Chartering in the Gulf of Morbihan: tidal streams, narrows and anchoring

The Gulf of Morbihan lies on the south coast of Brittany. It is an inland sea with dozens of islands, oyster beds and small harbours, linked to the Atlantic only through a narrow entrance between Port-Navalo and Locmariaquer. Charter yachts are based in harbours such as Le Crouesty or La Trinité-sur-Mer. Chartering in the Gulf of Morbihan gives you sheltered water, but tidal streams set the timetable: at the entrance and in the narrows between the islands they run so hard that a small yacht makes little headway against them. Sailors who know the Solent or the Channel Islands will recognise the pattern.

Timing is everything. With the stream you fly; against it, you wait for slack water. Eddies form behind the narrows and around rocks and push the boat sideways, and the buoys are there for good reason. When anchoring, the range matters: a spot with enough depth at high water may dry at low water, and the boat swings round with every tide. Many bays are taken up by moorings, and the gulf lies within a regional nature park where anchoring and navigation can be subject to local rules.

Put the tide tables next to the chart before every passage and plan the entrance and the narrows with the stream or at slack water. Anchor only where there is enough depth at low water, with enough chain for high water, and ask the base where the mooring fields and no-anchoring areas are. The paperwork France expects from skipper and yacht applies here as on the rest of the coast. You are personally liable for damage you cause to others with the charter yacht, so look at skipper liability cover before you sail.

Worth remembering

In the Gulf of Morbihan the tide tables set the timetable, not the clock.