to me, No chance, it had to go to the next person on the waiting list.
I then realised that if I moved from wanting a yacht and bought a power boat with an inboard diesel which only drew less than 2 feet I could probably get a mooring which either dried out or was too shallow to take a fixed keel yacht.
Fortunately I had bought a house with a car park and kept the 24ft boat on a trailer whilst I searched for a mooring/pontoon space.
Put my name down for a mooring on the Villane at ARZAL and 5 years later they contacted me saying that I could have one.
Good Luck
 
I'm currently 1st out of 140 on the waiting list for Arzal marina berth (there are other options - river mooring and dry sailing) I'm 7th out of 21 at Port Haliguen and 70th out of 147 at Roche Bernard both also for a marina berth. Roche Bernard marina berths are dead mens shoes.
In the last 4 years I was 2 years at Port Haliguen and 1.5 at Arzal when during Covid I left after 6 months and brought my boat back to Cowes for refitting - you can cancel contracts with 2 months notice. As you may notice, I'm at Roscoff now where there was no waiting list, at least last Autumn. We figured if we're in Roscoff we can cruise a bit along towards St Malo as well as being only a day from Southern Brittany but having tried it you can keep la manche, I'd rather be down South
 
I moved my boat to La Roche Bernard in 2020. No waiting list, got a mooring right away. Mid-river trot moorings are available
 
R.Ems said:
Have a look at Lorient, I spent 6 months (winter) living aboard.
(The liveaboard aspect was never mentioned by me or the friendly staff.)
Rates were much cheaper than any marina in the UK, and included free unmetered electricity, which was great for heating and power tools in winter.

There are basically three marinas, one on the ouskirts of Lorient, by the Eric Tabarly museum, which has quiet pleasant surroundings and some historic racing yachts, and a huge supermarket a mile away. Plenty of cheap clean buses all over the place.

Coming up river there is a much smaller marina which is a short ferry trip to Lorient city proper. I only visited there by foot, but it's a quiet, pleasant village.

The main boatyard/marina is pontoons along a side branch of the main river, about 3/4M of pontoons IIRC, including a professionally run boatyard with hoist, hardstanding and the usual facilities. I hauled out for antifouling etc and was pleasantly surprised by the low prices.
The heads and showers are spotless, and there's a marina/club bar.

You are 3-4 mins walk from the town centre, although you wouldn't know it, and it's all very laid back unless there is a circus or canival in the local park.

Because Lorient is, or has been, a mega racing yacht centre there are specialist carbon fibre and laminating people, and I got a pair of custom stainless cooker gimballs fabricated for £25. ('Celtinox'.)

I had to come back to England and felt safe leaving the yacht, it's an easy high speed train ride. Coming back to Lorient I drove, Brittany Ferries to St Malo which allows you to sleep on the ship and wake up fresh as you arrive.

There are one or two British yachts but not a lot.

The weather on the S side of Brittany is very different, I was painting and sanding outside in the middle of winter. It really is calm and mild most days.
(There was one horrendous storm which did a bit of damage further down the river, but not up in town. 24 hrs out of six months though.)

Anyway I think it's worth a look.
Click to expand...
Spot on, I keep my boat in Locmiquelic (east side of Lorient harbour) and could not express it better.
For those who are in the area, may I suggest "Accastimer” shop, very very atypical chandler where you can find brand new spares from the '80s (they often buy whole old warehouses from manufacturers), used bits, leave your used stuff for them to sell o your behalf, rope end of reels ²0-30-40m long at half price, or simply buy new products. Halfway between Lorient and Locmiquelic/Port Louis, at Kervignac roundabout, my Aladdin's cave; they have a Facebook account where they occasionnally post pictures of their stuff; highly recommended.
 
Roberto said:
Spot on, I keep my boat in Locmiquelic (east side of Lorient harbour) and could not express it better.
For those who are in the area, may I suggest "Accastimer” shop, very very atypical chandler where you can find brand new spares from the '80s (they often buy whole old warehouses from manufacturers), used bits, leave your used stuff for them to sell o your behalf, rope end of reels ²0-30-40m long at half price, or simply buy new products. Halfway between Lorient and Locmiquelic/Port Louis, at Kervignac roundabout, my Aladdin's cave; they have a Facebook account where they occasionnally post pictures of their stuff; highly recommended.
Click to expand...
That's got to be worth a visit!
 
Poignard said:
That's got to be worth a visit!
Click to expand...
I live in Paris and drive to the boat by car, Accastimer is a few km before my marina and (if not Sundays) I always stop there before going to the boat, just to have a look at their new arrivals.
Example I bought a new anchor chain (slightly lower than market price, same for same), they took in my old chain in sale account and will credit about 100euro after having sold it. Aluminium or teflon bolts and nuts, old injection pumps, weird winch handles beside Lewmar and Harken ones... Really really worth a look, unfortunately one needs a car, if not to take away all the stuff one will buy :)
 
L'Orient - another thumbs up. Most of what you would need in terms of facilities.
Brest - large and all major facilities a town will offer. Perhaps it could be said it lacks charm.
Camaret - charming, nice sea front restaurants. Plenty of berths.
L' Aber W'rach - probably my favourite of the four, but a bit of a walk up to the village and limited services. Perhaps not ideal for a winter.
 
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