Eacape to the Med..... Help, info and advice needed...

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newsailor2013

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If anyone could give me advice for a trip I am planning to start end of May, beginning of June this year I would be very grateful.

I am looking for experienced crew ( male or female, max 2 persons) to help me do the UK to Biscay part, maybe more if we get on or if some kind of arrangement could be made, the obvious would be splitting the costs etc.

I have thought through it all realistically and this is in no way some "stare at the ceiling pipe dream"......

I am male 43 single, easy going have had enough of the UK along with a not so nice breakup (most breakups suck!), I have the "mi casa es su casa" mentality with my boat to the right people, I am brutally straight (in a good way) and feel I am wasting time here in the UK with with my boat that can more or less go anywhere in no great rush tomorrow if need be!

The boat is currently being updated with with new wiring, wheel pilot, chart plotter, AIS, DSC VHF, Walhalla is a Beneteau Oceanis 350 (fwd double cabin with aft double cabin).

I semi live aboard at Portland Marina in Dorset but will be moving her to Haslar Marina, Gosport in the next few weeks.

Please feel free to send me email via the forum mail or call me 07860 803 876

All advice etc is really appreciated!
 
your best bet for crew - paid or unpaid would be a site like crew seekers , you might strike lucky on here but Id be surprised , ive met many people escaping UK during the summer of 2013 and a few of them had found crew from crew seekers - personally Id prefer to just ask mates to go as its a known quantity or just go it alone - good luck
 
Take your phone number down or you'll end up with every nutter between here and Rio asking for a berth..:encouragement:
 
Biscay isn't a walk in the park , tho hundreds do it each year without any problems , I would strongly advise before you take strangers on a trip like biscay that you do some day sailing first with them or the odd weekend , get to know your crew .
 
Do you want to cross Biscay. The cruising grounds around that part of France are some of the best in the world. Why rush?
We went along the coast of France and found some really amazing places we had not even heard of. If you are not in a rush then take the easy way. You won't regret it.
The French have a wonderful country only spoilt by their politicians.
Our blog of going around the coast is below and you can do it all in day sails.
 
Pop along to local sailing schools (or yacht clubs) there is generally someone who is doing day skip or similar and wants the miles/experience plus you get to meet them first.
Alternatively yes, crew seeker sites but beware that what they say and what they know are sometimes poles apart...
Vic is right, Biscay isn't a walk in the park. We've never had it rough though, once was a millpond and another was seriously dense fog. Enjoy :)
 
ribrage said:
+1 for what he said - everyones over taking me and rushing someplace else - been the same all summer long - I had a great time around the french and spanish parts of biscay
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Are you sat ready to lick yourself ribbage.

A long trip motor sailing, straight past many of the places I wanted to visit, I just KNOW Im going to kick myself for doing this , Im going to be sat in some shore side cafe packed with yachties waxing lyrical about the Rias.

Stories about amazing anchorages and beautiful vistas, how cheap the food was and how friendly the locals are etc .... Im by passing them in hope of good winter weather further South, chancing an arm, good decision or bad ? Ill let you know when winter hits!

The Ria's are amazing and should NEVER, EVER be missed.
Kick yourself again for luck
 
Nostrodamus said:
Are you sat ready to lick yourself ribbage.

A long trip motor sailing, straight past many of the places I wanted to visit, I just KNOW Im going to kick myself for doing this , Im going to be sat in some shore side cafe packed with yachties waxing lyrical about the Rias.

Stories about amazing anchorages and beautiful vistas, how cheap the food was and how friendly the locals are etc .... Im by passing them in hope of good winter weather further South, chancing an arm, good decision or bad ? Ill let you know when winter hits!

The Ria's are amazing and should NEVER, EVER be missed.
Kick yourself again for luck
Click to expand...


Yep … well and truly kicked …. went looking for a bit of winter sunshine, got a whole bunch of gales and upto 16 meter swells ,nutters on surf boards breaking records just a few miles North of me, on the bright side a couple of days worth of SW's puts me straight back where I ought to be :-)

oh I read your blog too , when Im at work , always a good for a laugh , not sure about that old naked tatoo'd bird in one of your more recent entries mind you , if thats whats to be expected in the med , Im definitely staying in the Rias !
 
ribrage said:
Yep … well and truly kicked …. went looking for a bit of winter sunshine, got a whole bunch of gales and upto 16 meter swells ,nutters on surf boards breaking records just a few miles North of me, on the bright side a couple of days worth of SW's puts me straight back where I ought to be :-)

oh I read your blog too , when Im at work , always a good for a laugh , not sure about that old naked tatoo'd bird in one of your more recent entries mind you , if thats whats to be expected in the med , Im definitely staying in the Rias !
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I told the wife she was too old to get those tattoos but she insisted.
 
Hi there,

I'm one of the webmasters for Crewbay.com

We will be sure to find you the crew that you need. Unlike the majority of crewing sites out there we're 100% free so we have far more crew traffic. We have just updated the site with the option for crew to request references from previous boats to offer even better insights into crew and each crew listing now has a star rating for profile completeness specifically looking at qualifications, references, sea miles and profile content. This will hopefully save you some time when browsing. We also have a search engine that will be seeing some more improvements later this month.

Crewbay doesn't disclose any personal information, that's completely up to you within your advert. I would always advise (with any site) to refrain from adding this and keep all interaction within your Crewbay mail box. It's safer that way ;)

Kind regards and safe sailing
 
I've crossed Biscay a few times, always with a fully crewed well found boat, and it can be a walk in the park. Only once did we encounter bad weather. It was a case of not hurrying and waiting for a decent weather window.

I would think twice before doing it with just me and swmbo, though.

We intend to cross over to France and go the day sailing route this year. No rush, we may not even make the Rias. It's called 'cruising'
 
Slow_boat said:
I
We intend to cross over to France and go the day sailing route this year. No rush, we may not even make the Rias. It's called 'cruising'
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Good move. You wont regret it. We did it in 2012. Visited 34 different ports / harbour's before wintering in Nazare. Just a brilliant brilliant year. Never could understand the rush to get to the Med when there is so much to see & do on the way.
 
We often provide very experienced crew to assist owners on passages such as this.

My advice is to meet anyone that you might take on first (or at the very least have a long phone conversation/interview). Ask them to send copies of their qualifications and check several references (ideally speak to others that they have sailed with).

It should be a lovely trip!

Pete
 
newsailor2013 said:
If anyone could give me advice for a trip I am planning to start end of May, beginning of June this year I would be very grateful.

I am looking for experienced crew ( male or female, max 2 persons) to help me do the UK to Biscay part, maybe more if we get on or if some kind of arrangement could be made, the obvious would be splitting the costs etc.

I have thought through it all realistically and this is in no way some "stare at the ceiling pipe dream"......

Join the CA - not only does it allow you access to crew, but a lot of information and the probability of recouping your fees during your first 6 months at sea.

I did the Biscay bit single-handed.

I am male 43 single, easy going have had enough of the UK along with a not so nice breakup (most breakups suck!), I have the "mi casa es su casa" mentality with my boat to the right people, I am brutally straight (in a good way) and feel I am wasting time here in the UK with with my boat that can more or less go anywhere in no great rush tomorrow if need be!

The boat is currently being updated with with new wiring, wheel pilot, chart plotter, AIS, DSC VHF, Walhalla is a Beneteau Oceanis 350 (fwd double cabin with aft double cabin).

I semi live aboard at Portland Marina in Dorset but will be moving her to Haslar Marina, Gosport in the next few weeks.

Please feel free to send me email via the forum mail or call me 07860 803 876

All advice etc is really appreciated!
Click to expand...

Join the CA - not only does it allow you access to crew, but a lot of information and the probability of recouping your fees during your first 6 months at sea.

I did the Biscay bit single-handed.
 
I did this trip in 2010 with a crew of 3 + myself. This allowed for 2 people on watch at anyone time. We took the traditional route leaving Southampton and made La Coruna 3 days later to the hour. My intention was to make for Baiona as from then on I would be single handed. In the event I sailed from La Coruna single handed and spent a couple of months in the southern rias spending every night at anchor. It is a stunning place to sail and better than the Med in many ways, however the water is still a bit on the cool side. I didn't use a marina after la coruna until reaching Portimao in September. Often I was the only yacht anchored, especially June and early July. The locals are friendly but speak very little English. There is a supermarket right off the beach in Pontevedra making provisioning easy. There is a beautiful and safe anchorage of Barra beach in Ria Vigo on the left after rounding cabo Pequeno which became my favourite.

Once I had selected a crew I invited them for a weekend sailing. Each had a turn helming the boat and we spent a fair amount of time doing man over board drills. I soon figured their strengths and weaknesses and chose the least experience to be on my watch for the trip. Choose the right weather window and stay offshore and you should be fine. Don't be too safe with the weather though or you will end up motoring all the way. The roughest part of the trip was off Ushant even though we were well offshore. Head out towards 10deg longitude and keep clear of the steepest part of the continental shelf.

I have used www.findacrew.net with some success (although not for the Biscay trip). My advise would be select people who have sailed on a yacht and not just sat on one!

I hope that helps and PM me if you want more info
 
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