South brittany's spots
Paul Couderc, October 1999
Lorient area
- Guidel plage
- Average beach break, better on the low tide with a SW swell and easterly wind. The sand bar off shore of the laita rivermouth may also produces good waves.
- Le Loch
- Beach break, usually the most consistent in the area. Picks up W to SW swell, holding up to 8'. Better on the low tide with easterly winds. Lands of the West Surf Association. Some good locals.
- Le Fort Bloqué
- Mellow beach break, good for beginning.
- Le Maeva
- Average reef break, left and right up to 6'. Better on the high tide with and easterly wind.
- Kaolin
- Powerful reef break, which needs a big SW to W swell to start pumping. The wave is a short, very fast, hollow righthander tubing over a shallow reef. A word of warning: the wave is really dangerous, and several surfers were seriously injured in bad wipe out here. Works only on high tide, offshore with NE wind.
- Le couregan
- Le couregan. A large peak breaking 500m off shore of the Couregan point. It works on the low tide, with a big SW or W swell. Offshore with easterly winds.
Erdeven/Quiberon area
Description are a bit longer, as we arrive in my favorite area ;-)
- Sainte Barbe / Les crevettes
- A long beach break producing long and easy mellow waves, quite regular. Picks up best W to SW swell, offshore with any easterly wind (NE better on the north part while SE is better on the south part). Getting outside is difficult as soon as the swell is bigger than 4'. Many longboarders, gets overcrowded. Warning: Sainte Barbe beach may be closed by the army the wednesday, thirday and friday for air strike training. If you entered the water early in the morning (before the road was closed) and see a car on the beach flashing its light and people shouting at you, get out before quickly ;-) ! You just have to move a few hundred meters to the south to be ok (well, other dangers are waiting for you here but I let you discover them by yourself ;-)
- Penthièvre / Le fort
- Sheltered beach break, working when the swell is too big in "Les crevettes".
- Quiberon's wildcoastline
A set of excellent beach breaks surrounded by the beautiful cliffs of the wild coastline, working at low to mid tide and offshore with easterly winds. These spots picks up most swell directions, but quickly get out of control on any consistent swell (6-7ft). The northern part of the beach (Port Blanc) is prefered when the swell is big because the offers a channel with a powerful rip along the Percho point to get outside. Other peaks (Port Pigeon, Port Rhu and Port Bara) are usually bigger and more powerful (especially Port Rhu). All these spots are very popular and overcrowded during the summer and week ends, watch out to some hot locals.
- La grande plage de Quiberon
- Located on the extreme south coast of Quiberon penisular, "La grande plage" is a sheltered beach break needing very big swell to start working. The spot is very well protected from W and NW on shore wind, which make it quite clean while other spots in the area are a complete mess. The spot is more rideable at low to mid-tide, as at the high tide the spot become a heavy shorebreak which close out 3 times out 4 (but bodyboaders seems to like that a lot ;-). Getting outside is very easy on the north west of the beach which is protected by the harbor pier. The spot is surfable up to 6'.
This is the last surfing area of Brittany: from Carnac to La Baule, the coast does not pick up any swell, which is completely screened by Quiberon penisular, Belle-Ile, and other islands.