And of course Sailing into my home port  

 Coordinates: 01° 09' 00" W, 46° 09' 37" N

With some 3300 places in Les Minimes, 320 in the Vieux Port, 115 in Bassin du Havre, 65 in Port Neuf & 90 in the Bassin des Yachts - in 2010 les Minimes will be extended with a further 1000 places available. Should wipe out the waiting list.

La Rochelle 

has one of, if not the largest, Yacht Marina in Europe.

 Les Minimes 

(which is the main marina close to the university and all the boat yards)

is well lit and available at all states of the tide except possibly low water very big springs. 

The Capitainerie is open 24/7 - In summer go alongside the arrivals pontoon directly opposite the entrance to be allocated a berth from the little office. Other times go alongside and walk up to the main Capitainerie.  There is a fuel dock if you leave the visitors pontoon to port, just below the Capitainerie but it works, self service, with French credit/bankers cards and you may need to seek help from the Capitainerie.

Les Minimes has more facilities than anywhere else in Europe, 4 travel lifts, 4 cranes, a dozen or so chandleries, engine repairs, sail lofts, marine electronics, life raft servicing etc etc... Many prices are better than the cut price UK shops! You can have your mast or boat transported to the Med or to UK by lorry from here -

La Rochelle

has more yacht refit/repairs facilities in one place than anywhere else in Europe and most are very good and professional.

All repair and service facilities from an Optimist to a super yacht are available in the ports and marinas

Les Minimes has local cafes and restaurants, multi screen cinema and some shops but is a long walk, a bus ride or a water bus ride, to the wonderful restaurants, shops, bars and cafes of La Rochelle. 

The Taste Vin

will deliver the wines & spirits you order, to your boat in Les Minimes provided you know your pontoon number and berth. Mention this web site for a free sample!

A more convenient place for visiting yachts is

The Vieux Port

 right in the centre of town. You can walk to the supermarket, shops, fish market from the Visitors Pontoons situated on the left, as you enter by boat, between the twin towers. Christian is the Vieux Port HM and he speaks English. Just park up on the visitors pontoon and he will come and find you to 'book' you in. The cafes and restaurants are all around. Possibly the best sea food is at Andre's and most sailing folk end up in Fitzpatrick's just opposite, on the front.

VIEUX PORT APPROACHES

Except at Low Water springs, you can get into the Vieux Port by following the channel. Do not 'hug' the port hand buoys, around low water, as they are laid on the 'top' of the slope of the channel. 

Use the transit, day or night, of the two lighthouses lined up. Very simple and safe entrance in almost any conditions. 

As you pass between the two Richelieu towers you will see the water bus and tourists boats on the left and just past them pontoons, two of which are marked visitors. Tie up or raft up, plug into the mains and go ashore and enjoy the the fruits of the sea and the wines of the district in the vast range of cafes and restaurants all around!

If you intend staying longer than a few days or a week, speak to Christian the port captain and he may find you a place in the 'Bassin a Flot' which you can lock in and out of 2 hours either side of high water. The Vieux Port office is just past the footbridge over the bassin a flot lock gates. Showers, loos etc are next door to the Aquarium and Christian will give you the entry code.

Interesting 2nd hand sailing goods shop 'Les Puces du Mer' at the far end of that dock. Real Aladdin's cave of charts, electronics, ropes, dinghies, outboards, masts, sails etc etc

Although this is the most popular 'parking place' for visiting yachts there is normally a space or two and it really is very convenient for everything in the town - if a little noisy sometimes - night life abounds in here - music and film festivals as well as international class restaurants and little side street cafes. To buy superb local wines from the Bordeaux region as well as from the rest of France or just sit and sample them in Le Taste Vin one road back from the  Vieux port - under the Grosse Horlogue and turn right up the pedestrian precinct!

Larger or deep draft yachts can turn to starboard just before the two towers and head towards the Lock Gates to the Basin de Chalutiers and Lifting bridge. VHF channel 9

Bigger vessels will want to go into the Bassin De Chalutiers which has places for yachts between 17 & 90 metres LOA - it also accommodates some smaller yachts and catamarans. The Bassin Des Yachts has 4 metres depth and is available for yachts up to 14 metres and up to 12 metres beam. These yards have a reputation for very high quality work and have all the faci

The Lock Gates and bridges can open 2 hours before HW and close 45 minutes after HW.

CHANDLERS

There are some excellent and inexpensive chandlers in the lift out area of Les Minimes. I use them all but have found that the most helpful and reasonably priced is

ACCASTILLAGE DIFFUSION

05 46 44 74 82

Just across the road from where the travel lifts are. They speak English and are very helpful.

It is a 'franchise' operation so the prices are very competitive because of bulk buying. They can make up splices or sort electrical problems, service your outboard and lots more.. Really nice people and extremely knowledgeable. They have excellent 'free' catalogues and tide tables. If you want something special that's not in stock or part of the regular range they can normally get it in within 48 hours. If they do not have it or the facility they will tell you where you can get it.

BERTHS

The charges are exactly the same in Les Minimes and the Vieux Port and the Basin a Flot. All are owned and run by the town.

For  the 2007 tariff click here

The prices in winter months are half that of the high Summer for visitors.

Try not to get too excited about the prices - there is a minimum of a 4 year waiting list for a permanent berth for your boat in La Rochelle.  Also consider the fact the waiting list is pretty corrupt and not in any way transparent!

When you apply to go on the list for either or both the Vieux Port or Les Minimes you pay a annual charge of €15. The Port Office will invoice you.

That is fine except they keep the list a secret.

There is a list and when a berth becomes free they look at the list and decide what boat will be allocated the berth - theoretically it is because there are so many different shapes and sizes of boat it would be impossible to list them properly!!!

In reality the various port captains allocate the berths, as they become vacant, to people they like, boats they like, friends and relations.  If you already have a boat there - perhaps because you wintered there - you might get lucky, if you have been friendly with right people! When you ask what your position is 'on the list' you will be told it does not work like that! 

(I remember being on the list of the Hamble River Authority and it was totally transparent and totally fair - In this age of computers it would be easy to run a proper list but that would not be the La Rochelle way!)

Make no mistake that the demand for places to berth boats on the French West Atlantic coast is very high and every port has a long waiting list. The transparent list in St Martin on the Isle de Re is displayed in front of the harbour masters office and stretches back for 10 years!

There will be an extension built for a further 350 boats in the Les Minimes complex during the next couple of years. It will reduce the list but not wipe it out.

 WINTERING

There is no problem with wintering in either the Vieux Port or Les Minimes. You are bound to find a place in one or the other. There are also winter places in Rochefort and possibly St Martin. The La Rochelle port WIFI does not extend to the Vieux Port so if you want to be on the 'net' via the Port system for €18 per month or €1 per day then Les Minimes is the place to be. Sometimes you will be placed in the berth of a boat that has hauled or gone away for the winter and sometimes you will be on the visitors pontoon.

Once the summer has ended you begin to have a problem. In the Vieux Port you would not be allowed to occupy a visitors berth during the summer even if you paid the very high 'daily rate'. Simply not allowed. If you are in one of the two basins you might just get away with it if you are living on board but no guarantee.  In Les Minimes you can stay, paying the monthly rate, on the visitors pontoon except during the 'Grande Pavois' boat show when you MUST vacate it. The bad news is you pay monthly in arrears so if you go out for a sail or leave the berth for any reason and somebody else comes along - tough.. There may no longer be a place for you that day/week/month if the place is busy. Not going to happen in the winter but during the summer they are rafted out 4 deep and frequently 'there is no room in the inn' on a hot sunny weekend...

There are no easy solutions to the berthing problems except to say if you are there with the boat then you have a better chance. No point in trying to book ahead by telephone/fax or email unless you are a superyacht. The Vieux Port is working hard to encourage super luxury yachts to use the facilities and if you are lucky enough to own one you will get a berth - for certain. Winter and Summer.

Lift out facilities

There are 3 travel lifts in the Les Minimes lift out area where all the chandlers and commercial offices are. In order to get lifted out go round to the office and fix a date. They will of course want to know the weight, beam and LOA of your boat in order to allocate the correct travel lift. They will place the boat on the hard standing for up to a week beside an electricity and water outlet. You can hire 'jet washers' from the the chandlers in the 'lift out' area. In theory you are limited to 8 days but in winter you can stay much longer provided there is not too much going on. You cannot stay all winter on this hard standing. For that you need to find a place in one of the commercial lay up areas.

There are excellent storage areas in the Big Boat work area beside the  Bassin De Chalutiers, Near the Maritime museum - opposite the Aquarium.

There is not a lot of winter storage space in Les Minimes commercial yards and the cost is very similar to the monthly charges in winter to be in the water. The expensive bit is getting the boat in and out. You have to pay both for the travel lift, then the tractor and trailer and then for the cradle that works with the particular towing rig...

The yards, workshops and storage facilities in the Bassin de Chalutiers area have a reputation for very high quality work at very reasonable prices. Several friends have used them and they are to be recommended. Like the storage facilities in Les Minimes the travel lift gets the boat out of the water but then a trailer and tractor belonging to the 'yard' comes along and your boat is transfered to the trailer and is towed to the storage facility or workshop where it is placed in a cradle. Some are very good at this and there is no problem others are less so... 

I had a big problem in terms of charges and the damage done to my boat

by

CHANTIER NAVAL DES MINIMES 4, rue de la Bonnette who knocked the big hole in the hull of my Prout 33 whilst trying to load her onto their cradle and then charged me for 5 1/2 hours work, to get the boat on their trailer and move it from the Travel Lift to their lay-up yard! A distance of 50 metres!!!! I organised the travel lift and supervised the boat out of the water all the way to the Chantier Naval trailer! Christian, the proprietor, 'claims' that it took 3 hours to get the boat off the travel lift onto his trailer. It then took another 2 1/2 hours to move it 50 metres and block it up!!!  Either very inefficient or just greedy!! They did repairs to the hole, they accidentally made in the hull of my boat, but were totally unable to match the white on the hull because it would cost too much! Or that's what they said! Funny people -   As you can see from the pictures below they did manage the repair OK but the colour match is very poor - actually unacceptable but when you want to go sailing rather than go to court........ click on pictures to enlarge   click on pictures to enlarge   Other Chantier Naval in the area are better - email me for recommendations   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Since the above very unhappy experience with the less than talented CHANTIER NAVAL DES MINIMES several friends have had work done by or had their yacht kept ashore in very secure surroundings  by NAVEL FORCE 3 RUE SENAC DE MEILHAN int 33 - 5 46 45 04 15 Samuel is 'the man' at this excellent and inexpensive boat yard beside Les Minimes I think they are the most professional 'Chantier Naval' in the area.  If you want work done or simply to lay up ashore this is probably the best bet.

There are also lift out facilities and storage at Rochefort. I had my boat out there and it was a good experience. They do not have a travel lift and bring in a local crane to lift the boat onto a trailer. You can then either store to boat in one of the chandlers yards or in the areas owned by the port. Only problem is the secure lockup does not have water. There are electricity points but water is a problem! The prices do reflect these shortcomings. There is a pleasant liveaboard community and the harbour staff are very nice and welcoming. you need to go and chat to the port captain and look at the arrangements before making a decision.

It is possible and very reasonable to winter afloat in the Basins or Les Minimes at half the summer prices!

 Wintering hauled out is possible via the various yacht sales/management companies in the commercial area where the travel lifts are.

Christian, the Vieux Port captain, speaks excellent English as do many of the chandler and yacht management companies.

Fort Boyard - home of the game shows, is just across the bay

If the canals of France interest you and perhaps using them to move your boat to or from the Mediterranean then these links may be useful

Lorry option.

UK to Med Routes

Biscay Log Book

Sailing information

The Les Minimes Marina site in French is at:-

:www.portlarochelle.com

The La Rochelle Boat Show (2nd only to Paris but with the more boats afloat) is at:-

The Grand pavois :www.grand-pavois.com