Les Glénans

The Grade II listed Fort Cigogne , part of the Glénans base in the Glénan Islands , Brittany

The first Glénans ocean-going yacht: Sereine , now a listed building and with the Glénans-typical red stripe on the main sail (2006)

Hobie-cat sailor near Marseillan , southern France

Les Glénans is a famous French sailing school founded in 1947 by Hélène and Philippe Viannay ; initially for young people who, like themselves, were in the Resistance during the war . Today it has the form of a non-profit association (French: association loi 1901, d'utilité publique). The head office is in Paris.

The name of the school refers to the oldest location, the Glénan Islands in Brittany (the pronunciation of “Glénan” and “Glénans” is identical in French). The school now also offers sailing courses at five other bases in France, with a further one in Ireland at times (from 1985 to 2011 independently as Glenans Irish Sailing Club ). In addition, sailing trips are offered that take place either from the bases or outside France (e.g. in Italy or the Antilles ). Courses are generally held in French; In Ireland, they were temporarily held in English and French, and individual courses in Italy were also offered in Italian (usually bilingual with French). The school in Paris organizes pure theory courses as well as correspondence courses; Since sailing licenses do not play such a major role in France, the school focuses - in theory and practice - on sailing practice, not on acquiring a license.

The sailing manual published by Les Glénans since 1961 and repeatedly revised in new editions is a standard work in France.

bases

Former base: Collanmore Island , Ireland

Glénans cruise through the Gulf of Morbihan (2008)

Base on the Île d'Arz in the Gulf of Morbihan

At the bases, the participants are accommodated for almost all courses for dinghy or catamaran sailing, surfing, sea kayaks (with interruptions of several years), kitesurfing (since 2013) and some keelboat / yacht courses. Depending on the base and z. Depending on the season, tents or yurts are also used in addition to buildings with beds .

• Glénan Islands (French often simply called "l'archipel", for "archipelago"), in the south of Fouesnant and Concarneau , Brittany . The islands of Bananec, Drenec, Fort Cigogne and Penfret are used ( keel boats , dinghies , catamarans , windsurfing, kite surfing); also buildings in Concarneau, from there also the sailing trips
• Île d'Arz in the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany, near Vannes (keel boats, dinghies, catamarans, sea kayaks); Sailing trips from Vannes
• Paimpol in Northern Brittany (starting point for sailing trips); this also includes the Île Verte in the Bréhat Islands, which is used exclusively by Les Glénans, and a farmhouse on the Trieux near its confluence with the sea (keel boats; sea kayaks)
• Bonifacio in Corsica (sailing trips, kite surfing); The associated base Fazzio (keel boats) will be relocated to another location on Corsica from around 2017, as it is now in the middle of a nature reserve (the lease therefore expired in the long term)
• Marseillan at the Étang de Thau near Montpellier in southern France (keelboats, dinghies, catamarans, windsurfing); Sailing from Sète from

• Former base: Ireland, including: Baltimore in County Cork (keel boats; starting point for sailing trips) and Collanmore Island in Clew Bay on the Irish west coast near Westport , County Mayo (dinghies, catamarans; occasionally starting point for trips to Baltimore). The Irish base was initially founded by Les Glénans as a regular base, then became independent as the Glenans Irish Sailing Club from 1985 to 2011 . From 2010/2011, the French sailing school took over the Irish section again as an additional base after financial problems there, whereupon French was spoken regularly in addition to English. Due to unresolved financial problems, Les Glénans discontinued courses in Ireland at the end of 2013. The Irish sailing school tradition in Baltimore and on Collanmore Island in Clew Bay was considered the country's longest established sail training organization in 2009 .

Sailing book

The sailing manual Cours de navigation des Glénans (for example: Les Glénans sailing course ), which has been specially published since 1961, is a standard work in France. It has been published in the seventh, repeatedly revised edition since 2010. In particular, it covers sailing maneuvers (including materials and knots , etc.), navigation , meteorology , boat maintenance, safety and life on board ( seamanship ). It is dedicated to dinghies , catamarans , and keel boats (or yachts ), with a focus on coastal sailing.

Les Glénans copied the first documents for a sailing manual as early as 1951. In 1961 and 1962 a first textbook was published in two volumes. From 1972 the book was published in one volume ( Nouveau Cours des Glénans ) and was translated into Italian and English in 1975 and 1978 respectively. In the following years (1982, 1990, 1995) further French editions appeared. The sailing course has been completely revised for the 6th edition in 2002 (translations into Italian and Spanish in 2003 and 2004), for the 7th edition in 2010 and for the 8th edition in 2017. According to information from Les Glénans, over the years (until June 2007) sold over 800,000 copies. The book was published in 1986 under the title "Das Segelhandbuch" (The Sailing Manual) in German translation, but it was so flawed that the Glénans School prohibited a second edition.

fleet

Beginner keelboats of the Glénans 5.7 type at the Corsican base in Fazzio, near Bonifacio

The sailing school uses a variety of different keel boats (from 17 feet ), yachts, catamarans , dinghies and surfboards , which over the years has kept pace with technical progress and the changing expectations of sailing students - isb. to faster dinghies and more comfortable yachts.

From the fifties and sixties the sailing school gradually had several types of boats constructed for itself ( Vaurien , Caravelle, Corsaire, Mousquetaire, etc.). The early, affordable boats with their good sailing properties also contributed significantly to the spread of sailing in France beyond their use as school boats. Until about the 1990s, the school had boats drawn for itself (most recently the aluminum yacht Glénans 33 ). Since then, only serial keelboats or yachts have been bought, which were initially often clearly adapted for school use ( Sun Glénans ); current (as of 2016) remain still many keel boats of the type Glénans 5.7 and one or two saver type Folavoalh from the time of self-made; The yachts drawn for Les Glénans, on the other hand, have since been taken out of service with the exception of the listed wooden yacht Sereine and replaced by series-production boats (hardly or not at all). Sailboats are also chartered for individual trips, including occasional cabin catamaran courses.

The school occasionally experiments with other sailing offers. In 2006 there were courses in trimaran sailing, in 2013 in kitesurfing .

Well-known members

Glénans pupil on a Surprise- type sailboat near Marseillan (2008)

Base in Marseillan (Hérault) , in front of that Glénans boats

Catamaran trip ( raid cata ) on Hobie Cats 2011

Glénans headquarters in Paris: houseboat by the Paris Statue of Liberty (left, not in the picture)

Over the years the sailing school has had a number of notable members. Although the focus of Les Glénans is not on the training of regatta sailors - even today (as of 2014) there are only relatively few corresponding courses - several well-known regatta sailors have emerged from the ranks of sailing students and instructors, especially offshore regatta sailors. These include (in alphabetical order):

• Franck Cammas (at the age of 15 initially a student, at the age of 17 a sailing instructor ; at the age of 21 Brévet d'État / training as a professional sailing instructor at the Marseillan base): successful multi-hull offshore regatta sailor, a. a. the fastest circumnavigation of the world ( Trophée Jules-Verne 2010)
• Éric Carret , America's Cup crew member
• Éric Defert (advanced sailing instructor and work on the preservation of boats and other material, 1995/1996), deep sea regatta sailor, etc. a. Participants in the transatlantic one-handed regattas Minitransat and Solitaire du Figaro
• Jeanne Grégoire (sailing instructor), ocean regatta sailor, a. a. Participant in Minitransat 2001, Solitaire du Figaro 2002 and 2008 (5th place) and Transat AG2R (2nd place with Gérald Véniard)
• Isabelle Joschke , winner of the first stage of the Minitransat Charente-Maritime / Bahia 2007
• Francis Joyon (learned to sail when he was an 18-year-old volunteer helping with the maintenance of the boats and other equipment at Les Glénans): successful offshore regatta sailor, a. a. fastest one-handed circumnavigation (2004-2005; again since 2008)
• Karen Leibovici , ocean regatta sailor , a. a. Participant in the Vendée Globe 2005 (fourth female circumnavigator in a Vendée Globe) and winner of the Mini Fastnet 2001
• Serge Madec (sailing student): record sailor, a. a. fastest Atlantic crossing (1988, 1990)
• Erwan Le Roux , ocean regatta sailor, a. a. Participant in the Transat Jacques Vabre 2009 and the Route du Rhum 2010
• Vincent Riou (training as a professional sailing instructor [ Brévet d'État ], then work at the Concarneau base), deep sea regatta sailor , including winner of the Vendée Globe 2004/2005 and (in the evaluation for two-man crews, with Sébastien Josse ) of the Fastnet race 2007
• Armel Tripon (sailing instructor), 2003 Mini Transat winner
• Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (sailing student and instructor, 1964–1969), ocean regatta sailor, a. a. Runner-up was the Minitransat 1977 and 1979, the Vendée Globe 1993 (3rd placed 1990) and the Route du Rhum 1998, as well as record single-handed circumnavigators against the prevailing winds (i.e. eastwards) on a monohull in 2004 (unbroken, as of 2010)

Other members of the ranks of members related to sailing are:

• Henri Desjoyeaux (one of the first sailing instructors) later (1956) founded a first boat work studio in La Forêt-Fouesnant (near the Glénan archipelago), which contributed to the development of the marina Port-la-Forêt , which is now a training center for many successful ocean regatta sailors, including Desjoyeux's famous son Michel Desjoyeaux
• Jean-Marie Finot , yacht designer , drew a. a. the regatta yacht Figaro Bénéteau (I), widespread in France
• Maud Fontenoy (sailing student 1998–2000), after Dee Caffari as the second woman and only the eighth sailor , circumnavigated the world non-stop one-handed against the prevailing winds (but not a complete circumnavigation according to ISAF rules ), from 2009 spokeswoman for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) the UNESCO and the World Ocean Network
• Philippe Harlé (technical director at Glénans until 1963), yacht designer
• Jéromine Pasteur , sailor and adventurer

Other famous members are or were:

• Christian Cabrol , heart surgeon and professor
• Laurent Joffrin , editor of Liberation magazine
• Michel Rocard , French Prime Minister 1988–1991
• Anne Sylvestre , French singer-songwriter who z. For example, in their song Les amis d'autrefois (The Friends of Back then), the island of Drenec used by Les Glénans and sailing are mentioned

Web links

Commons : Les Glénans  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (French and Italian; brief introduction in English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ no author details (October 20, 2009). Glenans Needs Your Support.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Afloat (Irish sailing and boating magazine) (accessed December 29, 2010)  
2. ↑ no author details (June 2007). La "Bible" des marins (p. 6). Le Courrier des Glénans, No 72
3. ^ Franck Cammas in: Ces Marins célèbres qui font honneur aux Glénans .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Contribution by Cammas to the Glénans publication Le Courrier des Glénans No. 74 (French; PDF file; accessed December 29, 2010)  
4. ↑ Equipage ( Memento of November 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) on the Transat AG2R website (accessed December 29, 2010)
5. ↑ Article by Le Monde (no longer available)
6. ↑ no author details (November 28, 2008). Francis Joyon élu sportif Breton de l'année. ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the pages for the trimaran IDEC operated by Joyon (French; accessed December 29, 2010) 
7. ^ Jean Louis Le Touzet (June 23, 1997). La plus grande école de voile en Europe. Le center des Glénans a accueilli depuis sa création plus de 200,000 stagiaires. Liberation (French; accessed December 29, 2010)
8. ↑ Bruno Ménard. Erwan Le Roux s'attaque à la Transat 6.50 ( memento from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on defimer , (French; accessed December 29, 2010)
9. ↑ Vincent Riou in: Ces Marins célèbres qui font honneur aux Glénans .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Contribution by Vincent Riou to the Glénans publication Le Courrier des Glénans No. 74 (French; PDF file; accessed December 29, 2010)  
10. ↑ Armel Tripon - Gedimat ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the pages of sponsorshop.fr (French; accessed December 29, 2010) friou 
11. ↑ Van Den Heede in: Ces Marins célèbres qui font honneur aux Glénans .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Contribution by Van Den Heede to the Glénans publication Le Courrier des Glénans No. 74 (French; PDF file; accessed December 29, 2010)  
12. ↑ Article on sport24.com (no longer available)
13. ↑ no author details (05.06.2009). World Ocean Day 2009 - Maud Fontenoy appointed spokesperson for the oceans. UNESCO website (accessed June 13, 2013)
14. ↑ ^{a b c} Ouest-France (August 13, 2007) (accessed December 28, 2010; no longer available afterwards)
15. ↑ Emmanuel Saint-Martin (June 28, 1997). La tradition des Glénans. ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Le Point (French; accessed December 29, 2010) 
16. ^ Ouest-France (January 6, 2007)