The fascination that comes from sailing events in France has lured me back to Brittany for years. Here you can see mainly French sailing ships, ships from the Channel Islands and from the south of Cornwall and England. While German ships used to be represented, these are rare today. It's probably too far and travel expenses are too high.

A series of events began in Brest 30 years ago. Since then, the French city has become a place of pilgrimage for all ship lovers every 4 years. For the anniversary the organizers had planned a small event only not well advertised abroad. French friends had warned me not to come with too many expectations. So I was not surprised that only one dock in the industrial port and a small part of the port for pleasure boats were used for the event. The "La Recouvrance", the "Belle Poule" and the freshly overhauled "Étoile du Roy" were in the harbor basin, among mainly smaller sailing ships. There was a closed event area on land: free of charge! Above all, maritime institutions, associations that operate ships, the publisher Chasse-Marée, the sponsor Armor Lux and of course the Marine Nationale presented themselves here. I spontaneously wanted to stop at every stand to discover something. Of course there was also cider and French fast food. However, very unusual: every day at 7:00 p.m. the event area was closed.

There was only one stage in Brest. You have to know that French maritime events are always associated with a lot of music. In Germany I avoid the deafening noise for health reasons. Here I just stood and listened!

The large inner pier in front of the port entrance was my catwalk for the next three days. You had to protect yourself from the sun and take enough drinks with you. In Brittany at that time too, it was constantly more than 30 degrees Celsius in the shade.

The "La Recouvrance" celebrated her 30th anniversary in Brest too. In 1992 she was launched to the water at the event in the same harbor basin. As well the "Belle Poule" celebrated her 90th birthday this year. What I particularly noticed in Brest was the "Ar Jentilez", built in 1992 too, and the restored Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter "Letty" from 1905, my first encounter with this ship.

 "La Recouvrance" at the Temps Fête Douarnenez 2022

 "Belle Poule", sailtraining ship of the French Navy

On the last day, the national holiday, I was already on my way to the summer festival in Dourarnenez. When I arrived in the small fishing village, many sailing ships were already there on site.

There was no ship launch in Douarnenez this year, but there was a christening. The Association Treizour Douarnenez - Amis du Port-Musée brought the sardine fishing boat "Telenn Mor" to the wind back in 1983, which is sailed today more than ever. And now they've done it again. 2020-21 a new boat was built as part of an educational project, which has been christened D21 "Joséphine".

The story of the "Bel Espoir II" is just as interesting. The wooden ship, built in Denmark in 1944, has been laid up since spring 2017 due to structural problems on the hull and was no longer seaworthy. The operators AJD - Amis de Jeudi Dimanche - then decided to build a new ship made of steel. The special thing about the project was that an attempt has been made to reuse all the structures and fittings on deck from the old ship. The hull was built at a shipyard. The association staff made the construction and interior design themself. The old and the new "Bel Espoir" look very similar today.

I can give other examples and have to research the history of some ships that I saw new in Brest and Douarnenez. My contacts to France are not intensive enough to say whether there are also problems, as we unfortunately know from Germany, where one traditional ship after the other gets into trouble. France has managed to maintain its maritime heritage in such a way that further maritime events in the next 20-30 years are not in danger from this side. Can you say the same for Germany?

In Douarnenez I found it very remarkable that the "Shtandart" participated in the summer festival as a peaceful ambassador of Russia. The ship has been sailing for years in Western Europe, but avoids the German coast and our events for example, because she has to reckon with reprisals there.

I spontaneously changed my travel plans after Douarnenez. From my point of view, Provence and the Mediterranean region in general can no longer be visited due to the heat and fires in summer. Instead I went to Vannes. The city is one of the action points of the Semaine du Golfe du Morbihan. Every two years since more than 20 years, a maritime festival has been taking place here for a week, which includes an entire region and where there are certainly several hundred boats and ships on the water. I saw them in Bono, Auray and Port Anna. And even when I ended up in La Baule, a tourist stronghold in France with beaches like those on the Côte d'Azur, I found a traditional wooden boat with brown lugger sails in the nearby Pouliguen, which is actively operated by a municipal association. I wanted to sail but unfortunately it was already fully booked!

Fêtes maritimes de Brest

Fêtes maritimes de Douarnenez