Map › France › Plage des Trois Moutons & Sainte-Marguerite › Plage des Trois Moutons

Bretagne · Pays des Abers - Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau / Saint-Pabu · Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau

Plage des Trois Moutons

also known as Treompan, Dunes de Treompan, 3 Moutons, Les Trois Moutons Beach, Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau - Les Trois Moutons

advanced onlyhigh crowds

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
FAQ

Nearby Sainte-Marguerite 5 km · straight-line distance

Seasonno season namedthe months riders and schools name How windy8-9 knotsmixed LaunchLarge 2.8 km sandy beach system, with riders often concentrated on the west side.access rules on record, below WaterAtlantic ocean beach16°C in summer · 14 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools5named at this spot From the airport25 minBrest Bretagne Airport

On the clock

16:00

No fill-in hour to wait for. The wind is Atlantic weather-system wind and the rare spring NE thermals are the only daily cycle worth the name. Averaged over the year the modelled hourly wind climbs from about 9.5 knots overnight to 11.7 knots at 16:00, so afternoons run roughly two knots up on the night - a tilt, not an onset. The tide is what you time the session to. Modelled reanalysis, no local anemometer.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

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. 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.

The wind

Direction

cross-onW through NE

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: No fill-in hour to wait for. The wind is Atlantic weather-system wind and the rare spring NE thermals are the only daily cycle worth the name. Averaged over the year the modelled hourly wind climbs from about 9.5 knots overnight to 11.7 knots at 16:00, so afternoons run roughly two knots up on the night - a tilt, not an onset. The tide is what you time the session to. Modelled reanalysis, no local anemometer.

Typical strength

Modelled 10 m wind at the beach averages 8-9 knots from May to September and 11-13 knots from October to March. Twelve knots or more comes up in about 17-24% of summer hours and 42-54% of hours from December to March; 18 knots or more is a 1-5% summer event and a 14-24% winter one. On the day, July and August often top out around 8-15 knots. Reanalysis at the coordinate rather than a beach anemometer, and the figure quoted for the spot is the annual mean.

The Celtic Sea lows give North Finistere a stable, regular wind most of the year. Spring throws in the odd NE thermal day; summer has its light spells.

Spring gives the odd good NE thermal day, but they are rare. July-August is often light: foil weather, or the biggest kite you own. Autumn and winter swell on a rising tide is when the wave sessions happen.

Thermal or synoptic

mainly synoptic Atlantic depressions; rare NE thermals in spring in North Finistere

Also on record

The quiver, in words

Light kite or foil is the local advice for the July-August light spells. Indicative for a 75-85 kg rider, worked out from the wind statistics rather than from riders on the sand: a 12 m carries most of the summer with a 15 m or the foil for the flat days, and from October to March a 9 m sits on the average with a 7 m for the front days.

Direction to shore

West round to northeast is the working sector and northeast is the one to wait for: on NE the wind comes in side-onshore and the water goes flat. From the south it turns gusty. There is nothing downwind of the launch to be blown into.

Dominant direction

W through NE; NE is the best of them.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan73
Feb67
Mar81
Apr72
May71
Jun45
Jul53
Aug53
Sep43
Oct47
Nov60
Dec76

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

73%Jan11°
67%Feb11°
81%Mar11°
72%Apr12°
71%May15°
45%Jun17°
53%Jul18°
53%Aug19°
43%Sep17°
47%Oct15°
60%Nov14°
76%Dec12°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	73%	79%	77%	19.7 kt	SW	14:00	8.3°C	10.8°C	62
Feb	67%	82%	75%	17.5 kt	SW	11:00	9.5°C	10.8°C	57
Mar	81%	92%	89%	19.4 kt	WSW	14:00	9.8°C	11°C	62
Apr	72%	88%	83%	18.7 kt	W	15:00	10.7°C	12.4°C	60
May	71%	90%	79%	15.9 kt	NE	14:00	13.3°C	14.8°C	62
Jun	45%	60%	57%	13.4 kt	NE	15:00	15.6°C	17.4°C	60
Jul	53%	76%	68%	14 kt	SW	15:00	17.1°C	18°C	62
Aug	53%	74%	63%	14 kt	SW	14:00	17.6°C	18.9°C	62
Sep	43%	68%	60%	14.7 kt	NE	15:00	16.2°C	17.4°C	60
Oct	47%	76%	69%	15.2 kt	WSW	15:00	14.6°C	15.4°C	62
Nov	60%	75%	72%	18.5 kt	W	12:00	12.1°C	14°C	60
Dec	76%	84%	81%	20.5 kt	SW	13:00	9.6°C	11.8°C	62

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

Atlantic ocean beach

Standing depth

Big shallow flats at low tide; how far you can stand at other water heights is unconfirmed.

Tides

Big tidal range. Rideable at every water height, but the sea backs off more than 500 m at low tide, high tide is choppier, and a rising tide with swell brings waves.

Temperature

16°C summer · 10°C winter

Wetsuit

A 5/4 mm wetsuit suits most of the year in North Finistere; 4/3 or 3/2 mm plus boots near the August peak, and 5/4 or 5/3 mm with gloves, boots and hood near the February low.

Currents

Close to the beach the current is moderate; ride well away from shore and you enter the current-affected water.

11–19°C water

The beach is part of a 2.8 km near-continuous sandy system shared by Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau and Saint-Pabu. Low tide can offer flat areas; high tide is choppier; rising tide and swell create wave-riding conditions.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Learnable with a school, which is why the summer kite area exists, but the waves on a rising tide and the current farther out are not beginner conditions. Learn here with an instructor, not on your own.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridewavesflat water at low tideprogression with school supervision

Local kiters share it with the wingfoilers, the windsurfers and the schools. Most of the crowd bunches on the west side; walk east and you have space.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

5 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

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

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Sainte-Marguerite, 5 km

Sainte-Marguerite

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

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.

Launch

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.

Space

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

Hazards riders report 14

currents farther from shore
visible reefs
waves can be difficult for beginners
summer school and bathing zones
visible reefs and pebbles
currents when riding well offshore
waves on the rising tide during swell
large tidal range and long low-tide walk
seaweed in North Finistere can catch lines
summer school zone at the far west
summer bathing zone marked by yellow buoys east of Plage des 3 Moutons
small rocky stream beside the launch zone; do not launch toward it, especially at high tide when the beach narrows
a few oyster parks uncover at low tide - keep clear
gusty wind whenever it comes from the south

Rules & 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.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Ride the low-tide flats for freeride and freestyle, and budget for the walk: the sea goes out more than 500 m.
Rising tide with swell is a wave session for intermediates and up, not a place to learn.
In July and August pack the foil or your biggest kite; 8-15 knots is a normal summer day here.
Stay out of the far-west school zone and away from the yellow buoys east of the beach in summer.
Park on the big hardstanding facing the beach (48.57045, -4.66413); there is a grassy sheltered lot next to it when that is full.
Check your lines for seaweed before every launch.
If you have to call for help, say Plage de Lampaul-Ploudalmezeau - Les Trois Moutons, not Treompan. The two names point at different places for the rescue services.
Wait for northeast if you can. It is the one direction that gives flat water side-onshore; south wind here is gusty.
December to March is when the wind is actually there: about half the hours make 12 knots, against a fifth in midsummer.
Avoid launching toward the small rocky stream beside the launch zone, especially near high tide when the beach narrows.

Getting there

Airport

Brest Bretagne Airport

Route

About 25 minutes by car from Brest, whose airport (BES) is the nearest; the 3 Moutons and Sainte-Marguerite beaches are the two teaching beaches on this stretch.

Transfer

25 min

Staying

The local school can point you to places to stay; what they are and what they cost is unconfirmed.

No-wind days

beach walking · paddle or swimming in safe zones when conditions allow · coastal photography · nearby Brest/Iroise coast visits

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Trois Moutons?

North Finistère wind is generally stable from Celtic Sea depressions, with light periods in July and August that suit foil or light-wind kites.

Is Trois Moutons good for beginners?

A summer kite area is supervised for learning, but independent beginners should be cautious since waves and current increase farther offshore.

What is the wind direction at Trois Moutons?

The beach works from west through northeast, with northeast cited as the most favorable direction.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

In summer the far west of the beach is reserved for schools, and a bathing area marked by yellow buoys sits east of the beach; the rest is open for kiting.

What hazards exist at Trois Moutons?

Visible reefs and pebbles, currents when riding well offshore, seaweed that can catch lines, and a large tidal range with a long low-tide walk are the main hazards.

Last updated: August 2026