Cruising Highlights in France: Part 1
Author: Neville Featherstone
Author Neville Featherstone highlights some of the best places to visit when cruising France.
DUNKERQUE
If you are embarking on a cruise towards Belgian, Dutch and German waters by the inshore route, a special place to look out for is East Dunkerque.
East Dunkerque has much to offer. Seven cables north of the harbour entrance at 51°04’.33N 02°21’.27E is what Chart 1350 calls the Mermaid Statue. Mounted on a yellow buoy which swirls and twirls on the tide, she is elegantly cloaked in the red, white and blue of France – a little touch of Gallic artistry to be photographed before entering harbour.
So, where to berth? No contest really – go to the North Sea Yacht Club/Yacht Club Mer du Nord (YCMN). Other options: Port du Grand Large, first to port therefore furthest from town, also rather exposed in westerlies. Bassin de la Marine and Bassin de Commerce, nearest to town but only accessible via the intricately scheduled Trystram lock and four bridges.
So YCMN it is: Berth at the visitor’s pontoon where you will be directed to a sheltered berth on the inner pontoons. Check-in and enjoy the friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Eat in the excellent club restaurant where in 2006 I was joined by Rear Admiral Roy Clare (prolific writer of letters to The Times and former Director of the National Maritime Museum) and Sarah – a great evening.
ST VALÉRY-SUR-SOMME (StVsS)
This little harbour is rather special, mainly because you have to navigate a sinuous but very well buoyed channel across the extensive drying mud of the Somme estuary. Planning is unusual in that Admiralty chart 2451 is of little use, since it is very small scale (1:150,000) and extends only 5M east of the ATSO landfall buoy (50°14’.00N 01°28’.08E). SHOM chart 7416 continues east but without showing the channel buoyage. Why not? Because the channel shifts so often.
The most recent plan is downloadable, usually in April, from www.portstvalery.com. It is better than nothing, but if you get there in say July, expect the channel to have changed. However the buoyage is so good that with scrupulous buoy-hopping, ie positive identification of buoys and absolutely no corner cutting, you really do not need a chart/plan – heresy to say so!
With a fair wind and visibility >3M, leave ATSO at local HW –2 to carry the flood to StVsS arriving near HW. The first channel buoys (S1 and S2) are usually about 6 cables SE of ATSO, with Cayeux lighthouse (white tower, red top) somewhere in the background to assist orientation. The lighthouse at Pointe du Hourdel, the BIF(urcation) WCM buoy and the well-beaconed training wall are key features. Call the HM Ch 09 and he will direct you to a berth. Félicitations!
Ashore the town is interesting and a good walk is west along the tree-lined promenade, thence to the upper town and through the fields to the Seaman’s Chapel with fine views across the estuary. On another day, and especially if you have kids onboard, take Thomas the Tank Engine round the bay to Le Crotoy; approx an hour each way and the suspension is on the hard side. Le Crotoy is a pleasant little town with good beaches, but the harbour dries seriously and is of little use to other than very shoal draft craft less than about 8m LOA.
ROSCOFF
Best known as a ferry port, the terminal being at Bloscon, Roscoff lies to the west, full of ancient buildings, good restaurants and always with impressive views of drying rocks.
But the ACTION is at Bloscon as the photo below makes clear. The Brittany ferry is in her usual berth and SW of her is the new fish quay and market area, extending south to where the two small vessels are approaching.
South of that the new 620 berth marina is clearly visible, well protected by the land from the prevailing westerlies and from easterlies by the substantial curved breakwater. Work began in autumn 2009 and this imaginative project is expected to open in 2012 at a cost of €22 million. Visit www.morlaix.cci.fr for further information.
Specific benefits will include a port of refuge for yachts on passage between say Trébeurden (18M east) and L’Aberwrac’h (32M west), a 50M leg which can be testing for smaller yachts in adverse weather. Crew-changing at the ferry terminal could hardly be simpler.
ÎLE DE BATZ
Apart from its own intrinsic merits, Batz (pronounced ‘Bah’) can pose a problem to yachts coasting east or west: Whether to pass inside via the Canal de l’Île de Batz or to pass north of the island?
I am an ‘inside route’ devotee. It is short and sweet with a fair tide, and adds a modest navigational challenge but is best not attempted LW ±3, nor is a night passage advisable. Even by day the pilotage is sufficiently testing as to deter less experienced crews a decision which should be respected.
So if you want a quiet life then the outside route is probably for you. But there is a little known snag which is worth publicising: The ‘Admiralty tidal stream atlas for the English Channel’ (NP 250) is very small scale and tidal arrows are few and far between. Those nearest to Île de Batz are about 5M north of that island. Hence the tidal streams in that 5M wide band are unknown, but might reasonably be rectilinear, East-West, with a gentlemanly slack water at the turn of the tide.
With this slender information I left L’Aberwrac’h on a fair tide aiming for a point 2½ M north of the northernmost point of Batz. Whilst still 10M west of Batz I glimpsed what I took to be the white hulls of the local sports fishermen. Fine, I pressed on with the east-going tide steadily weakening. From 5M west it was obvious that the white hulls were in fact white water, breaking overfalls to be precise.
Ah well, I was reminded of Voltaire’s famous quote: “In this country (France) we find it pays to shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others”. Whilst certainly no Admiral and always happy to encourage others, I had no wish to be shot, so I pressed on. Suddenly I was in amongst it (rather like Hilaire Belloc in the Portland Race). Batz stopped moving, the overfalls were becoming more vertical and the boat was emulating a Wild West bucking bronco. With a sharp bang the shackle securing the mainsheet to the sheet horse disintegrated, so I hung on to the mainsheet with one hand and steered with the other. Eventually, ie much later, things quietened down and I emerged greatly chastened on the far side of this turmoil.
Weeks later in conversation with a laughing fellow rover he admitted to a similar experience. He was better informed than I, thanks to the French Tidal Stream atlas “Bréhat to Pontusval” (563-UJA), which has a very detailed section showing the streams in an area 1.5 x 2.5M around Batz. At about HW Roscoff -1 the expiring east-going stream meets a forceful west-going back eddy which persists until HW Roscoff +1 and then becomes rectilinear west-going. This period coincides with my experience.
We sent a carefully reasoned document to the Tidal Branch and Channel Pilot experts at UKHO in the hope that they might give official recognition to our findings. They were just not interested. Moral of the story: keep at least 5M north of the northernmost part of Batz. Get the SHOM tidal stream atlas.
West France Cruising Companion is out now
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