In 2016, Armel Le Cléac'h sailed close to the wild coast of the Île d'Yeu, and many people, including myself, went to greet him at the Pointe du Châtelet. A few hours earlier, he had sailed further along the coast of Belle-Île. Arriving from the north-west, he'd certainly caught sight of the great lighthouse on Île d'Yeu, built by the same Vendée architect of the Armandèche lighthouse, the same one that marks the start of the Vendée Globe.
The decision to build a lighthouse on the northeast tip of Yeu Island was prompted by the sinking of a large state-owned barge, the Active, which was lost on the Basse-Flore reefs on January 4, 1827 while en route to Saint-Nazaire to pick up nuns bound for the Colonies. The story goes that the captain fired an alarm cannon, and the Islais, alerted but powerless, saw the last of the 80-man crew standing at the end of the mainmast before disappearing.
Commissioned in 1830, the Petite Foule lighthouse was destroyed by German troops on their departure in 1944. Rebuilt in 1950 and commissioned the following year, the current white tower is 38 meters high. The lighthouse was automated in 1980 and, listed as a historic monument since November 2011, is open to visitors.
And so ends this round-the-world tour of a dozen lighthouses. Of course, the choices were dictated by the route taken by the Vendée Globe skippers, of course, these choices are arbitrary, but it leaves open the possibility of another round-the-world voyage with different images... See you in four years?
