Les Glénans and learning how to sail
Sailing center created
In the 1960s, the Centre Nautique des Glénans is recognized as the leading sailing school in France and even Europe. What an achievement for an organization that was launched just 13 years previously. Everything began in 1947, on Île du Loch, the largest island in the Glénan Archipelago. The founders, Hélène and Philippe Viannay, both former members of the French resistance networks, wanted to offer the young people who had fought and whose studies had been interrupted by the war a number of ways of rebuilding their life and looking ahead to a brighter future. With this in mind, they create what would today be called “leisure centers” such as the one at Île du Loch.
Initially, they are not yet talking about sailing; instead, they play volleyball on the beach, cook for the group, and sing in the evening around a campfire. But in this small archipelago, 10 miles off the coast of Concarneau, necessity is the mother of invention. The camp needs to be resupplied by boat from Concarneau. Bought in Guilvinec, two small old cutters perform this mission. They need to learn how to handle them, to set the sails, to scull them and to maintain them. With the help of a few local fishermen from Concarneau, left in dock due to the decline in tuna fishing, they are trained on the basics of sailing navigation.
Very quickly, the young people enjoy this and discover the pleasures of tacking in the archipelago’s lagoon. In 1951, the center acquires a dozen Argonautes, small 3.80m keel boats, and four whaleboats, bought from the SNSM lifeboat association. The Centre Nautique des Glénans is born and will quickly expand beyond the archipelago, with new centers opened in Paimpol, on Île d’Ars or in Corsica in the 1960s.
At this time, in the late 1950s, the term yachting is used, and recreational boating is not yet part of the vocabulary. Sailing is a leisure activity that is reserved for the elites, with their old-fashioned yacht clubs. There were few boats that could be used for learning how to sail, and they are often expensive and focused more on regatta racing and small family outings.
They sail on Maraudeurs, Grondins or 5O5s, for those looking for a sportier experience. And for the sons and daughters of wealthy families, they end up wearing out their old-style Aile, Caneton or Sharpie. For the sailing schools, the collective boats for learning needed to be invented. Philippe Viannay then has an encounter, which turns out to be a key moment both for the Centre Nautique des Glénans and for recreational boating in general, when he meets the architect Jean-Jacques Herbulot.
The Vaurien and Caravelle revolution
Viannay is a man of action, inventive and passionate. He believes that the sea, sailing and navigating as a crew are an excellent school for life. Herbulot is an architect with the City of Paris, a keen sailing enthusiast and a renowned regatta racer. His dearest wish is to share his passion, to enable as many people as possible to enjoy the pleasures of sailing. As written by Daniel Charles, the recreational boating historian: “The Viannay-Herbulot couple is one of the most unlikely.
One declared at Les Glénans that being too strong has never failed and was wary of the racing mindset, while the other was a French champion on multiple occasions and believed in the virtues of lightness”. But the non-conformist spirit of these men enabled them to appreciate one another and work together. This encounter undeniably sowed the seeds for the post-war recreational boating revolution.
In the early 1950s, Les Glénans is looking for a new sailing dinghy with specifications that can be summed up in two words: light and affordable. Herbulot takes to the drawing board and designs the Vaurien. An incredibly simple plan, freed up from the architectural tenets of the time. In terms of lightness, he chooses a new material, the plywood manufactured by the Luterma plant, and in terms of affordability, he optimizes the size of the boat so that it can be built with just three sheets of plywood to minimize any offcuts. However, the adoption of plywood is not an obvious step for Herbulot. He is wary of the Caurite glue, the only one at the time that is water resistant. So, he tortures his samples, leaving them boiling for hours.
He likes to say that his Vaurien was born in a boiling pan! But the boat is an instant success. It is a very lively dinghy, simple and ideal for learning, and well suited to regatta racing as well thanks to its strict one-design approach. The way it is sold will also shake up the commercial practices seen at the time. Imagine, the Vaurien was available for sale in department stores, such as the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville.
Over the following years, also for Les Glénans, Herbulot will create the Caravelle, a small transom bow and chine dinghy for a crew of four. These two boats will quickly establish themselves as the standards for learning: people start off on the Caravelle, with an instructor for the basics, and then switch to the Vaurien as a skipper or crew member to perfect their skills.
Learning about sailing and community life
In the 1960s, a course a Les Glénans lasts two weeks. In Penfret and Drenec, the beginners learn the basics of sailing on dinghies. In Cigogne, more experienced trainees sail on heavier boats like cutters and doggers. The teaching is centered around handling and piloting. These different courses all share a common focus on discovering the marine environment and learning about group living. One day in every four, the trainees stay on land, either to ensure the safety of those who are on the water, or to do tasks like preparing the day’s meals.
The teaching is provided by volunteer instructors whose knowledge has been passed down to them by previous generations. Each trainee is logically expected to become an instructor in turn. The originality of this way of passing on knowledge is that it does not involve any tests or exams. The only things that count are the experience gained and the confidence and trust in the people who want to progress. In this area, the Centre Nautique des Glénans stands out from the sailing schools affiliated with the French Sailing Federation, where, to be an instructor, you need to have a state certificate or sailing instruction certificate (CAEV). At Les Glénans, there is no dogma, but the teaching methods are constantly called into question and challenged. Following the morning briefing, instructors get on board with their trainees and organize the exercises on the water around two or three buoys, with a series of tacks and jibes.
The main criticism of this system is that the instructor’s technical skills and educational qualities were not guaranteed. The other weakness with the teaching provided at Les Glénans is that it never took an interest in competition sailing. They preferred to promote good seamanship and knowledge of the marine environment, rather than regatta racing. The instructors easily make approximations, such as saying that to adjust your sail correctly, you need to trim it “to the limit of luffing”. While this statement is not incorrect, it lacks nuances and cannot satisfy a competitor.
From cruising to cruiser-racing
For learning cruising, Jean-Jacques Herbulot designs the Corsaire, a small ballasted dinghy, followed a few years later by the Mousquetaire. Two models that are used by many boaters for their first cruises. At Les Glénans, they set out from Concarneau or Paimpol.
They are organized as a flotilla of four identical boats (Mousquetaire, Cotres, Dogres or Nautiles). The trainees on board follow the coast from Brest to La Rochelle or from Saint-Malo to Ouessant. For the crews, life on board is particularly spartan, because the boats do not offer any comforts, with just a galley (a simple primus stove, no sink, and freshwater in jerry cans), “coffin-like” bunks without any privacy, and above all, no shower or toilet on board. In terms of handling, the boats also have very limited equipment, without any mechanical propulsion, often without winches and without a windlass.
Les Glénans also develops a fleet of ocean-going boats, with the Frégates (J-J Herbulot plan) and a 12m Bermudan cutter, the famous Sereine (classed as a historic monument today), which will for years be the largest boat at Les Glénans. Its sailing program is ambitious, from Scotland to England, Ireland, Spain and the Azores.
With these cruiser boats, the Centre Nautique des Glénans becomes an outstanding school for seamanship and handling skills. The captains of these ocean-going boats encourage Les Glénans to take an interest in cruiser-racing, which they see as an excellent way to support training and exchanges between crews. With this in mind, Les Glénans helps create the Sail Training Association, which, from 1956, will organize the Course des Grands Voiliers tall ships race, open to boats from schools in any country. The same year, on the Torbay-Lisbon route, Sereine, the only French boat competing, finishes third. Six years later, the club’s members fund the building of a racing yacht designed by the architect John Illingworth, the Glénan. This 13 meter yacht, which is very demanding in terms of its adjustments and handling, delivers strong performance levels for the time. In 1963 and 1965, it wins the RORC Challenge in class I.
Course selling a million copies
In 1961 and 1962, the two volumes of the Glénans Manual of Sailing are published. They are a compilation of everything that is taught at Les Glénans and share the collective experiences of its successive instructors on board the various boats, from sailing dinghies to cruisers. The second edition, released in 1972, combines the two volumes together and very quickly becomes the “bible” for all recreational boat users at the time.
The eighth edition, available today, is a comprehensive collection of 1,072 richly illustrated pages covering all types of boats, from beginners through to advanced levels. Translated into German, English, Spanish and Italian, the Glénans Manual of Sailing, all editions combined, has sold nearly one million copies! An outstanding literary success supported by the reputation and diligence of a great sailing school.