Les Glénans is a French sailing school, operating as a non-profit organization. Most of its instructors are volunteers. It was founded in 1947 by Philippe and Hélène Viannay, who had been involved with the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Its first site was the Glénan archipelago, about off the coast of southern

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. Among its first boats was a 12-meter Bermudian cutter called Sereine, which is now a French listed monument and still sails after having been entirely refurbished in 2005. Its headquarters are in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and it operates five sites in France:

Paimpol Paimpol (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwest France. It is a tourist destination, especially during the summer months when people are attracted by its port and beaches. Geography The town is located in th ...

, l' Ile-d'Arz and l'Archipel (as the Glénan archipelago is referred to by Glénans adepts) in

, Marseillan in Southern France and Bonifacio in Corsica. Sailing takes place in most of the western Mediterranean basin, the UK, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Cruises cross the Atlantic Ocean and, in the past, have visited Iceland. Les Glénans teaches catamaran sailing,

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

sailing,

kite surfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, but 70% of its activity is

yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, ...

. Every year up to 14,000 students and 800 instructors sail for 100,000 days. The school also issues a book on sailing techniques. Initially, the idea of gathering knowledge on sailing and basic ship maintenance was for internal purpose as the founders were not seasoned sails men. They gathered information by being taught by local fishermen and sailors, organized the knowledge and improved it with experience and feedback from their members. Year after year, this book (called in French "Cours de navigation des Glénans") grew, and is now considered as a "must have" by sailing enthusiasts. The fleet of Les Glénans consists of a wide variety of boats which are usually adapted specially for the purposes of the school. On the water, these boats are usually recognizable by a red stripe across the mainsail. It has produced some of the world's best sailors, including world record holder

Francis Joyon Francis Joyon (born 28 May 1956) is a French professional sailboat racer and yachtsman. Joyon and his crew currently hold the Jules Verne Trophy for circumnavigation, on ''IDEC SPORT'' (40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds), nearly five days les ...

and

Franck Cammas Franck Cammas (born 22 December 1972 in Aix-en-Provence) is a French yachtsman. He has lived in Brittany since his victory in the Challenge Espoir Crédit Agricole in 1994. After completing a two-year maths course for the ‘Grandes écoles’, ...

. In 1969 along with Polish Yachting Association - Poland, Yacht Club de Morges - Switzerland, Casa di Vela Caprera - Italy, National Schools Sailing Association - UK, Centro Internacional de Navigacion de Arousa - Spain, Les Glénans co-founded the

International Sailing Schools Association The International Sailing Schools Association also known as ISSA is an international organization associating 3,500 sailing schools from all over the world. ISSA was founded in London and Paris in 1969 as a result of a joint initiative of the s ...

in London, sometimes stated as Paris

External links

Ecole de voile les Glénans

References

Sail training associations Sailing in France Education in France Concarneau French companies established in 1947 {{sailing-stub