A getaway plan

gerryraby1

gerryraby1

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How about this. I buy a boat in the med and enjoy her for holidays for a few years before cutting the ties and getting away. Heres the rub. I have found a boat in Lefkas but flights to Preveza are prohibitive. If I keep her on Corfu flights are much cheaper BUT where to keep her. I have just looked at Gouvia marina prices and I cant afford that. I am happy to have her hauled out in the winter but what about the summer?
It will need to be somewhere cheap and accessible.
Any suggestions?
 
Sounds like you can't bring yourself to actually break those ties and do it. Either that or you can't actually afford what you want to do.
So! My suggestions is this... If you REALLY want to getaway, set your sights smaller, ignore anybody that tells you it's not possible, and just do it.
 
Welcome to the forum.

No easy answer. There are few places to leave a boat safely for long periods in the water in the summer, although many to haul out for the winter. The two marinas, Gouvia and Levkas are about the same price, about two thirds of UK price, but still expensive for just short periods of use.

Our solution was to buy a boat under a charter management scheme. Most schemes are for 6 seasons and you can pay around 55% of the boat cost. This gives you anywhere up to 6 weeks usage for free, and no ongoing costs to you. At the end you own the boat and can either sell it and probably get back most of what you paid, or you can pay the VAT and keep it. This is exactly what we have done and have just taken over our boat to do the getaway bit.

Most of the Greek operators have such schemes, although like everything in Euroland they are not the bargain they used to be. Suggest you talk to Chris Hawes of Yachtfractions who is agent for Kiriacoulis if you are interested in this route.
 
I know of at least two places on corfu where you can leave your boat for free but you would be sensible to pay a local to keep an eye on it for you. boat prices are plumiting especialy in greece, try putting in a silly offer and you might find that you save enough to pay for a marina berth for a year or two.
 
Added advantage of charter management - you can take your "owner weeks" on a similar boat to your own in any of their bases. We're in our second season in the Kiriacoulis scheme, and so far have sampled Ionian, Cyclades, Turkey and Sardinia - maybe Caribbean next spring. "Up to 6 weeks" means low season - in high season this reduces to 2, but you can buy additional weeks at 60% of charter price.
 
Hi Nathan Its not that I cant bring myself to do it but more prudence. I still have a sprog at university and want to work for a few more years to get the capital so I CAN do it comfortably. I don’t want to leave the UK with any debt around my neck.
 
Hi Dockmaster
I am interested in your places to moor free. Would you like to divulge your secrets to me (and the world)?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi Nathan Its not that I cant bring myself to do it but more prudence. I still have a sprog at university and want to work for a few more years to get the capital so I CAN do it comfortably. I don’t want to leave the UK with any debt around my neck.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, my apologies for that late night reply of mine, it was perhaps a little brash. I suppose it's horses for courses. As somebody on the countdown to becoming a liveaboard (T minus 2 months /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) I'm very much looking forward to spending some time around the UK before I venture off to exotic places.

Still, the best of luck to whatever you choose!
 
Nathan,

T minus 2 months - bet your so excited!! We are T minus 10 days and it still doesn't feel real!

I agree with you about obstacles cropping up ... I've often heard of bluewater cruisers referred to as the 1% club, as only 1% of those who plan to do it actually follow it through. I know for us we have had a nightmare with the housing market for the last year and have had to change our plans and remortgage and rent the house as we couldn't sell it. I suppose its one of those things where you find out if you really want to do it or not, I know of other people who have got close and then found a 'good excuse' not to go. I think if you really really want it then you will find a way around the obstacles that appear.

We are setting off and spending a month or so around the Irish sea before heading across Biscay - fingers crossed the British weather plays ball with that idea!


Gerry ... just a thought, is the med the best place to keep it? What ever boat you buy will need work doing to it to bring it up to your standards for liveaboard use (I was told to budget 10 - 20% of value for this, and for us it was around the 20% mark (perhaps nearer 25%!!!) - although I assume you've budgeted for this?). My point is that we have spent many many weekends doing this work which has saved us many thousands of pounds in professional labour and has also given us invaluable knowledge of how everything works etc. If your boat is in the Med then you will not have this time to spend getting to know the boat's systems and getting her ready. Why not buy one here and spend a couple of years getting her ready before sailing her to the Med as the first leg of your 'getaway' plan?

Just my thoughts on the matter

Jonny
 
(slight thread hijack)
if you're planning to be in ireland itself, jonny do let me know- we're planning a shakedown cruise over there in august

I'm also with Jonny on the idea of buying your boat here - I bought my boat over the winter thinking she was pretty well equipped- but the more we sail her and get to know her, the more I'm planning/doing in the maintenance/enhancements camp. Its great having her close and learning about her and her systems, whilst not being totally dependent on her, so to speak. And now I have whole plan of things to do that I hadn't even thought of when I bought her. 20% is probably an under-estimate for me given I had to redo her rigging for a start.

Roll on next year. I've already sold my house, and am about to put everything in store and camp partly on the boat and partly with a friend for the next 6-9 months- but next spring.....
 
It depends on your priorities where you buy. We went through the same process 10 years ago and decided to do the opposite of "normal" - not to be perverse, but because it seemed logical for us. We chartered for 3 years to get a feel for what we liked and decided a couple of weeks in the Med each year would be good for us as we both work - and particularly because I spend quite a bit of time abroad. Our long term aim was to have some time in the Med and then transit the French canals. Many people do it the other way, but we discovered within our budget we could only afford a boat that needed work, plus the cost of keeping it in the UK while we did the work.

So our choice was the charter management route, which gave us in the end 7 years of holidays with no additional cost other than servicing the debt on the boat - less than two weeks charter costs a year. We ended up with a just about ready to go boat already there, for the same capital cost as the boats we looked at in the UK, most of which were at least 10 years old - then.

We are in our transition year before we finally give up full time work. Have already had 2 weeks, friends had a week, and plan two more trips totally 4-5 weeks this year. 10 to 12 weeks next year and then think about moving elsewhere if we still like it.

Of course this only works if you have a long term plan. Also for us the boat is only a part (currently very big part) of our lives and we have no intention of giving up our house etc. so we don't have the angst of cutting ties etc - just the right to grumble about the strong Euro and the rising cost of flights!

In my view if the objective is liveaboard in the Med, then it makes more sense to buy a boat there as it will already be equipped for the conditions, and from what I have seen better value, even if paying in Euros.
 
Carol,

Well done selling the house! I know what you mean about the growing jobs list. When we bought we had around 10 - 15 jobs to do. Over the past 18 months this has grown massively to over 100 jobs done and a couple still to go! (Take a look at the 'boat' page of our website to see what we've done so far - if you start mentally putting pound amounts next to the items it will bring tears to your eyes (well it does to mine!!)). The trouble with bluewater refitting is that everything has to be 'the best' this is because it has to cope with continual use in above standard conditions. So if you want, say a fresh water pump, for the size and capacity you chose there will be models ranging from £50 to £150 - invariably you will need the £150 model due to reliability etc!! That said it is nice to get all the new kit and fit it and see it working at the end of the day. I would certainly say we are in the 20% - 25% bracket for the refit, we could probably have found a boat that only needed 10% but it would have been either more expensive to begin with or compromising in areas we weren't happy with.

In terms of our itinery ... we are leaving the w/c 18th July (weather dependent) and heading down to Abersoch (North Wales) for a week (there is a big dinghy sailing event on that we used to attend in our former lives as dinghy racers - so lots of friends and family to catch up with there). We'll be leaving around the 27th July and heading over to Arklow and then down the coast to Cork. Not sure on timings (weather dependent again) but hope to leave Cork to cross Biscay by late August at the latest.

I will PM you our contact details and it would be great to meet up en-route!!!

Jonny

p.s. sorry for the thread hi-jack! As some sort of reconciliation to bring the topic back on track ... have you thought about Spain as an alternative location to Greece - cheaper and shorter flights and lots of marinas to leave the boat in (Almerima etc - ask Lemain of these forums who has spent a long time in that region)
 
Jonny,

..and everybody really I suppose.

Yup 2 months, I can't wait. I've been blogging about the whole boat preparation an whatnot if anybody is interested.

http://onkudu.wordpress.com

The 20% on top of the boat value is an understatement in my case. I've spent 30% so far and still have a few k to go.
 
Great site Nathan ... I'll settle down to an afternoon of reading that! We've been similarly blogging away on our site about our preparations (see link below).

The % refit has been debated on here before - I think the consensus was that whatever your boat and whatever your standard of kit, it adds up to a big number!! Those who spent less as a % typically had bought a more expensive boat in the first place which a) needed less work, and b) was more expensive so the refit cost was therefore a lower %!

Anyway ... on with your blog ....

Jonny
 
Just remember that no boat is ever perfect when she goes to sea.

SWMBO and I got fed up trying to get all the jobs done before the off. Fu*k it! We'll finish things off on the way!
 
dont talk to me about percentages! - we have already spent over 25% - but then she was old and we knew it would be needed - now running out of cash so will sort things out on the run from now on!

Perhaps we should have spent more on the boat and hence less outlay afterwards but when you find the boat that you think suites your needs best ... well you just have to bite the bullet!

Found the boat we wanted - made an offer - found a buyer for our house and paid a deposit - all in 5 days! - when you make the decision to break the bonds - dont hold back - make a commitment and hopefully you will be pleased you did so in the future ..... then maybe not!
 
Enjoyed your site Johnny. Can feel your excitement from here, Norfolk VA. We did same in 2002, albeit much older than you. Hope you have a teriffic trip.
 
Great site Nathan, makes it all so real. We have got just over 11 months to go and have been getting our skill levels up. Have also been putting together a short list of suitable boats - time seems to be flying now - best wishes Neil and Cathy
 
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