Surfing Waves

my family are planning a trip to britany in france, i know there is surf down there, but could anyone tell me where exactly to go? names of towns and beaches? thanks.

The British surfer is lucky in the fact that France is just a short hop across the channel, and as we all know, France has some great waves.

There are loads of places to surf in Brittany, too many to list. Pretty much the whole coastline gets waves so it will not matter too much where you are staying - as long as you are near the coast. (My only surf trip to Brittany was absolutely miserable. It rained all week and the surf was horrific. After that I never returned, just headed further south.)
The East Coast is more consistent than the North Coast, so if you have a say in where you are going try and head there.

Does anyone else have any information on quality Brittany surf spots that they have surfed?

i think we are booking to go to Quimpiere (sp?) which is known for its surfing apparently. i went to the vendee last summer, and we had really bad weather the first coupla days, and then the surf was flippin big! unfortunately i didnt have a surfboard then, so i just body boarded, but it was well fun. we're going to Britanny this year though, cos my parents prefer the area (for a family holiday, not a surf trip). one question though, does France get surf in the sumer? its not the bestseason to go, but is it worth actually taking my board in august?

You should definately take your surfboard with you, although August is not the best season you may well get lucky. There are quite a few surf spots around the area where you are staying, La Torche is probably one of the closest and most well known.
(btw - my parents are big fans of Brittany too!)

Get yourself a copy of stormrider europe and you won't go far wrong. Carnac and the Quiberon peninsular are not the best surf spots but well worth a visit.

The Stormrider Guides are superb and I cannot recommend them enough. They are packed full of info on loads of surf breaks and are well worth while for any travelling surfer (or even just to put on your coffee table)
Click here for your surf travel guide

hi,
you can try surf-report.com
you will find everything you need for your trip (including web cam)

Hi Freaky

My parents have a house in the Vendee and I have spent in total around 3 years there. (In fact my first ever surf experience was here).

The answer is that you can get swell in the summer, but essentially in the Brittany/ northern areas it is pretty much on a par with West facing british beaches. You can expect similar conditions to Llangennith on the Gower.

Beachwizard.com and Wannasurf.com have some good beach reviews and are worth checking out wherever you are off too.

Basically as a rule of thumb, if you are going to a beach and can, then take your board with you. I think every surfer can relate to the unbelievable disappointment of getting to the beach all tooled up only to find flat conditions...

...but...

... There's nothing worse than turning up at a beach with beautiful clean sets pumping in without a board!!

Cheers

Sinista

july-august is definitely flat in brittany, more than in the SW france...
but "la torche" is the most consistent spot in brittany so you could have some good (but small) sessions there. the wave is pretty mushy and ultra crowded but the beach is so long that you'll find somewhere to get all the waves you want.

to go to the beach from quimper, follow the signs for "pont-l'abbe" then "la torche", you just can't miss it : follow the summer crowd...

Brittany is full of spots of different kind and if you're curious enough to get a car a visit the coast both south and north of "la torche" you could find some hollow beach-breaks and killer reefs...(just be sure there is enough swell for a good-sized "la torche" before cruising...) but don't hope getting much information from local surfers...just search...that's not too difficult...you don't have to pay 40 euros a book for this.

be friendly and smile to the locals (as everywhere, they're not very happy to see a lot of people on their spot during a good session after being frustrated by a long-time period of flat summer), there would not be any probe.

surfshop and shaper (all equipment) available at "la torche".

eat some "crepes", drink some "cidre" and wine, pick up some french girls in bars and discos- full in summer ("l'ouest" near la torche for example).

have a good time, enjoy your trip !

suf-report.com give daily pic of "la torche"
bzhecume.com has a very good tool called "wizard" for surf-forecast at "la torche"

replying to paulski: carnac and quiberon are full of young rich jerks from paris definitely no interst in summer !!!! but it's cool to visit and quiberon peninsula have the hollowest beach break of all brittany and is quite consistent !!! a lot better than la torche during the summer !!

in brieve, don't forget your board this summer

britt surfer wrote:replying to paulski: carnac and quiberon are full of young rich jerks from paris definitely no interst in summer !!!! but it's cool to visit and quiberon peninsula have the hollowest beach break of all brittany and is quite consistent !!! a lot better than la torche during the summer !!

beware of what you say concerning Quiberon mate...people are usually friendly, even those from paris !!! I love to go there in the winter, and i'm not a jerk !!!
No ill feelings, so have a look to this picture :

seem to be a surfer from quiberon ...
I'm not talking about all people in quiberon....I'm talking about all that bunch of tourists from paris you can find in carnac and la trinite discos...

I'm sure you see what I am talking about...

Britt surfer wrote:I'm sure you see what I am talking about...

maybe.....i'm just fed up to hear the only surfable spot in brittany is La Torche...cause....plenty of jerks go there !

I'm from Quimper and every summer i spend my time in crozon penninsula (45 min from quimper by car). Usely there is almost one week and half of quite strong conditions there by the end of august. Last year there were not because of the weather in all France, but usely there are few storm during this period. For exemple two years ago there were Three meters waves in La Palue ( in Crozon Peninsula) for few days. La palue is a great spot and with a good reputation but it's over crowded during summer but near Crozon you've got a lot of spots that Work well. If you come there with a good swell and wind from NE, E or SE you can have magic sessions. And the lanscape is also fantastic.

I read so much about surfing in south of France that I totally forgot to visit the rest of France, this may I went to Crozon a small town where I was invited too by a french friend, god it was a good idea !!! Surf is every where, everymorning you just have to go and cchoose the spot you want: La Palue, Lotsmarch, Dinan... I had such a good time and so far away from the crowded "Cote Basque". Nature, a lot of windsurfing too, just be curious!!!

yer it rocks man

damn cool!

I'm heading down the whole france coast so i can't wait to try these other waves (the non southern ones)... Should be fun :)

Hey
I'm going on holiday to Brittany and we'll be camping near a beach for a week at the end of August - whats the surf like then? i really wanna surf! But i have no board - where can i hire-out one?

Is there anywhere i can learn to surf on the Brittany coasts - where they'll speak english!

Hey, old thread but maybe someone can help me!
Looking for informations about Audierne in Brittany.
Seems there a lot of surf spots and nice reef around!
Thanks