An overview of surfing in Brittany

• 1. Introduction
• 2. General surfing conditions
• 3. Surfing areas
• 3.1. The north coast
• 3.1.1. The west coast
• 3.1.2. The south coast

Brittany is the region situated on the western most end of France, facing the atlantic ocean on its western and southern shores, and the "channel" on its northern shore. The geographical situation of Brittany makes it exposed to atlantic swells, which breaks into great waves on many places of the jagged coastlines. However, despite this favored situation, surfing in Brittany is recent phenomenous. Surfing started in the early 70's but remained a very marginal (in all senses) activity for about 20 years.

At the beginning, surfing was not easy for the pionners: in addition to the lack of hardware (boards, good wetsuits), they had to fight the conservative mentality of the people about the ocean. Brittany, the first maritime region of France, has a very long sailing and fishing tradition; the dangerous rocky coasts, the violence of the winter gales and the memory of the numerous shipwrecks made the sailors to consider the ocean hostile along the time. Surfing, which makes the ocean (and especially the waves) a place to have fun, was clearly shocking to sailors. Also, sailing is so popular in brittany that it attracts almost all the public interest, leaving almost no room for alternative ocean sport, especially a new and marginal one. Finally, the great reputation of Biarritz and the south west of France for surfing make most people believe that surfing can't exist elsewhere in France. All these factors contributed to prevent surfing from being seriously considered in Brittany.

In the 1980's, interest in individual outdoors sports (mountain biking, canyoning, parapenting etc.) was increasing, and surfing appears as one of the symbol of these kind of sport, being pure (a man, alone with his board to face the ocean), challenging (mastering the power of the waves) and natural. Progressively, more people realized the potential of brittany's waves and got interested into surfing, most often coming from another water sport (windsurfing, kayaking...). At the same time, the first surf clubs started to appear. But until the early 1990's, surfing was still very confidential in Brittany, and only practiced by very "ocean oriented" people. The fast development of surfing of the 1990's may be attributed to several interdependant factors:

• the popularity of the bodyboard, which is easier to begin with than surfing, allowed many people to discover the waves.
• the improvement of the wetsuit technology (both in term of greater efficiency and lower prices) which allowed people to enjoy the waves the whole year despite the cold water of Brittany.
• the developpement of the surf business and surfing organizations (surfshops, surfwear, shapers, surfing school, surf clubs) have made the surf appear as a more "conventional" and "controlled" activity to the general public than the anti-social alternative culture image which is traditionnaly associated with it.

Today, surfing in Brittany continue to be more popular each year, witness the surfing spots more and more crowded during the week ends. Surfers now come not only from the coastlines but also from main inland cities like Rennes or Nantes, or even from farther places like Paris when a good swell is predicted. Fortunately for the locals, the coastlines are extremely jagged and many good waves are hard to find as they only works in some given set of conditions.

2. General surfing conditions

Brittany is exposed to the swells generated by atlantic low pressure systems, which which mean that waves are more consistent from september to march. Long flat period are common during spring and summer (may to august), especially on the northern shore. The climate is temperate, and the ocean water is cold except during summer . In practice, the best period is probably september to november, as the swell is consistent and water temperature acceptable (17 to 13 celcius degrees). Later (december through february), water can be as cold as 7 celcius degrees, and surfing in these conditions require a good equipment and a lot of motivation! See my cold water surfing tips for more info on this topic).

Another problem of Brittany is that it often get the swell with the wind, resulting in mushy conditions. However, brittany coastline is very jagged, and when the swell is big enough, many spots sheltered from the wind start to work. Of course, big swell with good weather conditions are also possible, especially in winter when a continental high pressure system extends itself to France: deep atlantic lows generate consistent swells which break into big and clean offshore waves.

3. Surfing areas

It is possible to surf on the three shores of Brittany: the north coast, the west coast and the south coast. Each one has its specificities.

3.1. The north coast

A secret spot on the north coast. Picture Copyright 1999 Alexandre Megret

The northern coastline is extremly jagged and very rocky. The swell is less consistent than the on west and south shore, especially on the eastern part. However, the north coast becomes the destination of choice as soon as a strong SW gale comes in: while the other shores are blown out, a nice filtered swell propagates into the channel to produce clean offshore waves on many spots of the northern shore. What remains the most important problem of this area is the very high tidal amplitude, which means that most spots only work for a short period of time.

3.1.1. The west coast

A famous beach break in Finistère. Picture Copyright 1999 Gaelle et Yves Courtel

The west coast (better known as "Finistere"), is often considered as the most interesting zone for the surfer in Brittany. It picks up most swell directions, and has many spots of all kind (including big waves spots). Most famous spots (like La Torche, La Palud etc.) are located in this area.

3.1.2. The south coast

Quiberon's wild coastline. Picture Copyright 1999 Paul Couderc

Swell window is not as favorable on the south shore as it is in Finistere, and most spots in this area are very inconsistent on small NW swells. However, a few very good waves exists in this area (like Port Rhu and Kaolin) and very good sessions are frequent. Note that the proximity of main cities like Lorient, Vannes, Nantes and Rennes means that southern spots are often crowded during the week ends.