From the UK to Hungary on water

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bazsimoci

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Hi! I am Balázs, a hungarian sailor who want to buy a sailboat in Cornwall and planning that take it home to Hungary on european waterways.
I need infos, advice and any help from the forum users. I mean which season is better to start the crossing? From Cornwall straight to France or first along shores to the nearest port against my preferred french port? I have little experience on the see, i searching sailors too, who possibly can come with me and help me in this for me problematic navigation.
Thanks for your help in advance!
Cheers! Balázs
 
For European waterways (e.g. Danube, Rhine, French Canals) you'll need an ICC with CEVNI.

You need no qualifications to go to sea from the UK, but it's about 100 miles from Cornwall over to France so a day and a night at least, and you'll be crossing one of the busiest shipping channels in the world (think rabbit crossing a motorway). The French coast, Brittany across from Cornwall, also has strong tides and lots of rocks.

The French have rules about what you can do with a boat but will generally defer to your national rules. I don't know what the Hungarian rules are.

May well be far easier and safer to take the boat by road.
 
Welcome to the forum.

To get to Hungary through the inland waterways you will need to get to the Danube and it is not easy or practical to do this through France. You will need to enter the system through the River Rhine. These waterways are primarily commercial and you will find it difficult to make any progress against the flow of the river, particularly if the boat is a low powered sailing boat.

Why do you want to buy a boat in Cornwall? There are many places in mainland Europe where there is a good choice of boats for sale, particularly Holland and Germany. You could also look in the Mediterranean sea as there is probably an even bigger choice of boats there and probably much easier to get it to Hungary. You do not say what sort of boat you are considering buying. As your country does not have any coastline are you looking at a small boat to use on lakes? If so then transporting it by road is far more practical.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! I have hungarian ICC that covers the whole EU waterways. The boat is 28 feet and cca 3 ton, the cost of transport is fast so high as the purchase price... A guy from Hungary did it with a catamaran, he bought it in St John/Caribbean and took it to Budapest... The boat is from alloy, bilge keels, then it has shallow draft. Trust me, I calculated everything and it is the best for me...
 
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bazsimoci said:
The boat is from alloy, bilge keels, then it has shallow draft. Trust me, I calculated everything and it is the best for me...
Click to expand...

Bilge keels are handy when the tide goes out. :)

I believe despite what Tranona says it is possible to get to the Rhine via the Seine & the Moselle rivers and connecting canals, so maybe you can follow the English coast until you can cross to Cherbourg and Le Havre.

Beware tides are pretty strong - around Portland they are positively dangerous. And you really need to cross the shipping lanes. It's not beginners territory but of course you can always give it a go and see whether you survive.

What was the quote for transport? You're likely to run up a fair bill sailing back too. Even if you can just get the boat to the inland waterways it'll be a lot easier.
 
I do not want to be sailing alone at all. I will search experienced sailors, who help me to France. If i give out the money, i want to enjoy it, if i hired a transport the money goes out with less joy... Sorry but i can't explain it wery well, my english is not enough...
I want to do this, cos it will be the adventure of my life.
An other friend of mine had build a Van de Stadt Norman 40 from alloy in his garten and sailed it down on the Danube to the Black see, there set up the mast and sailed it to Montenegro...
My friends page about the catamaran buy: www.stjohn.hu
shapeimage_3.jpg
 
bazsimoci said:
I do not want to be sailing alone at all. I will search experienced sailors, who help me to France. If i give out the money, i want to enjoy it, if i hired a transport the money goes out with less joy... Sorry but i can't explain it wery well, my english is not enough...
I want to do this, cos it will be the adventure of my life.
An other friend of mine had build a Van de Stadt Norman 40 from alloy in his garten and sailed it down on the Danube to the Black see, there set up the mast and sailed it to Montenegro...
Click to expand...

You could get a delivery skipper to help you across the channel. That would help you solve the tidal and shipping lane problems.

There's always an underlying risk in taking a newly bought boat on a long journey. Bits and pieces of equipment that haven't been used for six or twelve months, or however long the boat has been up for sale, break when put back into use.

However, once you're in the inland waterways it should be a lot easier to deal with things going wrong.
 
First mate and I met a guy on the Grand Union Canal outside Birmingham-near the Chocolate Factory-who had navigated the Danube and exited in the Black Sea.

Going into the Med and then the Black sea an option?

Probably warmer..................................
 
I can't help with any practical advice, but would like to wish you well in your adventure.
I'm sure you will have an experience to last a life time. It's far too easy to find reasons NOT to do thins.
 
Plenty of people have done the trip, albeit that most had more experience than you, bazsimoci. There are many accounts of such passages on-line, although searches are usually drowned in a torrent of tourist river cruise stories. Rod Heikell's done it in a boat of similar size to yours and, I think, written a book about the experience.

This account might get you going: http://www.noonsite.com/Members/webmaster/R2001-05-04-1

Going the long way via the Med would be entertaining, but it's a bloody long way and still presents the issue of a long trip against the current on one of Europe's largest rivers.

Sok szerencsét.

P.S. By "alloy" do you mean aluminium? If so, the usually colloquial word is "ally". Steel is an alloy, as is almost any metal you'll encounter in practical use.
P.P.S. Heikell's boat was a Mirror Offshore 18, so pretty small.
If you have Amazon Prime, this book's free: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baltic-Aeg...894443&sr=1-1&keywords=black+sea+danube+rhine
The boat had a bit more oomph than yours, though.
 
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P.S. By "alloy" do you mean aluminium?

Sorry, i meant aluminium. It is a Sarum 28 with a Lister Petter Alpha 20HP diesel engine. My last boat was a dutch Compromis 720, i bought it for 1000€ in Germany with storm damages. The transport was 800€ from 1000km.
We repaired it during 4 weekends. Sadly it had no engine and no electric at all... The gallery about the overhaul:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5zTn4EVjvWPNFQ5dXNad0g1SFU?usp=sharing
 
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bazsimoci said:
which season is better to start the crossing? From Cornwall straight to France or first along shores to the nearest port against my preferred french port?
Click to expand...

From the map you posted, are you aiming for Saint-Valery-sur-Somme for the canal de la somme?

There aren't any "no go" seasons. As long as you pay attention to the weather forecast you can do the trip at any time of year but obviously summer is best: more daylight, better weather and less of a chance of fog (which everyone hates) than spring. So Ideally from May onwards although early June, before school summer holidays start, is perfect. British weather though is famously unreliable....

Crossing from Cornwall to Brittany is possible but is out of your way: Most people heading to Normandy from Cornwall might aim for Guernsey or Alderney if they were in a hurry to leave the UK. However in a new-to-me boat I would prefer not to do a long voyage on the first day and be able to stop somewhere with good services should anything break. All your boating needs can be satisfied in Plymouth.

If you are aiming for the Somme or the Seine and are not familiar with either side of the english channel, I'd stick to the UK side then cross from Brighton to Dieppe. Others will have other opinions :-) There's lots of great sailing and places to stop and see. No need for any over-night trips although there's one long day hop across Lyme bay. As others have noted, if you're not familiar with sailing in tidal waters you will need to pay attention to that aspect of navigation. If you advertise your route here you may get volunteers for individual legs or at least people who will come and say hello when you stop.
 
Thanks for your very constructive reply! Yes, i prefer St Valery-sur Somme, cos its shorter to motoring with the diesel to Strasbourg, but more locks. I have the waterway map of France and i calculated both of the ways. Through Seine it is 926km and 197 locks, the Somme route is 680km with 236 locks. I will have unlimited time, i plan to quit my job. Now is always early March, i will have enough time to buy the boat, maintain it and set up for the departures.
It would be really useful first sailing short distance as a shakedown cruise, if something goes wrong, its easier to go to the nearest port to fix...
 
This is the most popular pilot book for the area:
https://www.amazon.de/Shell-Channel-Pilot-England-Islands/dp/1846237009
(I note that amazon germany ships to hungary)
It covers the french and uk sides and I think it fair to say the most of us who sail in this part of the world have a copy

This is the most popular almanac which contains tidal info for 2018 and a lot of other information on communications, safety, harbour info etc:
https://www.amazon.de/Reeds-Channel-Almanac-2018/dp/1472946561

...although I'm sure others will be along with different opinions ;-)
 
bazsimoci said:
Thanks for your very constructive reply! Yes, i prefer St Valery-sur Somme, cos its shorter to motoring with the diesel to Strasbourg, but more locks. I have the waterway map of France and i calculated both of the ways. Through Seine it is 926km and 197 locks, the Somme route is 680km with 236 locks. I will have unlimited time, i plan to quit my job. Now is always early March, i will have enough time to buy the boat, maintain it and set up for the departures.
It would be really useful first sailing short distance as a shakedown cruise, if something goes wrong, its easier to go to the nearest port to fix...
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you are already well advanced with your planning. As you say, it makes sense to take time to get to know your new boat, taking short coastal hops initially. Don't cross the Channel until you are confident that everything that needs to work does and, even then, wait for a decent "window" or settled weather. Then go for it!

Sounds like a great opportunity. I'm sure it will be an amazing experience.
 
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