Anchorage

Plage de Boulogne-sur-Mer

Shelter: NE, E, S, SE
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Open roadstead off the beach of Boulogne-sur-Mer on the Côte d'Opale, about 1.3 nm north-west of the harbour entrance.

Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the west along the coast of the Pas-de-Calais. Sand bottom with fair holding and a large tidal range of about 7 metres, so a boat able to take the ground can dry out on sand for a low water landing. Anchoring in the outer harbour between the port-hand buoy and the port pier is no longer permitted; bring up east of a line between the port-hand entry and the port side pier, off the north pier, which is not yet a finished breakwater. Call Port Control on VHF channel 12, which will note a mobile number so the set need not stay on overnight. Yellow buoys mark bathing areas. Sheltered from NE, E, S and SE, fully exposed to W and NW and to the Channel ground swell. Heavy commercial and ferry traffic uses the approach channel, so keep well clear.

Practical

A berth in the marina costs about 51 euros for a 13 metre boat if the anchorage does not suit. Bars, a supermarket and other facilities are within a 20 minute walk.

Ashore

Nausicaá, the French national sea centre, sits on the seafront and is the largest aquarium in Europe with over 58000 animals. Boulogne Ville Haute with its 13th century ramparts is about 1.5 km inland from the beach.

History

Boulogne-sur-Mer was the Gesoriacum of Roman Gaul and the main port of embarkation for the Roman invasion of Britain under Claudius in AD 43. Napoleon assembled the Armée d'Angleterre in the camp of Boulogne between 1803 and 1805 in preparation for an invasion of England that never sailed.