Having a yacht on hard stand in a marina in Brittany, France

[Hugo B]

Hi

I am thinking of keeping a yacht in a marina in Brittany, France. I would have her on a hard stand for about 10 months a year and then sail her in summer for 2 months or a bit longer. I had a look at several marinas: Brest, Douarnenez, Audierne and Loctudy. There are several others of course. Douarnenez and Audierne seem ideal because they quite central, Loctudy is a bit further south.

Anyone has any experience with marinas in Brittany in respect to having a yacht stored on a hard stand, and also regarding services i.e. lift in, lift out and even having some minor repair work done if necessary? Specific information about costs and quality of service would be particularly welcome.

After a lot of searching I have found some PDFs about storage costs but only for two marinas. This information seems to be quite hard to find on the web for marinas in France.

I also have a related question: if I sail a yacht from the UK to France and relocate her permanently in a marina as described, is there any extensive paperwork or extra costs involved for transferring the yacht to France? Note that this is an EU registered yacht with VAT paid and that I am an EU citizen.

Thanks very much

Hugo

[dnight]

Hi Hugo, a lot of marinas in Brittany are pretty full throughout the year, although you would have better chances with hard standing. There are a lot of UK boats based out of this area, the costs associated with keeping a vessel here are a lot less than other regions.
We own and run a marine services company in Brittany, www.kingfishermarineservices.com
We are based out of Concarneau but work all over. We do a lot of jobs in La Roche Bernard/Arzal and up to Camaret/Brest. Our hourly rate is 45 Euros, and can cover pretty much all you need. Have a look at our website and drop me a note if you'd like more information. All the best.
Darren

[Hugo B]

Hi Darren

Thanks for your reply. I made several inquiries to marinas around the coast, but in the end gave up because it seems difficult to get reliable information from them. I also know some people in the region from sailing with them and they advised me against leaving a yacht for extended periods of time unsupervised. So at the time I gave up on the idea.

Anyway, found your website and will ask you a couple questions, see where I can take it from here.

Cheers

Hugo