The plan was always to cross the Atlantic. What we had not worked out, the first autumn, was where to spend the winter beforehand. We ended up wintering in France, partly by accident, and it turned out to be one of the better decisions of the whole project. By the time we slipped the lines in April, the boat was ready, the crew was rested, and the long run south to Gibraltar felt like the start of something rather than the end of a scramble.
Here is the case for spending the winter before an Atlantic crossing in France, and how to do it well.
Why France, and not Spain or Portugal
The conventional wisdom sends Atlantic-bound boats straight to Lagos or the Canaries to overwinter. Plenty do, and it works. But France has real advantages for the year before the off, especially if you are coming from northern Europe and not in a tearing hurry.
The yards are excellent and the trades are deep. France has a serious marine industry, which means you can get a rig surveyed, a saildrive serviced, a watermaker fitted or a windvane built without shipping parts halfway across a continent. Chandlery is good and the technicians know their trade. For a boat being readied for an ocean, that ecosystem matters more than a few extra degrees of winter sun.
The cost can be lower than you expect. Winter berthing and hardstanding in France, particularly on the Atlantic coast away from the Riviera, is competitive, and many marinas offer winter contracts at a fraction of the summer nightly rate. The annual running costs of a boat in France breakdown shows where the money actually goes, and a winter base is a much smaller line than people fear.
And France leaves you well positioned. From the Atlantic coast you are already on the right side of the country for the run down to Gibraltar; from the Med you are set up for the costas route. Either way, the France to Gibraltar long leg south starts from your doorstep in spring.
Where to base for the winter
Three regions stand out, each with a different character.
- The Atlantic south-west, around La Rochelle, Les Sables-d'Olonne and the Vendee. This is the natural staging post for a Biscay-then-Portugal departure. La Rochelle is a major sailing town with everything an ocean boat needs, and you are already poised to go south. The La Rochelle visitor guide gives the lie of the land.
- Brittany, for the hardy. Cheaper in places, superb yards, but a damp, dark winter and tides to contend with. Fine if you enjoy the off-season quiet and the boatyards are why you came.
- The Mediterranean, if your route runs east-to-west along the costas. Milder, but the Riviera is dear and berths are scarce. The Mediterranean versus Atlantic base in France comparison weighs this up properly.
For an Atlantic crossing specifically, I would point you at the Atlantic coast every time. You are on the right side of France and your shakedown sails in spring are exactly the kind of conditions you want before an ocean.
Ashore or afloat?
The big winter decision is whether to haul out or stay in the water.
Hauling out (wintering ashore) lets you antifoul, service the saildrive or shaft, check the keel bolts and do anything below the waterline at leisure. Hardstanding is generally cheaper than a marina berth for the season, and the boat is safe from winter gales in the water. The downside is you cannot live aboard comfortably and you pay for the lift each way. The wintering ashore in France, yards and costs piece has the typical figures.
Staying afloat (boat afloat in winter) suits crews who want to live aboard, keep working on systems, and do the odd shakedown sail on a fine winter day. You will be wetter and you will need to manage damp and heating, but you keep the boat as a home. The boat afloat in winter in France guide covers the practicalities.
We hauled out for two months to do the underwater jobs, then relaunched in February and lived aboard afloat for the final fit-out. Best of both, if your yard allows the flexibility.
The paperwork, because it bites
Leaving a boat in France over winter, especially a non-EU boat, comes with admin you ignore at your peril. A non-EU flagged boat under temporary admission cannot simply sit in France indefinitely without consequences, and the clock on the 18-month temporary admission rule for non-EU boats keeps running while she is laid up. There are ways to manage it, but you need to know the rules before, not after.
For British boats the post-Brexit picture changed everything, and wintering decisions now interact with VAT status and time limits in a way they never used to. The leaving your boat in France over winter, the paperwork guide is essential reading if you are not EU-flagged. Get this wrong and a relaxed winter turns into a tax problem.
The winter jobs list
This is the real reason to winter somewhere with good yards: an ocean passage exposes everything you skimped on. Our list, roughly in order of priority:
- Standing rigging inspected and, where due, replaced. Most insurers and surveyors work to a 10 to 15 year replacement guideline for stainless standing rigging, and an Atlantic crossing is not the time to push it.
- Steering and self-steering: a windvane or a serviced autopilot, plus a tested emergency tiller.
- Ground tackle upgraded for ocean anchorages, and chain re-galvanised or replaced.
- Sails checked and a storm jib and trysail confirmed aboard and hanked-on tested.
- Liferaft serviced (servicing is typically due every one to three years depending on make) and grab bag built.
- Watermaker, solar and lithium sorted so you are not chained to marinas, which the solar and lithium for a French summer cruise notes cover for the lighter-use case.
Provisioning is its own project, and France is a glorious place to do it. We stocked the bilges over the winter with the dry stores and, crucially, the wine, that would see us across. The transatlantic prep and provisioning in France guide is the companion piece to this one and goes deep on the food side.
Living through a French winter afloat
If you stay aboard, the enemy is damp, not cold. A French Atlantic winter is rarely brutally cold, but it is wet and the days are short, and condensation will run down the inside of a poorly ventilated hull until the lockers go mouldy. We ran a small dehumidifier whenever we had shore power and cracked a vent at each end of the boat to keep air moving. A diesel heater earned its keep on the worst evenings, and dry, warm bedding did more for crew morale than anything else over those dark weeks.
The social side matters more than people admit. A winter marina full of other long-distance boats is a goldmine of local knowledge, spare parts and crewing leads, and the cruisers who had crossed before were generous with what they knew. We picked up our weather-routing approach, half our provisioning list and a second-hand windvane from neighbours on the pontoon. If you are weighing a liveaboard winter, the boat afloat in winter in France guide has the practicalities, but the human network you build is the part you cannot read about in advance.
The spring departure
The reason to winter in France rather than push straight to the Canaries in autumn is timing. The classic trade-wind Atlantic crossing leaves the Canaries in November, but if you are not ready by then you would be far better wintering safe in France than crossing Biscay late and arriving frazzled. Winter in France, leave fresh in spring, work south down the Atlantic coast through the late spring and summer, and arrive at Gibraltar and onward to the Canaries with the whole of the next autumn season ahead of you.
That is the rhythm we found. A quiet, productive French winter, a spring run south while the boat and crew were at their best, and an arrival at the Atlantic gateway with time to spare. France gave us the workshop, the staging post and the provisions. The ocean did the rest.
