Brest 2024: before the Maritime Festivals, the ships will make a joyful stopover in six Breton ports

It is a tradition that was lost by force of circumstances. As a preamble to the Brest Maritime Festival, which has not taken place for eight years and which will take place this summer from July 12 to 17, registered ships are invited to begin the festivities from the first weekend of July and for a week, in six ports of Finistère: Aber Wrac’h (Landéda), Camaret-sur-Mer (on the Crozon peninsula), Châteaulin and Port-Launay, Lampaul-Plouarzel, Pors Beac’h (Logonna-Daoulas ) and Le Tinduff (Plougastel-Daoulas). It is the Ports-Escale operation which will give a foretaste of the great sailing event.

No less than a thousand ships (and up to 1 million visitors) are expected at Brest 2024, considered the most important meeting of its kind in France. The six port municipalities therefore undertake to “welcome (small) boats by providing the means of mooring, reception and entertainment which will make their stopover attractive, in the spirit of maritime and traditional festivals”, as specifies Brest Terres Océanes, the public interest group (GIP) responsible for organizing the event. Everything is free. A brief overview of the planned activities, also available on www.brest-terres-oceanes.fr

– In Châteaulin and Port-Launay (from July 6 to 11), the Nantes-Brest canal, between Port-Launay and Châteaulin, will come alive on the banks and on the water. On the program: an exhibition on inland waterways, lockage maneuvers, a visit to a river-maritime shipyard, navigation on the canal aboard a shell boat from the harbor, an introduction to rowing, a discovery of the world of migratory fish, concerts… with on-site catering.

-At Aber-Wrac’h (Landéda), July 6, sailors are welcomed free of charge with breakfast in the morning and bread and pâté in the evening. Between 30 and 50 boats are expected. On the program for Saturday: sculling and unidentified floating object competition, sea rescue demonstration, boat visits, exhibition at the semaphore “The National Navy from the Second Empire to today” and sea shanty groups. An illumination of the port is planned in the evening.

-In Pors Beac’h (Logonna-Daoulas), July 7, twenty moorings will be made available in what was one of the main shellfish ports in the harbor and a cradle of maritime festivals (the first gathering of traditional boats took place there in 1980. On the program: rope making, nautical games, sculling race, rescue demonstration by the SNSM, exhibition of traditional marine objects, catering and concerts….

-In Pors-Scaff (Lampaul-Plouarzel), July 10, Around forty boats will be gathered at the entrance to the Aber Ildut, which has been awarded the heritage label. The best part: the place is awarded the heritage label. On the programme: a trip on the Iroise Sea aboard the André-Yvette barge, a demonstration of sculling, a demonstration of sea rescue, an exhibition on the maritime heritage of Lampau, rope making, catering, concerts.

-In Camaret-sur-Mer, July 11, there will be numerous anchorages, on the end of the Crozon peninsula, at the entrance to the Brest goulet. Camaret has an exceptional heritage with its Vauban tower, listed by UNESCO and its port labeled as being of heritage interest. On the program: a dramatized visit to the Vauban Tower and concerts of La Mancha y los niños on a traditional sailboat and Lagon, “swaying and delicious” pop soul music.