MYAG
Member
AG is now happily sitting on her home birth in Gocek, Turkey and I have just spent the past week and a bit relaxing on her in local anchorages after the delivery trip, the longest I have done in a mobo by far.
I had been planning to take her on her own bottom all along but then started to think about shipping her instead, mostly because she was getting late and I wanted her there without more possible delays that the weather could bring. However once I tried to get quotes and firm sailing dates from the main shipping agents it became apparent none of them could guarantee anything, not even within a 7 day period! This was also confirmed by others on here who were experiencing similar frustrations. No good to me and pretty craaap when you consider they were asking north of 60K to get her there, so I decided that my initial idea was back on and fairly quickly prepared her for a trip from Poole to Turkey.
Some maintenance items can be difficult/expensive to get hold of in Turkey so I loaded up with 120 lt of Micron 77 in 6x20lt commercial drums from Int Paints, 24 anodes (14kg) from MG Duff and other various oils/spare parts for engines/gennies and cleaning/polishing/maintenance stuff from 3M and others. All this added another 1 tonne + of weight to the boat but that didn't seem to make any difference to the boat figures whilst underway. I worked out best I could that with full tanks and all on board we were approx 72 tonnes.
Thankfully, the boat was flawless the entire journey, we had interesting seas throughout much of Biscay and the Atlantic coast of Spain/Portugal but mostly from the stbd qtr so didn't feel much all the way down, the stabilizers were simply awesome and cancelled out all the beam seas we came across. To demonstrate their effectiveness further and at slower speeds, during our epic 524nm non-stop passage from Cartagena to Cagliari, where we passed well south of a stormy Balearics at a steady 12.5kts (42 hrs), the seas were a good 2.5m from the north, so on our port beam but the stabs just flattened them out, confirming many people's thoughts that Planing boats fitted with stabs are a valid alternative to displacement boats in these conditions. This is the first time I can remember coming away from a boat after a longish trip and not wobbling for 2 days when walking on land! I simply would not have another boat without them, size permitting. An interesting number, at 7.5kts we burn just 16lts/hr so have a theoretical range of over 3000 nm, but could also run at 30kts if need be. Best of both worlds comes to mind.
Total Mileage 2940 nm: Total Fuel used 41320 litres (just over 3 gallons per mile average) For anyone doing a similar trip or even part of it, I have a reliable list of fuel stops with contacts and numbers etc will put up later.
Total time taken from Poole Bridge to Queensway Marina Gibraltar: 4 days 1 hr. (probably had sight of the North African coast a couple of hours before that (say 3days 23hrs) so I believe that might be significant around here Hurricane?) You can verify the dates/times on marinetraffic by looking under our itineraries history tag as we bleeped AIS all the way. Time overall to Turkey was just under 12 days, This included a voluntary 2.5 day stay in Gib and a total 18hrs lost waiting for fuel in Camaret and Cartagena. In comparison, the shipping companies were quoting around 22 days, obviously with a stop or two along the way.
Interestingly, we were never approached by any of the authorities the entire trip or asked for any docs/information, not even from the French or Spanish CG's over VHF, I have a theory this was because we were transmitting all the information they needed on the AIS apart from No. of persons on board but they don't always ask for that anyway.
Thats the headlines, wont bore you all with the detail but here are my 20 pics quota to give you a taste. Might start looking at these Nordhavns a bit closer, this passagemaking stuff could be addictive I reckon..........
On our way leaving the UK and heading to Camaret
Camaret fuel berth where the pump broke and kept us there for 12 hours!
Biscay at sunset
La Coruna arrival but a busy fuel birth
Turning the corner at Cape St Vincent
Running up to Gib, a few well earned pints await.......
After a couple of days with friends, it's off to Sardegna with a top up at Cartagena first
Perfect seas and wildlife on the route to Sicily
Entrance to the Messina Straits (Torre Faro)and refuelling at Reggio
The leg from Sicily down to Pylos in Greece and the refuelling quay.
Round the Peloponnese and through the South Aegean and finally in to Turkish waters
AG on her berth and a few shots at anchor with the rib
I had been planning to take her on her own bottom all along but then started to think about shipping her instead, mostly because she was getting late and I wanted her there without more possible delays that the weather could bring. However once I tried to get quotes and firm sailing dates from the main shipping agents it became apparent none of them could guarantee anything, not even within a 7 day period! This was also confirmed by others on here who were experiencing similar frustrations. No good to me and pretty craaap when you consider they were asking north of 60K to get her there, so I decided that my initial idea was back on and fairly quickly prepared her for a trip from Poole to Turkey.
Some maintenance items can be difficult/expensive to get hold of in Turkey so I loaded up with 120 lt of Micron 77 in 6x20lt commercial drums from Int Paints, 24 anodes (14kg) from MG Duff and other various oils/spare parts for engines/gennies and cleaning/polishing/maintenance stuff from 3M and others. All this added another 1 tonne + of weight to the boat but that didn't seem to make any difference to the boat figures whilst underway. I worked out best I could that with full tanks and all on board we were approx 72 tonnes.
Thankfully, the boat was flawless the entire journey, we had interesting seas throughout much of Biscay and the Atlantic coast of Spain/Portugal but mostly from the stbd qtr so didn't feel much all the way down, the stabilizers were simply awesome and cancelled out all the beam seas we came across. To demonstrate their effectiveness further and at slower speeds, during our epic 524nm non-stop passage from Cartagena to Cagliari, where we passed well south of a stormy Balearics at a steady 12.5kts (42 hrs), the seas were a good 2.5m from the north, so on our port beam but the stabs just flattened them out, confirming many people's thoughts that Planing boats fitted with stabs are a valid alternative to displacement boats in these conditions. This is the first time I can remember coming away from a boat after a longish trip and not wobbling for 2 days when walking on land! I simply would not have another boat without them, size permitting. An interesting number, at 7.5kts we burn just 16lts/hr so have a theoretical range of over 3000 nm, but could also run at 30kts if need be. Best of both worlds comes to mind.
Total Mileage 2940 nm: Total Fuel used 41320 litres (just over 3 gallons per mile average) For anyone doing a similar trip or even part of it, I have a reliable list of fuel stops with contacts and numbers etc will put up later.
Total time taken from Poole Bridge to Queensway Marina Gibraltar: 4 days 1 hr. (probably had sight of the North African coast a couple of hours before that (say 3days 23hrs) so I believe that might be significant around here Hurricane?) You can verify the dates/times on marinetraffic by looking under our itineraries history tag as we bleeped AIS all the way. Time overall to Turkey was just under 12 days, This included a voluntary 2.5 day stay in Gib and a total 18hrs lost waiting for fuel in Camaret and Cartagena. In comparison, the shipping companies were quoting around 22 days, obviously with a stop or two along the way.
Interestingly, we were never approached by any of the authorities the entire trip or asked for any docs/information, not even from the French or Spanish CG's over VHF, I have a theory this was because we were transmitting all the information they needed on the AIS apart from No. of persons on board but they don't always ask for that anyway.
Thats the headlines, wont bore you all with the detail but here are my 20 pics quota to give you a taste. Might start looking at these Nordhavns a bit closer, this passagemaking stuff could be addictive I reckon..........
On our way leaving the UK and heading to Camaret
Camaret fuel berth where the pump broke and kept us there for 12 hours!
Biscay at sunset
La Coruna arrival but a busy fuel birth
Turning the corner at Cape St Vincent
Running up to Gib, a few well earned pints await.......
After a couple of days with friends, it's off to Sardegna with a top up at Cartagena first
Perfect seas and wildlife on the route to Sicily
Entrance to the Messina Straits (Torre Faro)and refuelling at Reggio
The leg from Sicily down to Pylos in Greece and the refuelling quay.
Round the Peloponnese and through the South Aegean and finally in to Turkish waters
AG on her berth and a few shots at anchor with the rib
