French Beach Culture

Nice Beach, No Wind

We are spending several days visiting family and a lot of days have us heading to the beach.  Unfortunately, there hasn't been any wind.  Like really, not a breath.  We tried going out on a hobie cat but even that was slow and sometimes difficult to get going.  Amazingly, there were 3 sailing schools on this beach in St. Nazaire, and each one had a good selection of windsurfing boards for rent.  They were also doing a lot of windsurfing lessons, despite the lack of wind.  I generally like to teach beginners when there is at least a ripple on the water indicating the wind direction, and there aren't huge swells.  But at least they had good floaty beginner boards and small sails.

French Big Box Sporting Retail

The beach culture is pretty amazing.  Everyone has boogie boards, and beach umbrellas.  The French have a huge department store chain called Decathalon, and it is full of sporting equipment.  The one we visited in Bordeaux even has a section dedicated to windsurfing and kiting equipment.