Go Big or Go Home?

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Here we go again - the internal stairs.
Why did they ever remove them.
If you REALLY use a boat like these, you would understand just how useful those internal stairs are.
Remember JFM's big Squaddie build - he had one put in as an extra.
Our P67 has one which, not only joins the three dining areas to the galley but, at sea, it is virtually the ONLY way that we move between the flybridge and the rest of the boat.
It is one of the big features that we like about our boat.

Agree 110%. One of the major reasons I've stuck with Ferrettis over the years is that they always fitted internal flybridge stairs in their boats but even they have deleted them from their newer models and thats one of the reasons I've not upgraded to a newer boat. As you say, they are a huge safety feature when you at sea especially when you have kids onboard because you can watch them go inside from the flybridge, something you cannot do with cockpit stairs. Also I shuttle regularly from upper to lower helms because my flybridge instrumentation is a bit sparse and doing that up and down the internal stairs is so much easier

I dont buy the spoil the view argument. I think in recent years its been about blatant cost saving and of course many people moving up to bigger flybridge boats these days have never enjoyed the convenience of internal stairs so dont complain to the salesmen at boat shows

Anyone here are the stairs on my current boat. About as unobtrusive as you could get but still very usable

 

[Hooligan]

The S58 in the link seems mildly dear - but I have not got shopping for a while and as we all know boats sell on condition. At that age they need new teak, linings etc and this all costs.

I am in a minority but I never use the internal steps and wish the damn things were not there!

Mid cabins as other says are all well and good, they look great but you do get very hot over night and in our case the water pump ( which was huge on the s65) is behind your head. The plus side is no wave slap.

The 58 is a good boat - I love the thing hence I have just paid for a gyro. Post 2004 the port holes were more square, but more importantly all the gold fittings became chrome!

I saw this on FB. Fairline Squadron 55 from 2002 for sale at Botentekoop.NL.
Just FYI. Older and cheaper but engines the same or nearly.

 

[Hooligan]

How did you get out? It looked shallower going forward and too close to the rocks to go back

Blimey. Probably glad you didn’t see that before you anchored. San Antonio is a shambles - totally agree with you. But generally when you go to Ibiza I think you have to plan to be on anchor most of the time. Re gyros I am with JRudge on this one. I suspect it’s a bit that old saying. Once you’ve gone there there’s no going back.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Blimey. Probably glad you didn’t see that before you anchored. San Antonio is a shambles - totally agree with you. But generally when you go to Ibiza I think you have to plan to be on anchor most of the time. Re gyros I am with JRudge on this one. I suspect it’s a bit that old saying. Once you’ve gone there there’s no going back.

I fitted a Seakeeper in my boat 3yrs ago. Mine is excellent at anchor but underway, even at slow speeds, there is very little effect. I think you have to decide what you want out of a stabiliser system. If your primary aim is stabilisation at anchor, then a gyro is a good choice but if youre looking for stabilisation at speed as well as at anchor then fins may be a better way to go

For Med cruising though for the kind of cruising most people do which is short periods cruising in fine weather and long periods at anchor in anchorages which are often affected by the wakes of passing vessels, a gyro is probably the way to go

 

[Hurricane]

How did you get out? It looked shallower going forward and too close to the rocks to go back

Actually, SWMBO surprised me.
She is usually very cautious.
But she was quite comfortable with the depth - a lot more comfortable than me.
No tide, no swell and the only storm had just gone through.
So we stayed there for about 4 days.
We had friends with us but after the storm, they had to leave on a flight home.
A couple of days with our friends and then a couple more with just SWMBO and I.
The boat to our starboard was owned by a really nice Spanish family who keep their boat in Ibiza but live on the mainland a few miles from Sant Carles - small world.
As usual in a situation like that you plan your exit - we talked about it several times in the days before we left.

So, just the two of us - bright and early one morning.
There was about 90m of chain out to the anchor which was nicely embedded in sand in the middle of the bay.
SWMBO wound in the anchor whilst I let out the one shore line that we had left (the other had been recovered the previous day).
The rope that we use to tie back is designed specifically to float so I let go when it came to the end.
We wound the boat out to a more usual swinging anchor.
We had left the tender in the water tied to the bathing platform so it was then just a matter for both of us to get in the tender and recover the floating rope.
Once back on board, we just took our time to stow the floating ropes and recover the tender to the bathing platform.
IIRC, SWMBO wanted to drive the boat out so I was given the task of recovering the anchor from the foredeck - something that I don't normally do.

We then set of to meet up with some yachtie friends in Tarida on the west coast of Ibiza before heading home to Sant Carles.

Cala Tarida

 

[GravyStain]

I saw this on FB. Fairline Squadron 55 from 2002 for sale at Botentekoop.NL.
Just FYI. Older and cheaper but engines the same or nearly.

The 55 looks very similar to the 58 in many respects. A lovely boat.

 

[GravyStain]

Agree 110%. One of the major reasons I've stuck with Ferrettis over the years is that they always fitted internal flybridge stairs in their boats but even they have deleted them from their newer models and thats one of the reasons I've not upgraded to a newer boat. As you say, they are a huge safety feature when you at sea especially when you have kids onboard because you can watch them go inside from the flybridge, something you cannot do with cockpit stairs. Also I shuttle regularly from upper to lower helms because my flybridge instrumentation is a bit sparse and doing that up and down the internal stairs is so much easier

I dont buy the spoil the view argument. I think in recent years its been about blatant cost saving and of course many people moving up to bigger flybridge boats these days have never enjoyed the convenience of internal stairs so dont complain to the salesmen at boat shows

Anyone here are the stairs on my current boat. About as unobtrusive as you could get but still very usable

Beautiful interior Mike. Can I ask what Ferretti you have? Looks pretty voluminous.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Beautiful interior Mike. Can I ask what Ferretti you have? Looks pretty voluminous.

630

 

[Hurricane]

Actually, I thought more people would be interested in how we tied up in the first place.
This is probably the best place for this otherwise if I started a new thread, it would degenerate into one of those "how to anchor threads"!!

The OP will probably have noticed that I like to tie back to the rocks a lot.
I've only been doing this since our visit to Sardenia when we met MYAG who used to post on this forum.
After that trip, I bought a few more toys for the boat.
The Novurania tender was one - believe it or not, it fits on both the bathing platform or the flybridge - the ability to keep the tender on the flybridge was, again, one of the features of the P67 that lead us to buying her.
Another toy (well not really a toy) was to "beef up" JW's foredeck ground tackle.
This meant adding a heavier chain, a more effective anchor, a decent chain lock and a bigger winch.

Here is the current foredeck arrangement


And this is now the lump on the bow - a 55Kg Rocna which has never let us down.


In Sardinia, I was enthralled whilst I watched MYAG anchoring an 80 foot Sunseeker back to the rocks - Since then, I just want to do the same.

Just watch this short video clip taken by MapisM (from this forum) who had gone ahead on MYAG's Novurania to take these shots.
Really impressive stuff

In that clip, you can just see me watching MYAG's crew releasing the anchor
I had a camera - this is what it was like on the bow of that Sunseeker

Anyway, back to Porroig and setting up before that storm.
Now with our own Novurania, SWMBO ties off to the rocks - she does tie a good bowline!!




And on the bow, it was important to tighten the anchor chain so that the whole boat was "bar tight"


You really wouldn't have thought that the weather was about to turn very nasty!!!

Finally, whilst on the subject of Sardinia, I thought I would post MapisM's video from that part of the summer.
In this video, you will see MapisM's old boat, Jennywren, MYAG and Deleted User's Ferretti
Good old times and thanks to MapisM for spending the time to put this together.
I hope you enjoy it

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

That brought back some memories H

 

[Sticky Fingers]

That brought back some memories H

It looks fabulous

Did you guys all know one another previously? Or is this the Forum bringing people together?

 

[Hurricane]

It looksk fabulous

Did you guys all know one another previously? Or is this the Forum bringing people together?

For me, it has only been from the forum.
But the forum has been doing this for years - not just recently.

During the first year of ownership of this boat, we took her to Malta.
The crew I had on board had all met before and we arranged to meet others at various places on the way.
I had different crew on the way out and to the crew on the way back.
All of us are friends who had met at a regular meetings in Wokingham - all set up via this forum.
I think we are all still in contact - quite a few of the Wokingham meet are now based in Sant Carles.
I will see if I can "dig out" some threads.

EDIT
Quite difficult to find threads before 2009 and most have broken photo links,
We once had an excellent Wokingham Easter weekend in the Channel islands but all the forum photo links have long since gone.
However, are some pics from my photo archive.

The Wokingham meet en-route to the Channel Islands


And a raft that we set up in Sark (Channel Islands)




This was a thread reporting on preparations for the Malta trip
The Team from Wokingham travel South
And this one still has the photo links - reported by RickP who is currently circumnavigating the world.
Spain to Malta (Warning: long & loads of pics!)
I think they show the friendships that have developed in the past.

Back to Sardinia, Carloforte was a particularly special place that we visited on our return from Malta.
We had some bad experiences in Tunisia and it was a great relief to find civilisation again in Carloforte.
So, I vowed that I would return - not knowing at the time that it is MapisM's home (well his boat's home anyway).
So, in 2016, I booked up a four month stay in the marina at Carloforte and the rest , as they say is history.

 

[GravyStain]

Great stuff!
Bet you lot can't remember doing this stuff... You've had your sea legs for donkeys years!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

@Hurricane thank you for this, it's great to do some armchair boating and maybe a bit of dreaming. Let's hope the Spring and Summer 2021 will be good.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Beautiful interior Mike. Can I ask what Ferretti you have? Looks pretty voluminous.

630

That I like a lot. Just had a nose at a few for sale, way beyond what I could pay right now but it looks very classy.

 

[Hurricane]

@Hurricane thank you for this, it's great to do some armchair boating and maybe a bit of dreaming. Let's hope the Spring and Summer 2021 will be good.

No problem - it has been great therapy after a season where our boat has only been in the lagoon.
Thankfully, I had my "fix" with that delivery trip to Mallorca and back in the summer.
But posting and sharing these memories has been really enjoyable.

 

[Bouba]

Great stuff!
Bet you lot can't remember doing this stuff... You've had your sea legs for donkeys years!

Oh easy peasy ??? I did it in French??️??

 

[GravyStain]

Oh easy peasy ??? I did it in French????

Smartass hehehehehe... I'll definitely be doing my practicals in Spain. Too bloomin cold here in Blighty!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Smartass hehehehehe... I'll definitely be doing my practicals in Spain. Too bloomin cold here in Blighty!

Assuming you mean the Spanish Med (not Atlantic) then that's non tidal obviously. I know the RYA dropped the distinction some while ago, if you're Med boating only then a non-issue I guess.

 

[GravyStain]

Assumking you mean the Spanish Med (not Atlantic) then that's non tidal obviously. I know the RYA dropped the distinction some while ago, if you're Med boating only then a non-issue I guess.

Yes, Med based, non tidal. Can't wait for COVID to bugger off, but then I guess that's everyones sentiment on here...