Cost of Sailing

[Povremeni pomorac]

I begin to wonder if a lot of it is about vaninty; the vanity of ownership. I'm sure it is in my case. (No boat yet) I'm lucky to be 30 minutes' drive from the Hamble or Town Quay at Soton, so I could just pop down to a boat whenever I wanted, more or less. But for the costs, which I reckon at c £11-12k pa for a c 33ft boat with no major issues, aren't I better off chartering in the Adriatic? Cost, pp of about £1k per week, depending upon season, and the boat cleaned and sorted after I leave. Flights c £250 return from the UK.
For a couple of years I was a member of Pure Latitude @ Port Hamble Marina, but I really did dislike having to move all my gear on and off the boat, plus leave it looking totally pristine. But is that worth all that money just to be able to leave my clothes etc on a bot? I'm still pondering it and after c 4 years am no nearer to an answer. I certainly wasn't looking to buy in the recent frenzied market. It seems to have calmed a bit now, and even house prices are going down a very little according to the "i".

 

[lustyd]

But is that worth all that money just to be able to leave my clothes etc on a boat

YES! I feel like you're only questioning that because it's only an hour round trip. For me it's a 3 hour round trip on a good day, so I have two socket sets, two spanner sets, 4-5 multi-meters, the list goes on. I forgot to take socks recently so used some I had on the boat rather than buy more. More organised souls may not see this as quite so clear cut, but for me I'd spent the difference in (re)buying stuff I forget each and every year

 

[Sailfree]

I begin to wonder if a lot of it is about vaninty; the vanity of ownership. I'm sure it is in my case. (No boat yet) I'm lucky to be 30 minutes' drive from the Hamble or Town Quay at Soton, so I could just pop down to a boat whenever I wanted, more or less. But for the costs, which I reckon at c £11-12k pa for a c 33ft boat with no major issues, aren't I better off chartering in the Adriatic? Cost, pp of about £1k per week, depending upon season, and the boat cleaned and sorted after I leave. Flights c £250 return from the UK.
For a couple of years I was a member of Pure Latitude @ Port Hamble Marina, but I really did dislike having to move all my gear on and off the boat, plus leave it looking totally pristine. But is that worth all that money just to be able to leave my clothes etc on a bot? I'm still pondering it and after c 4 years am no nearer to an answer. I certainly wasn't looking to buy in the recent frenzied market. It seems to have calmed a bit now, and even house prices are going down a very little according to the "i".

We were racing dinghies and bought a new 36' Dufour in 1998. Although we owned the boat and the next 2 (we bought for the charter market) we objected to clearing everything off the boat after each weekend.

Even if we left salt, pepper and sauce on the boat the charter company cleared it off!

 

[Kelpie]

My anchorages have been far too busy this year and I would appreciate more boats buggering back off to the Solent.

I've been refraining from saying how much it cost to keep my boat in Scotland. It makes the costs down south look like lunacy. But to summarise, I've owned a yacht for eleven years and in that time have spent a total of about £1500 on marina berthing (not including time away crusing).

 

[Sailfree]

I've been refraining from saying how much it cost to keep my boat in Scotland. It makes the costs down south look like lunacy. But to summarise, I've owned a yacht for eleven years and in that time have spent a total of about £1500 on marina berthing (not including time away crusing).

Fantastic if you enjoy the Scotish sailing season and the costs.

I was not intending to start..a competition just present alternatives for others to consider

 

[mjcoon]

YES! I feel like you're only questioning that because it's only an hour round trip. For me it's a 3 hour round trip on a good day, so I have two socket sets, two spanner sets, 4-5 multi-meters, the list goes on. I forgot to take socks recently so used some I had on the boat rather than buy more. More organised souls may not see this as quite so clear cut, but for me I'd spent the difference in (re)buying stuff I forget each and every year

I was expecting someone to say that where your laundry is should not be an important feature of boat ownership. Surely personalised boat features are more interesting? I'm not an owner; I am relying on what people write in YM, and on this forum, about the clever improvements they have made to their yachts...

 

[lustyd]

Not sure I'd use the word important, OP can afford a lot of new pants and spanners for the difference in costs after all. For me though I cry a little every time I have to re-buy something I have already. Not that the thread was even about charter vs owning... ?

 

[Bobc]

I think a lot comes down to your personal circumstances.

If you are working, then having your boat an hour or two away for weekend use is going to be the best option, even if the annual mooring costs are higher (precisely why they are high in the Solent, because you are 1-2 hours away from London and the Shires).

If you are retired, then it matters a lot less as you can be a lot more flexible.

I used to keep my boat in the Hamble, and would typically use it for about 8-10 weekends plus a 2-week holiday each year, so about 35-40 days in total.

Now I'm retired, I keep my boat in Brittany, and even with some travel restrictions in place this year, we've had over 60 days on the boat, and the cost of the mooring there AND the ferries comes to no more than the UK mooring, so we are definitely getting better value from her, and the food and weather is better too!

 

[flaming]

What I will never understand is why so many cruisers who have the sort of usage profile in the OP - i.e a number of weekends and then a longer summer cruise - pay the premium to have the boat in the water for the whole season, plus the associated costs for antifouling, when a more economic option would probably be the dry sail packages which are considerably cheaper, even after paying for a few additional lifts (normally a set number are included) and mean your boat doesn't need to be antifouled.

Different if you are local and going out on week nights etc, but so many cruisers who live hours away from their boat pay a premium for it to sit in the water whilst they are at work... Seems bizarre to me...

 

[awol]

I've been refraining from saying how much it cost to keep my boat in Scotland. It makes the costs down south look like lunacy. But to summarise, I've owned a yacht for eleven years and in that time have spent a total of about £1500 on marina berthing (not including time away crusing).

You just couldnae resist, could you! The rest of us have been quietly basking in schadenfreude at the idiotic costs around Eileann Ban.

 

[RupertW]

I was expecting someone to say that where your laundry is should not be an important feature of boat ownership. Surely personalised boat features are more interesting? I'm not an owner; I am relying on what people write in YM, and on this forum, about the clever improvements they have made to their yachts...

laundry - in terms of where to get it done - is one of our biggest boat owner considerations as it is such a chore to do by hand. So a marina that has enough machines or a cheap laundry service is a big deal to us as the alternative is taking an extra suitcase at Ryanair prices back home and out to the boat again. Drinkable water and a supermarket a walk away are also big. Boatyard, lift-out, fuel and electricity matter much less to us.
We are working but find a few single weeks away plus ideally one longer cruise a year is far more fun a flight away than the 20 years we kept a boat in the UK. But I’m still really glad about those 20 years.

 

[dslittle]

Sorry to put a damper on what is for many reasons undoubtedly a very appealing idea, but short haul flights are terrible for the environment. Our (UK) government are seemingly very keen to support this sector at present (what with the recent tax cut in the budget), but elsewhere there is movement to ban short and/or domestic flights.

The quickest way to become more eco? Stop taking short-haul flights

(Edit to add: Granted UK to Portugal will not easily be replaced by any other mode of transport in the near future.)

But, ferry trips across to France and a lovely 3 hour drive will get you to Southern Brittany for lunch..

 

[Poignard]

But, ferry trips across to France and a lovely 3 hour drive will get you to Southern Brittany for lunch..

Spot on!

Our boat has been based on the Vilaine for the past 7 years and we have still not tired of the wonderful cruising area centred on Quiberon Bay.

The drive from Caen to La Roche Bernard is very pleasant and we ofen divert to somewhere else in France for a day or two.

The only thing is that my wife misses the social activity that she used to enjoy when we were in the Solent and used to go to rallies but we can always crew for other members of our UK club.

 

[dslittle]

What I will never understand is why so many cruisers who have the sort of usage profile in the OP - i.e a number of weekends and then a longer summer cruise - pay the premium to have the boat in the water for the whole season, plus the associated costs for antifouling, when a more economic option would probably be the dry sail packages which are considerably cheaper, even after paying for a few additional lifts (normally a set number are included) and mean your boat doesn't need to be antifouled.

Different if you are local and going out on week nights etc, but so many cruisers who live hours away from their boat pay a premium for it to sit in the water whilst they are at work... Seems bizarre to me...

Terre Plein contract in France gives you a dry sail package with ten lifts pa included. I’m not going to say how much it costs for the same reason as Minerva above!!!

 

[dslittle]

Spot on!

Our boat has been based on the Vilaine for the past 7 years and we have still not tired of the wonderful cruising area centred on Quiberon Bay.

The drive from Caen to La Roche Bernard is very pleasant and we ofen divert to somewhere else in France for a day or two.

The only thing is that my wife misses the social activity that she used to enjoy when we were in the Solent and used to go to rallies but we can always crew for other members of our UK club.

I think we should stop writing on this thread or we’ll be getting as busy with Solent sailors as they are on the West Coast of Scotland (where I live…)

The OP started this with a very informative post about an ‘alternative’ way of sailing a yacht for UK sailors. As others have said, circumstances differ and it’s not for everyone.

Our original intention was to go back to the Med but we ‘got stuck’ in Brittany. Even allowing for the bat bug, we managed three months on board last year and just short of that this year (which is much less than we would normally).

The decision to go South was after a summer gale in August in Scotland - I can count on one hand the bad days we have had in France (one was really bad!!!) Our sailing experience is much better than it was in the UK, we are now speaking French (badly), got French Residency,, sailing a lot in nice weather, going to a lot of new places at little or no cost and eating well (not to mention drinking). Our social activity is as frenetic as it was in the UK.

It really is ‘horses for courses’ but knowledge is power and just might give others something to think about…

 

[Graham376]

What I will never understand is why so many cruisers who have the sort of usage profile in the OP - i.e a number of weekends and then a longer summer cruise - pay the premium to have the boat in the water for the whole season, plus the associated costs for antifouling, when a more economic option would probably be the dry sail packages which are considerably cheaper, even after paying for a few additional lifts (normally a set number are included) and mean your boat doesn't need to be antifouled.

We used to have a bloke arrive on his dry sailed boat roughly every month. He worked in Shetland, IIRC 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off, and used to fly down to Faro.

 

[Graham376]

Our boat has been based on the Vilaine for the past 7 years and we have still not tired of the wonderful cruising area centred on Quiberon Bay.......
The only thing is that my wife misses the social activity that she used to enjoy when we were in the Solent and used to go to rallies but we can always crew for other members of our UK club.

No social events in Roche Bernard? My headache returns every time I remember our last visit! Visitors were rafted on long pontoon in those days and we were invited for a meal on a boat further down on Bastille Day. I have no memory of returning to our boat (we were both rafted outside others) but do remember feeling very delicate next day

 

[capnsensible]

Fantastic if you enjoy the Scotish sailing season and the costs.

I was not intending to start..a competition just present alternatives for others to consider

Yeah, there's a million ways of doing this. Over the last twenty five years we've migrated further and further south. Now we got dry sub tropical and I costs me fifty quid a week or thereabouts for a full service marina berth in a nice climate. That includes water, electric and wifi.

?

 

[James_Calvert]

Re the original posting, it really must depend on circumstances.

We came into cruiser sailing as a couple with one small child and in due course another two. Multiply the per person figures for airfares and berths by 5 and the alternative of having your own boat looks more attractive.

If there's only one or two of you, then sailing other people's boats, here or abroad, might seem better sense.

 

[Poignard]

No social events in Roche Bernard? [...]

Perhaps if I were to fly my blue ensign .. . .