Bad weather around Majorca

[Wansworth]

Spanish news service showed tremendous wind and waves around the islands including one yacht on the beach,so not all balmy seas

 

[Frogmogman]

Typical Med. Always not enough wind, or too much.

Looks like a classic mistral, with wind howling down the Rhône valley

 

[sailaboutvic]

Much more to come at the week end

 

[johnalison]

It has always seemed to me that there are only two ways of enjoying Med-sailing. You either have a 50’ yacht that will handle anything and a big wallet, or you bum around in something small and scruffy, like an old Westerly and hop between harbours and tie up to fishing-boats. The ones in between have a hard time.

 

[sailaboutvic]

It has always seemed to me that there are only two ways of enjoying Med-sailing. You either have a 50’ yacht that will handle anything and a big wallet, or you bum around in something small and scruffy, like an old Westerly and hop between harbours and tie up to fishing-boats. The ones in between have a hard time.

Totally disagree sorry .
We don't have a 50 foot and we don't hit marinas from one winter till the next , the odd free harbour yes .

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Totally disagree sorry .
We don't have a 50 foot and we don't hit marinas from one winter till the next , the odd free harbour yes .

Just wondering if most folks in the Med pack up after October. Hope that is generally the case as it makes me feel a bit better living and sailing in the UK. I expect Captain Sensible
still likes a profitable movement though.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Just wondering if most folks in the Med pack up after October. Hope that is generally the case as it makes me feel a bit better living and sailing in the UK. I expect Captain Sensible
still likes a profitable movement though.

Up to two years ago we very hardly entered our winter marina much before mid Dec and even then we use to go off for a week at a time over the winter .
Our season started always some time in March .
Two years ago because of covid , by the end of Oct we decided to call it a day .
This years we had a few problems , it started with a bad accident where I nearly lost a eye in a storm mid Sept , then we spend the second half of Sept and most of Oct finding places to hide as we had constant thunderstorm or very strong blows,
by the time we got to the last week of Oct we decided enough was enough , good job too as since we entered the marina , the weather as got much worst ,
So bad we had four dry days , and very few days when it's not been blowing less then 24 kts , its pelting down as I write this and have been all day .

We been doing this a very long time and where once we use to dreading parking up for the winter, now we started to look forward to not having to wake up and look at the weather,
I guess it's an age thing , it comes to us all .
The weather in the Med have changed so much over the last 10 years ,
There was always thunderstorm in Oct but nothing like we seeing now ,
Nov and part of Dec where quiet months ,
if the last two years are anything to go by I see us having longer winter marina periods .

 

[Sandy]

Its November, winter, in the northern hemisphere. Planet Earth is doing it's thing.

 

[sailaboutvic]

This is weds and next Tuesday weather , who in their right mind want to be out on their hook unless they have to .

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Up to two years ago we very hardly entered our winter marina much before mid Dec and even then we use to go off for a week at a time over the winter .
Our season started always some time in March .
Two years ago because of covid , by the end of Oct we decided to call it a day .
This years we had a few problems , it started with a bad accident where I nearly lost a eye in a storm mid Sept , then we spend the second half of Sept and most of Oct finding places to hide as we had constant thunderstorm or very strong blows,
by the time we got to the last week of Oct we decided enough was enough , good job too as since we entered the marina , the weather as got much worst ,
So bad we had four dry days , and very few days when it's not been blowing less then 24 kts , its pelting down as I write this and have been all day .

We been doing this a very long time and where once we use to dreading parking up for the winter, now we started to look forward to not having to wake up and look at the weather,
I guess it's an age thing , it comes to us all .
The weather in the Med have changed so much over the last 10 years ,
There was always thunderstorm in Oct but nothing like we seeing now ,
Nov and part of Dec where quiet months ,
if the last two years are anything to go by I see us having longer winter marina periods .

Nice report thanks.
Weather "events" seem to be happening globally . Listening to the World Service recently, Brazil lost 30% of it's coffee crop due to frosts which are almost never heard of.

 

[johnalison]

Totally disagree sorry .
We don't have a 50 foot and we don't hit marinas from one winter till the next , the odd free harbour yes .

I hope I was wrong but I was indulging in hyperbole to make a point. I have never sailed in the Med, though I went there once. There are some factors that set it apart from our waters, unless you are sticking to one area such as the Adriatic. Distances can be quite large and you may have to deal with extensive calms or sustained winds of F6 or so. There are some places that are impossibly expensive and where foreign visitors not especially welcome, and the UV can be hard on the boat. I know people who have enjoyed it and others who didn’t. It seemed to me that those with modest means and expectations were happiest, though I have had little contact with the owners of 50-footers, well, one actually.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Storm 'Blas' battered Puerto Andratx

 

[sailaboutvic]

I hope I was wrong but I was indulging in hyperbole to make a point. I have never sailed in the Med, though I went there once. There are some factors that set it apart from our waters, unless you are sticking to one area such as the Adriatic. Distances can be quite large and you may have to deal with extensive calms or sustained winds of F6 or so. There are some places that are impossibly expensive and where foreign visitors not especially welcome, and the UV can be hard on the boat. I know people who have enjoyed it and others who didn’t. It seemed to me that those with modest means and expectations were happiest, though I have had little contact with the owners of 50-footers, well, one actually.

As you may or may not know John I had a good 30 years out here first 15 was split between summers out here and winters back in the UK using my other boat a moody 336 .
Just to pick up on some of your points .

Distance can be quite large in many cases but say if you was in Greece , Turkey or Croatia distance between one anchorage and another can be as little as a few hours and in some cases a lot less .
In my view the biggest jumps are Spain to Sardinia , Sardinia to Sicily or Italy , Italy to Greece , and even then there ways to cut them distance down .

Winds can be hard at times to predict, we found even the 12 hour forecaster have got it wrong at times places like the Ionian are known for many days of mide weather , which is why many novice charter there .
On the other hand there places like the Adriatic where the Bora can at time comes from no where and the most feared thunderstorms we experienced are in Croatia with winds from nothing to 50kts in less then a min ,
Just shows there people who talk about the med as being like a mill pond got no idea what they talking about .

UV is a killer not only on sails and canvas but also on the gel , it's hard work keeping them protected , let along our skins , having well protecting Bimini is a must ,
We both very tanned but it not from sunbathing as we alway under lots of shade.

The money side really depend how people want to live , we found very little in the cost of shopping from most countries if I had to say a country that stands out for weekly food it as to be Malta , out budget if we had one would be way out , we don't even find the south of France noticeable more then any where else .
What is expensive is marinas in the summer but we don't use them , Croatia you can for get if you want to use marinas , town walls or mooring buoys , Greece had changed quite a lots most town walls are now charged and a lot of the little fishing harbour are now mini marinas although there still hundreds of free anchorages .
Where the med stand out is in winter marinas , you can get some good deals , our seven months contract for 13 MTs is 1480 euros which is not a bad deal at all , even tho we probably only use half of tho 7 months .

 

[Clancy Moped]

Last night....

 

[westernman]

This is from last year.
This is a relatively sheltered bay which is inside another bay.

Tempête Gloria: des vagues géantes surplombent les falaises en Catalogne

Just something to take into consideration when you are looking at the height of the sea wall protecting your mooring.

 

[Clancy Moped]

This is from last year.
This is a relatively sheltered bay which is inside another bay.

Tempête Gloria: des vagues géantes surplombent les falaises en Catalogne

Just something to take into consideration when you are looking at the height of the sea wall protecting your mooring.

That will keep the pool topped up!?

 

[capnsensible]

I'm sure I remember somewhere that these localised storms in Spain at this time of year have a traditional name. That implies a history.

Certainly going back 20 years I've taught courses on the Costa Del Sol that have been interrupted by deluge rain and in one case, hail. Not much fun sailing in either, to be honest.

 

[Clancy Moped]

I'm sure I remember somewhere that these localised storms in Spain at this time of year have a traditional name. That implies a history.

Certainly going back 20 years I've taught courses on the Costa Del Sol that have been interrupted by deluge rain and in one case, hail. Not much fun sailing in either, to be honest.

This one is called 'Blas' it's ongoing, it's as black as outside.