Boats at Cap Ferret: “Nearly 10% of France’s moorings are on the peninsula,” berths are expensive

This summer, the municipality has 2,800 moorings along its intra-basin coastline, from Claouey to Mimbeau, with 450 people on the waiting list. The delegated management ends in 2026.

They are a landscape in their own right on the Cap Ferret peninsula, marking almost its entirety on the Bassin side. A total of 2,800 buoys this summer, like so many dotted lines floating over 20 kilometers along the shore. Mooring or deadweight: a large float connected to a "stone" (small block of concrete) buried in the sand by a chain 8 to 14 meters long, a set equipped with a whip and another small float to secure the mooring of the boat of professionals and many pleasure boaters. These 2,800 buoys are divided into four categories according to the size of the boats, 80% of them being five to eight meters long and with a power between 100 and 200 hp.

Concrete moorings, anti-fooling of boats, thermal engines for 70% of them: moorings are a major economic vector for tourism and the well-being of boaters, but also a sensitive environmental issue. The management of these highly sought-after "water parking spaces" (450 people on the waiting list) is the prerogative of the municipality , via a fifteen-year delegation agreement by the State, which ends at the end of the year - consultation with stakeholders is underway.

"At the time, there were 3,350 moorings and, as part of the sea development plan, a reduction to 2,800 was indeed imposed, but this provided for a dry port with 500 berths at Jane-de-Boy, a port that will not be built," contextualizes the mayor Philippe de Gonneville, and recalls that "nearly 10% of France's moorings are on the peninsula."

Pressured nonetheless by the Departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea (DDTM) to reduce the number of moorings to 2,800, the City has finally succeeded a few months before the end of its delegation, which it hopes to renew for ten years. "Maintaining nautical activity is fundamental," adds the elected official. "We would like to return to a number of 3,000 to 3,200 moorings in the long term, more suited to demand. I would like to remind you that they protect against uncontrolled mooring." And to ensure environmental guarantees such as the 50 euro reduction for owners of electric boats and sailboats or the provision of 575 "ecological moorings" (with a Kevlar nylon line that does not scrape the bottom like the chain) on the first lines of the zones in 2025 (1).

The peninsula's moorings are installed for eight months each year, and at the Canon maritime center, three agents orchestrate their use. Approximately 2,500 of them are allocated to holders of high-season passes (from March ¹ to October 31) at 720 euros (2), or short-season passes (from June 15 to September 15) at 660 euros, the other 300 so-called "transit" ones allow flexibility over shorter periods, from one day to two months, with the June-July or August-September passes being displayed at 650 euros.

"Owners also notify us that their boat will be absent for certain periods," says Pierre Riboulet, head of the center. "This allows us to offer them. Like a hotel with its rooms, we try to make sure the moorings are used as much as possible." On July 30, he found a buyer for the week of August 2 to 8. "Of the 450 people on the waiting list this year, 339 responded favorably to offers of temporary moorings." For periods that were certainly shorter than requested.

"It takes an average of two to three years of being in a mooring to become a permanent resident," asserts Pierre Riboulet, confronting the cliché of "a twenty-year wait." He refutes recurring suspicions of favoritism. "The allocation committee prioritizes primary residents first, then secondary residents, and finally non-residents." In these three categories, the seniority of the application is also taken into account.

(1) An investment of approximately 400,000 euros from the State and 100,000 euros from the municipality.

(2) Prices for 80% of boats (between 5 and 8 meters and between 100 and 200 HP)