Hydrofoiling France between Montpellier and Nice, best place?

[happywizz]

Hello foiling colleagues,

Next week I'm going for two weeks to the south of France. What will be the best place to foil between Montpellier and Nice, is that Hyères or are there better alternatives?
I like to train with a race foil and have all kite sizes available.
I know there is a lot of coast but is there also a nice lake? With my foil kites I prefer fresh water as I do crash quite a lot.

Thanks for helping!
Cheers, Frank

[Regis-de-giens]

Hi,
Lake I do not think. From nice toward toulon you can find :

- St Laurent du var (not official kite spot, Technical and dirty water but almost fresh due to the river). Not easy for beginners due to rocks proximity and river current

- Cannes (official spot) , nice water but extremely narrow beach and building proximity. Not recommended for beginners with frequent accidents.

- St aygulf : one of the best place to foil, a bit more steady wind, nice and large beach, several foils. In september there is a official kite start area, compulsory and reserved to kites. Nice for beginners.

- Almanarre near Hyeres. Mithycal spot from decades for windsurf. Beach is 17m large, so not a lot of place to launch , but enough. Very often wind and thermic. West wind is ok but a bit of shore break. East wind is off ... but magical because steady on glassy water. If you fear offshore winds, one spot is side-on at about 5 km from almanarre (Merou). Another spot is on-shore at 2km but not authorized (so only if high wind and nice waves) when no tourists goes to the water.
A lot of excellent foilers and champions (Foil competition shool) so the spectacle is creasy. I should be there in 10 days if you want.

Then after Toulon / Marseille/ Montpellier I do not know well. Napoleon near Marseille (I went once and liked it, laaaarge beach), le gros du roi and l Espiguette are reputed spots. One mythical spot is beauduc, sauvage large beach but long dusty road to reach it.

I can link to my videos of mosts of these spots if you want to see how it is.

[happywizz]

Hi Regis,

Thx for the info. Most helpful, if you can link some videos that would be great!

[bragnouff]

That's quite a good time to visit there, as the bulk of the tourist and swimmers will be gone. June to September is honestly a pain with so many restrictions in force, struggle to park, struggle to launch, struggle to use the few authorized channels to get at the back... Kind of spoils the fun a little bit in my opinion. Espiguette and Grau du Roi are great options There's a whole bay to play in, with typical foiling missions exploring that bay in safety with the dominant NW or SW winds. Tends to be busy inshore at times, and just be wary of some sketchy launches by the odd clueless user. SE/S/SW works anywhere on the South facing beaches closer to Montpellier, that allows a good spread of kiters along the coast.

If you want space, it's worth going to Beauduc, magical place, windy, salty, isolated. But don't tell your rental car company...

I don't know about regulations for le Jai near Marseille Airport, but I think there's huge potential for hydrofoiling, as it's really massive with lots of landscape features to entertain your sights. (That also includes some petrochemical eyesores, though)

[happywizz]

"But don't tell your rental car company... "
Haha I'm going with my own car

" le Jai near Marseille Airport"
I was thinking about this place to (my sister lives in Marseille, so its quite near), I believe I saw some Youtube videos from foilers at this lake

[Regis-de-giens]

So, In the order fromm Nice toward Marseille :
St Laurent:
https://youtu.be/JkXsGIDe2ws
Cannes:
https://vimeo.com/197566084
St Aygulf :
https://vimeo.com/98179861

Almanarre: West wind:
https://youtu.be/IuxZ8Mxkbg0
East Wind :
https://vimeo.com/248564657

Almanarre-Badine (2km from Almanarre when Est wind : on-shore + waves:
https://vimeo.com/144991328

Napoleon near Marseille:
https://youtu.be/d_2hP5PBoEA

[happywizz]

Wauw, super thx Regis!