La Rochelle (Municipality, Charente-Maritime, France)

Last modified: 2010-12-03 by ivan sache
Keywords: rochelle (la) | charente-maritime | triangle (blue) | cross (blue) | letters: srr (red) | star (white) | letter: c (white) |
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Flag of La Rochelle - Image by Pascal Gross, 8 September 20001

• Presentation of La Rochelle
• Flag of La Rochelle
• The Four Sergents of La Rochelle
• Yacht clubs in La Rochelle
  • Société des Régates Rochelaises
  • Yacht Club Classique
• Association Rochelaise de Pêche à Vapeur

See also:

• France
• Charente-Maritime (Department, France)

Presentation of La Rochelle

The municipality of La Rochelle (76,848 inhabitants in 2007; 2,843 ha) is located on the Atlantic Ocean. A Protestant stronghold during the French Wars of Religion, the town was seized after a two-year siege (1627-1628) by Louis XIII's Royal army, commanded by Cardinal of Richelieu.

La Rochelle is particularly renowned for yachting industry, races and its main marina (Port des Minimes). The town gained also some celebrity in the 1980s because of the original transportation policy developed by the late Mayor Michel Crépeau. Most cars were excluded from the downtown and replaced with bikes that could be used freely.

Ivan Sache, 9 September 2001

Flag of La Rochelle

The flag of La Rochelle can be seen flying on the embankment of the old harbour. It is a white flag with a blue triangle on which the word "La Rochelle" is written in alternating black and white letters.

Pascal Gross, 8 September 2001

Yacht Clubs in la Rochelle

Société des Régates Rochelaises

Burgee of SRR - Image by Ivan Sache, 28 December 2004

Société des Régates Rochelaises (SRR) was founded in 1860. Until 1890, the only activity of SRR was the organization, every 15 August, of a regatta for rowing boats, fishing boats and a few yachting boats. The profit of the regatta was awarded to seamen's widows.
In 1893 (or 1863?), SRR was reconnue d'utilité publique (state approved), which is unique among French sport associations.
In the 1950s, the SRR developed light and cruise sailing; the club organized in 1964 the first Semaine Internationale de la Voile, with 312 entrants. In 1990, there were 1,279 entrants.
The town of La Rochelle and SRR are today among the main organizers of deep-sea races for multi-hull sailing ships, including the Transat La Rochelle-New Orleans. In 1987, several members of the SRR were in the crew and technical staff of French Kiss, which competed in the America's Cup. In 1991, France won for the first time the Admiral's Cup, with again several members of SRR on board. In 1998, La Rochelle was a stopover port of the Whitbread race, and SRR was appointed local organizer.
Current membership of SRR is 700. The clubhouse of SRR is located on the Port des Minimes. Would Paris have been awarded the organization of the 2012 Olympic Games, the yachting races would have taken place in La Rochelle, which has a natural racing basin (3,000 ha) protected by the islands of Ré and Oléron.

The burgee of SRR is white with a blue cross, the red letters SRR in canton and the emblem of the club in the middle of the cross. The emblem on the cross is a white oval with a blue cross outlined in red, surmonted with a crown and flanked by two fishes (?).

Ivan Sache, 28 April 2007

Yacht Club Classique

Flag and burgee of YCC - Images by Ivan Sache, 3 December 2009

Yacht Club Classique (YCC), founded in 2005 and based at La Rochelle, has three main goals:
- to preserve the yachting heritage via the European Yachting Archives:
- to organize regatta and popular events for classic yachts;
- to promote the restoration of classic yachts.

"Classic yachts" are defined by the Scientific Council of YCC as follows:
- single-copy or prototype yachts matching the original plans and launched at least 25 years ago;
- yachts built in less than 20 copies matching the original plans and launched at least 50 years ago;
- yacht replica built after plans designed earlier than 31 December 1939, as well as yachts built after the spirit of that period.

The burgee of YCC, as shown graphically on the club website is blue with a red triangle, charged with a white star, placed along the hoist. The triangle is separated from the blue field by a white fimbriation, which also divides the blue field in two equal, horizontal parts, each charged with a white "C".
Among the members of YCC, only the owners or co-owners of a classic yacht are granted the burgee of YCC.

A press communique by the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle relates the presentation on 3 June 2009 of the YCC's yearbook, "Challenge Classique Atlantique 2009". A photo taken during the ceremony shows the flag of YCC, hoisted inside the YCC's flagship, France I, as similar to the burgee, but with the star tilted to the upper right corner of the flag.

Ivan Sache, 3 December 2009