The gently shelving beaches offer safe surroundings for beginners to learn to sail

Discover sailing, train for competitions, or join in a group cruise at the Regional sailing Centre in Dunkerque.

Dunkerque's Municipal sailing School will train you for competition sailing or pleasure-boating.

Sea-angling off Gravelines or Dunkerque

The sailing club at Gravelines at the mouth of the river Aa

A good place to learn
Wearing your bright life-jacket, you and your companions are sailing a small dinghy with a flotilla of other beginners. You're sailing parallel to the shore about a kilometre out to sea.

Because the sandy beach shelves so gently, on many days the waves are quite gentle too.Your skilled instructor is teaching you the basics, and you know he's keeping a careful eye on you. Back to top

Summer seaside playground
Along both the Channel and the North Sea coasts, the region has developed extensive facilities for recreational sailing - from sandy beaches, and from sheltered harbours.

Sail boats for hire
The sailing schools offer sailing boats for hire to experienced sailors as well as lessons and outings. They cater for schools and groups as well as individuals. Back to top

Sea angling and boat trips
You can hire a boat for sea angling expeditions, and cast a rod in the excellent offshore fishing grounds.

At Boulogne, Dunkerque and Gravelines you can go on a short sea cruise. Boat trips set off from the ports to give you an interesting water-based view of the harbours and ships.
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The inland Lac des Herons offers lessons in sailing, wind-surfing and other water sports.

Children enjoy outdoor swimming, pedal-boating, fishing at the Lac des Herons

Sailing school at Etaples

Learning to sail for children
Younger children can enjoy playing in the water in safety in the supervised leisure facilities of the Lac des Herons at Ghyvelde.

This is one of the activities offered by the "Dunes de Flandres" scheme. It's run by six coastal municipalities between Dunkerque and Bray-Dunes - all under the umbrella of the nationally-recognised "KID stations" scheme.

The centre has equipment for hire, and caters for school groups as well as individuals.

At Etaples children and adults can learn to sail in the sheltered estuary of the river Canche, venturing out into the bay as you gain confidence.
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