It is phenomenal, I holiday in france with my family in the summer, last year we stayed in the Vendee region, I think it is partly to do with the fact that the local councils see the benifit of promoting the sport for thier regions.

This may be peculiar to the Vendee, but they don't seem to have any of the problems with having sailing clubs on the beaches either. i.e there were no beach devlopments other than the catamaran sailing club. It takes a supportive council to have that situation.

Gareth