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Finistère (Department, France): Yacht clubs

Association des Usagers de la Baie de Brignogan-Plages
Cercle Nautique de Loctudy
Club de Voile de l'Ecole Navale - Ailée
Club Nautique de Carantec
Société des Régates de Douarnenez
- Former (or erroneous?) burgee
Société des Régates de Morlaix
Yacht Club de Morlaix
Yacht Club de l'Odet
Yacht Club des Abers

See also:

Association des Usagers de la Baie de Brignogan-Plages

by Ivan Sache

Brignogan Bay, also called Port of Pontusval on the nautical map, is located on the northern coast of Brittany.

Brignogan-Plages is a municipality of 849 inhabitants. In the past, the inhabitants of the area were known as wreckers and looters. Brignogan is now a sea resort with several sandy beaches. In 1936, the municipality added -Plages (-Beaches) to its name in order to attract tourists. The first annual paid holidays (congés payés) were prescribed in France in 1936 by the government of Front Populaire. The law of 20 June 1936 was voted unanimuously by the Parliament. Léo Lagrange, the first State Secretary for Leisure, proclaimed 1936 as l'An I du Bonheur ("the Year I of Happiness"). The initial two-week vacation period prescribed in 1936 was extended to three, four and five weeks in 1956, 1969, and 1982, respectively.

Association des Usagers de la Baie de Brignogan-Plages (AUBBRI - Users' Association of the Bay of Brignogan-Beaches) was registered in August 1987. Members of the association are fishers, yachtmen and beach users of the Bay of Brignogan.
The burgee of AUBBRI is horizontally divided yellow-blue. The letters AUBBRI are placed in the middle of the flag with counterchanged colours. A thin vertical line with counterchanged colours is placed near the hoist. A sailing boat is placed in lower hoist, and a device looking like a beacon is placed in upper hoist.

Source: AUBBRI website

Ivan Sache, 19 August 2002

Cercle Nautique de Loctudy

by Ivan Sache

The port city of Loctudy (4,000 inhabitants) is located on the Atlantic Ocean, on the mouth of the River of Pont-l'Abbé.
The fishing port of Loctudy was founded in 1847, its speciality being the demoiselle de Loctudy (Loctudy young lady), the langoustine.

Cercle Nautique de Loctudy was founded in 1937. Its burgee is horizontally divided blue-white-blue-white-blue (2:1:2:1:2) with two thin red diagonal stripes.

Source: CNL website

Ivan Sache, 16 July 2002

Club Nautique de Carantec

by Ivan Sache

The small city of Carantec (2,700 inabitants) is located on the Bay of Morlaix, on the northern coast of Brittany. According to Roger Frey, the name of the city comes from St. Carantec (Carantocus). Carantec was the elder son of the founder of Cardigan, in Wales, and his disciple Tenenan is said to have founded the village of Carantec. Tenenan was appointed Bishop of Léon in 615. Carantec was mentioned as Quaranteuc (1404), Karantec (1434) and eventually Carantec (1446).

Carantec was a part of the neighbouring city of Taule until 1802, when it became an independent parish, belonging to the former bishopric of Léon.

Club Nautique de Carantec is located on the beach of Kelenn and has a membership of 160. The burgee of the CNC is a 3:5 triangular flag with seven horizontal stripes, black-white-black-white-black-white-black. A black ermine spot on a white background is placed near the hoist, covering the three central stripes of the flag. The ermine spot is flanked by the lettering CN / CARANTEC, written in black on the central white stripe. The ermine spot has a rather unusual design.

Source: CNC website

Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003

Société des Régates de Douarnenez

by Ivan Sache

Douarnenez (16,000 inhabitants) is a sea resort and fishing port.
Douar en enez means in Breton 'the Land of the Island'. This refers to Tristan island, a small rock off Douarnenez which was a haunt of bandits in the XVIth century.
The mythical city of Ys, destroyed because of the debauched daughter of King Gradlon, is said to have been engulfed in the Bay of Douarnenez (but other bays in Brittany claim the engulfment, too).

The city and its painted houses attracted the Impressionist painters at the end of the XIXth century. In 1921, Douarnenez was the first municipality in France to be directed by the Communist Party.

Société des Régates de Douarnenez has a simple burgee vertically divided white-blue with a blue star in the white stripe.

Source: SRD website

Ivan Sache, 13 May 2001

Former (or erroneous?) burgee

by Ivan Sache

Guide Vert Michelin Bretagne, edition 2001 shows the burgee of SRD with a red star, on a colour plate originally released by the SHOM (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine), undated.

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

Société des Régates de Morlaix

by Ivan Sache

The burgee of SRM is a triangular flag, vertically divided blue-white-red (1:1:1) with a red star in the white stripe.

Source: Guide Vert Michelin Bretagne, edition 2001, showing a colour plate originally released by the SHOM (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine), undated.

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

Yacht Club de Morlaix

by Ivan Sache

The burgee of YCM is a triangular white flag with a vertically decentered cross made of a red horizontal stripe and a blue vertical stripe placed above it, and a red castle in canton.
I believe the castle is Château du Taureau (Bull's Castle), a fort built on a small island in the River of Morlaix, the large estuary ending in the Bay of Morlaix, in 1542 to protect the city from English attacks. In 1660, Louis XIV ordered his architect Vauban to transform the castle into a State prison.

Source: Smith [smi76]

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

Yacht Club de l'Odet

by Ivan Sache

Yacht Club de l'Odet is based in Bénodet, a small harbour located on the estuary of the Odet river.

The burgee of YCO is white, divided in three parts by red Y-shape stripes, with a black ermine spot near the hoist and two blue stars near the fly.

Source: YCO website

Ivan Sache, 1 April 2005

Yacht Club des Abers

by Ivan Sache

In Brittany, an aber (also called a ria) is the lower valley of a river which was invaded by the sea at the end of the last glaciation, when melting of the continental ice caused a dramatic raising of the seal level. The biggest abers are Aber Benoît and Aber Wrac'h, located on the north-western coast of Brittany.

Yacht Club des Abers was created in 1974. It is located in L'Aber Wrac'h, part of the municipality of Landeda (3,000 inhabitants), with an annex in St. Pabu, on the Aber Benoît. YCA has a membership of 200. Every year in June, YCA organizes the Transmanche en double (Doubles Transchannel) race.

The burgee of YCA is a long (5:12) triangular flag, red with three blue triangles of different sizes placed along the hoist. The white letters YCA are placed in the middle of the flag.

Source: YCA website

Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003