Plage des Trois Moutons & Sainte-Marguerite

Plage des Trois MoutonsSainte-Marguerite

1. Plage des Trois Moutons

   Atlantic ocean beach

   Trois Moutons is the busy end of a 2.8 km run of sand shared between Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau and Saint-Pabu, on the north coast of Finistere.

   intermediateadvanced

   In seasonno month named for this spot

   1. JanJ73
   2. FebF67
   3. MarM81
   4. AprA72
   5. MayM71
   6. JunJ45
   7. JulJ53
   8. AugA53
   9. SepS43
   10. OctO47
   11. NovN60
   12. DecD76

   modelled: days with three hours in a row at 12 kt or more, between 06:00 and 19:00 local

   Plage des Trois Moutons: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Plage des Trois Moutons

   It takes anything from W round to NE, and NE is the direction to wait for. The tide decides the session: at low water the sea is more than 500 m out and there are flat patches to play on, high water is chop, and a rising tide with swell in it puts up rideable waves. Reefs and pebbles show themselves and are easy enough to avoid; the current is the thing to respect, and it only bites once you ride well away from the beach. July and August are often 8-15 knots, so bring the big kite or the foil. In summer the far west of the beach is the school zone and yellow buoys east of the beach mark the bathing area; everything between is open to kites. Seaweed on the lines is a North Finistere thing you learn to live with. Nobody has published a wind range for this beach on its own, and rescue for independent riders is unconfirmed.

   Getting on the water

   Several car parks serve the Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau and Saint-Pabu beaches. The biggest and handiest for riders is the hardstanding facing the beach at 48.57045, -4.66413, with a grassy, sheltered overflow lot next to it.

   If it goes wrong

   Nothing dedicated. No lifeguard post covers the kite area and no rescue cover for independent riders is published; the beach is monitored for water quality, not for people in it. At sea, 196 from a phone or channel 16 on VHF reaches the CROSS, which is what tasks the lifeboats. When you call, give the beach as Plage de Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau - Les Trois Moutons and not Treompan, or help goes to the wrong sand. In July and August the schools work the far west end and are the nearest organised help on the beach.

   Room to rig

   Large 2.8 km sandy beach system, with riders often concentrated on the west side.

   Rules and access

   2026: in summer the far west of the beach is reserved for the schools and yellow buoys east of Plage des 3 Moutons mark the bathing area; the rest of the beach is open to kites, and reportedly there is a dedicated kitesurfing space through the summer season. No municipal bylaw text has been found.

   Everything on Plage des Trois Moutons

2. Sainte-Marguerite

   lagoon · beginner ok

   Sainte-Marguerite is the lagoon spot of the Pays des Abers, on the Landeda dunes in North Finistere, and the best-known kite beach on this stretch of the Brittany coast.

   intermediateadvanced

   In seasonno month named for this spot

   1. JanJ73
   2. FebF75
   3. MarM82
   4. AprA77
   5. MayM74
   6. JunJ50
   7. JulJ60
   8. AugA58
   9. SepS48
   10. OctO58
   11. NovN67
   12. DecD81

   modelled: days with three hours in a row at 12 kt or more, between 06:00 and 19:00 local

   Sainte-Marguerite: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Sainte-Marguerite

   The thing to understand is La Bassine: a sandy lagoon that only exists for about two hours either side of high tide, from roughly 5.50 m of water height, with coefficients of 40-80 the sweet spot. Inside that window it is flat, you can stand almost everywhere, and the water goes a colour you do not expect this far north. Outside it you are on the open beach among reefs, pebbles and oyster beds, or walking 800 m to find the sea at low water. Two things bite. On coefficients above 95 the emptying lagoon runs a current strong enough that getting home in light wind is hard, and July and August often sit around 8-15 kt, so bring the foil or the big kite. The wind is Atlantic low-pressure wind, W to NNW ideal, south generally gusty, with the odd NE thermal day in spring. AvelWest and Reve O Kite both teach here, weekends and summer high-tide windows get crowded, and a bathing zone in the south of the lagoon is closed to riding in summer on dates that differ between the two posted notices.

   Getting on the water

   Launch from the sandy Sainte-Marguerite/Landeda beach and time the lagoon for about two hours either side of high tide, from roughly 5.50 m of water height. Several parking lots sit within about 200 m of the beach; the point riders use is 48.59481, -4.60585.

   If it goes wrong

   The beach and the bathing area are supervised in July and August, with a lifeguard post on site; some of the lifeguards kite themselves. Outside those two months there is no cover on the sand, and no dedicated kite rescue boat has been found at any time of year.

   Room to rig

   Large sandy area, but weekends and summer get busy, above all in southwest wind when the lagoon is navigable.

   Rules and access

   2026: the two posted notices differ. One gives a bathing area in the southern part of the Sainte-Marguerite lagoon closed to all navigation from 1 July to 30 August; the other gives a bathing zone on the left side from 15 June to 15 September, with navigation strictly forbidden inside the yellow buoys. The municipality states only that the beach and bathing are supervised during the summer season, July and August, with a lifeguard post on site. Read the board on the beach before rigging.

   Everything on Sainte-Marguerite

• Brest Bretagne (about 25 minutes' drive from Landeda)

Kite bag rules for your airline

Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.

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Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →

1. The Sainte-Marguerite lagoon is real and it is shallow. Riders describe standing depth everywhere and roughly a metre of water at high tide, with the water flat enough for slalom and clear enough that people comment on the transparency.

   consensus×5 riders

2. The big sessions here are winter sessions. Session diaries from December to March record 3 m waves, 4.2 and 3.4 sails, water around 6 degrees, and enough people on the water on a good storm day that riders comment on the turnout.

   consensus×5 riders

3. Locals treat the two beaches as one system split by wind direction: north-west sends people to Trois Moutons, and south through west sends them to the Sainte-Marguerite dunes. Session diaries show the same riders swapping between them within a week.

   consensus×4 riders

4. Trois Moutons is tide-dependent in the opposite way: waves at high tide, nothing at low tide. Riders use that deliberately, going there when they want a swell and to the dunes when they want flat.

   majority×3 riders

5. This coast is understood as a lottery, especially in summer. Locals say the combination of west or west-south-west wind with the right swell direction only lines up sometimes, and visitors are told that grey and blown-out is simply what summer looks like here.

   majority×3 riders

6. It is not deserted. On a good June day riders describe the lagoon full of kites, and there are reports of five or six people out at Trois Moutons even in conditions overpowered on 3.4.

   majority×3 riders

7. The lagoon stops being flat above about 20 knots at low tide, and in a winter storm it is not a lagoon at all. One January report has a savage shorebreak to get out and waves rolling into the basin itself.

   majority×2 riders

8. Riders disagree about how good Trois Moutons actually is. Some call it a fallback that only fires when the wind goes full north-west and joke about it being made of crate wood; others say the spot genuinely earns the trip for its low-tide flat and clear water.

   contested×3 riders

What we could not settle. Ride here? These are the gaps worth filling.

• Is 'Plage des Trois Moutons & Sainte-Marguerite' the name riders actually use for this area?
• What do things cost in the Pays des Abers, how is the signal, and what is there to do off the water?
• Is there a bus from Brest to Landeda or Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau, or do you need a car?