Côte d'Opale

Longe-côte on the Opal Coast

Aquatic walking was born here, in Dunkirk, and has never really left

A group in wetsuits walking through water up to the waist, at the foot of the cliffs

The essentials

Where: Côte d'Opale
How long: One to two hours
Price: Supervised session or club membership

Born in Dunkirk in 2005
Year-round
No level required
In a group

It's one of the rare sports you can say exactly where and when it was born: in Dunkirk, in 2005, invented by Thomas Wallyn, a rowing club coach looking for cross-training for his rowers. The idea fit into one sentence: walk in water up to the diaphragm, paddle in hand.

Twenty years on, the discipline has a federation and is practised across France. But this coast has the highest density of clubs per kilometre, and it's practised here in February just as much as in August.

Why it works on this coast

You need a regular sandy bottom, a gentle slope and slow-rising water: exactly the profile of the beaches around Dunkirk and Calais, where you can walk hundreds of metres with water at your waist.

The other reason is social. Longe-côte is practised in lines, in a group, and always ends with a coffee: it's a club sport before it's a performance sport, and this coast has plenty of clubs.

What you need

A 3–5 mm wetsuit outside summer — the water drops below 10°C in winter
Neoprene booties: the sand hides shells
A paddle, often lent by the club for your first sessions
Nothing else. No level required, no need to swim breaststroke

Getting started

You never start alone. Clubs along the coast run supervised taster sessions with equipment provided, and that's also how you learn where to enter the water: not every beach is suitable, and rip currents exist here too.

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