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Finistère (Department, France): Yacht clubs

Last modified: 2021-03-26 by ivan sache
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Association des Usagers de la Baie de Brignogan-Plages

[Burgee]

Burgee of AUBBRI - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 August 2002

Brignogan Bay, also called Port of Pontusval on the nautical map, is located on the northern coast of Brittany. In the past, the inhabitants of the area were known as wreckers and looters. Brignogan (849 inhabitants) 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, website) 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.

Ivan Sache, 8 July 2007


Centre Nautique de Brignogan-Plages

[Burgee]

Burgee of CNBP - Image by Ivan Sache, 11 October 2019

The burgee of the CNBP (website), as shown on the club's emblem, is horizontally divided yellow-blue.
The use of the same color scheme as for the Association des Usagers de la Baie de Brignogan-Plages is surely not a mere coincidence.

Ivan Sache, 11 October 2019


Association des Usagers du Port de Paluden

[Burgee]

Burgee of AUPP - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 December 2017

The port of Paluden is located in an arm of Aber Wrac'h, a small river of northern Brittany, 6 km upstream the coast and 2 km downstream of the town of Lannilis, 25 km north of Brest. Protected from sea storms but accessible whatever the tide, the port was described in 1889 as "receiving every year 30 to 40 ships transporting goods to Plouguerneau and Lannilis".<+P>

The Association des Usagers du Port de Paluden (AUPP; website) was granted 53 collective moorings on 7 March 1985. More than 120 ships can moor on the left bank, on a 1.1 km long zone located between Paluden and the Hell's Mill.
The burgee of AUPP is blue with a white triangle placed along the hoist and charged with a black ermine spot, an orange disk charged with the white letters "AUPP", and a white anchor.

Ivan Sache, 16 December 2017


Atlantic Yacht Club

[Burgee]

Burgee of AYC - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 April 2018

AYC (website) was established in August 2008 in Douarnenez by skippers and crew competing in the 1st Transat Classique (Douarnenez - Saint Barthélemy, "the most elegant of the transatlantic races"). The club house was inaugurated in Port Rhu on 4 July 2009.
Since then, AYC has organized the Transat Classique in 2012 (Douarnenez - Cascais / Saint Tropez - Cascais; Cascais - Barbados) and 2015 (Lanzarote - Fort-de-France). The next Transat Classique shall be ran in 2019 (Lanzarote - Saint-Kitts).

The burgee of AYC (photo) is white with a blue, off-centered cross fimbriated in golden yellow and a blue star in canton.

Ivan Sache, 27 April 2018


Cercle Nautique de Loctudy

[Burgee]

Burgee of CNL - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 July 2002

The port town 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 (website) 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.

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Ivan Sache, 16 July 2002


Club Nautique de Carantec

[Burgee]

Burgee of CNC - Image by Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003

The municipality of Carantec (3,149 inhabitants in 2015) is located on the Bay of Morlaix, on the northern coast of Brittany. According to Roger Frey, the place is named for 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 separated from the neighbouring municipality of Taule in 1802.

Club Nautique de Carantec (A HREF="http://clubnautiquecarantec.com">website), based on the Kelenn beach, 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.

Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003


Les Copains d'@bord

[Burgee]

Burgee of Les Copains d'@bord - Image by Ivan Sache, 1 November 2010

Les Copains d'@bord is an association registered on 31 May 2008 "to defend the interests of the year-round amateur and professional users of the port of Plougasnou, and to protect and transfer the local maritime heritage". Membership was 63 in August 2010.
Plougasnou is a small town located in northern Brittany, 15 km north of Morlaix, in a quite isolated region, until now preserved from mass tourism and mass marina-yachting. The town's port is located in Le Diben, inside the scenic Primel cove. Its equipments are shared by amateur (350 moorings) and professional fishers; two fish traders established on the port export fish, while the Vivers de la Méloine fish tanks, built in 1922, store and sell sea-food, especially lobster. A shipyard is located not far from the port.

Les Copains d'@bord was set up in the context of the release by the municipality of Plougasnou of a controversial development plan for the port. While some members of the association are opponents to the project, the association does not want to take sides - there are already four registered associations opposed to the project. Since 30 October 2003 (Prefectoral Decree enforcing the 2002 Decentralization Law), the Municipality of Plougasnou had been in charge of the management of the port. In 2006, the Municipal Council presented a project of "sustainable development" of the port, including an increase in the number of moorings and modernization of the equipment. On 12 June 2007, the Municipal Council unanimuously voted the transfer of its own competence on the port to the Morlaix Communauté Intermunicipal Authority, whose Council accepted the transfer on 17 December 2007. The project of port development was presented by Morlaix Communauté in October 2008; work is expected to start before 2012.

Les Copains d'@bord is a straightforward tribute to the song Les Copains d'abord (The Buddies First), released by Georges Brassens (1921-1981) in November 1964 (first track of Brassens' 10th record, untitled following the use of the times, but subsequently known as Les Copains d'abord). The song compares male friendship (Brassens was quite mysoginic) to solidarity among a ship's crew, using all kinds of maritime metaphors (including the use of the word lapin, "rabbit", never pronounced by sailors according to a very old superstition!).
The song (clip), one of the most famous of Brassens', was indeed a command by the movie director Yves Robert (1920-2002) for his movie Les Copains, eventually released in 1965, after the record. Based on a novel published in 1913 by Jules Romains (1885-1972), the movie (extract) describes the "devastation" ot two small Auvergne towns, Ambert and Issoire, by a band of seven buddies perpetrating anarchistic hoaxes against the institutions.

The burgee of Les Copains d'@bord is blue with a white fishing hook. The association claims that the burgee is very popular, a fact I have checked myself in July 2010; several boats moored in the port actually flew the burgee.

Ivan Sache, 1 November 2010


Société des Régates de Douarnenez

[Burgee]

Burgee of SRD - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

The municipality of Douarnenez (14,208 inhabitants in 2015) 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 16th 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 town and its painted houses attracted the Impressionist painters at the end of the 19th century. In 1921, Douarnenez was the first municipality in France to be directed by the Parti communiste français.

The burgee of Société des Régates de Douarnenez (website) is vertically divided white-blue with a red star in the white stripe.

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001


Société des Régates de Morlaix

[Burgee]

Burgee of SRM - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

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

[Burgee]

Burgee of YCM - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001

The burgee of YCM (website) 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.
The castle is the 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.

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2001


Yacht Club de l'Odet

[Burgee]

Burgee of YCO - Image by Ivan Sache, 1 April 2005

Yacht Club de l'Odet (website) 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.

Ivan Sache, 1 April 2005


Yacht Club de Port Manech et de l'Aven

[Kurgee]

Burgee of YC Port Manech - Image by Ivan Sache, 2 June 2009

The small port of Port Manech (part of the municipality of Névez) is located on the mouth of the river Aven, south of Pont-Aven, in the paeninsula of Névez (southern Brittany). The region was famous in the 19th for its quarries; the local houses, made of big flagstones and unique in France, were nicknamed "standing stones". A few of them have been restored and are still inhabited, especially in the village of Kerascoët. Once a busy fishing port, with some 50 boats fishing sardines, Port Manech is today a pleasant sea resort.

Yacht Club de Port Manech et de l'Aven (YCPMA; website was founded in 1970 by Dr. Lecoutour. The club organizes the Six Heures (Six Hours) regatta every year on 15 August.
The burgee of the club is white with two yellow triangles placed neat the hoist and separated from the main white field by a blue stripe, and a black ermine spot in the middle of the white field.

Ivan Sache, 2 June 2009


Yacht Club des Abers

[Burgee]

Burgee of YCA - Image by Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003

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 (website) was created in 1974. YCA is located in L'Aber Wrac'h, part of the municipality of Landéda (3,575 inhabitants) in 2015, with an annex in St. Pabu, on 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.

Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003