Living on the Med

[Ajna]

Hi canal boater lovable aboard here in the Uk seriously planning to sell up and buy a yacht and head for the sun/med with Mrs and dog as fed up with the cold winter.
Love boats done loads of dingy sailing but never sailed a yacht and will preferably need something I can single hand as other than steering Mrs can't do much else!
My questions are where can we live that's not rough, can we beach the boat and what would be the best kind of hull to buy that will allow some inland canal travel through France for example,drop keel I think it's called.
Are there any restrictions we need to be aware of and any legal requirements.
Our budget will be between 10k to 20k and would prefer an inboard.
I dare say we will have lots of daft newbie questions but please go easy on us.
Many thanks.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Hi canal boater lovable aboard here in the Uk seriously planning to sell up and buy a yacht and head for the sun/med with Mrs and dog as fed up with the cold winter.
Love boats done loads of dingy sailing but never sailed a yacht and will preferably need something I can single hand as other than steering Mrs can't do much else!
My questions are where can we live that's not rough, can we beach the boat and what would be the best kind of hull to buy that will allow some inland canal travel through France for example,drop keel I think it's called.
Are there any restrictions we need to be aware of and any legal requirements.
Our budget will be between 10k to 20k and would prefer an inboard.
I dare say we will have lots of daft newbie questions but please go easy on us.
Many thanks.

Please take care the Med is not at all like a canal ,in fact it becomes very dangerous quickly.

 

[macd]

Welcome to the forum, Ajna.

I suggest you do some reading. Here's a good place to start: http://www.jimbsail.info/

The section on "Inland France" gives an outline of canal routes to the Med, and the sort of depths/air draughts to be encountered. Perfectly seaworthy boats can get through with the mast down.

As rtboss wrote, don't imagine the Med is a sunnier version of the Serpentine. It can get very evil. For somewhere likely to be not rough, I'd suggest Hampstead. Bit pricey, though

One sensible piece of advice often given to people in your position, is to try a charter holiday in your region of interest: that will give you a much more comprehensive idea of what's involved, and whether you actually like it.

 

[OldBawley]

Please take care the Med is not at all like a canal ,in fact it becomes very dangerous quickly.

I disagree.

Done years of canals and big rivers, then some North Sea, then some years of Med.
Have encountered much more dangerous situations on those rivers and canals then on sea.

With the good weather forecasts we have now, surely the Med is easy peasy. Just don´t be in a hurry.

 

[Tranona]

Agree with the suggestion to charter a boat - or more likely do a flotilla holiday with Sailing Holidays. This will give you a good experience of what it is like living on board in hot weather and the boat and equipment required to make it tolerable. You will then discover that your budget may be very limiting because it will only get you a relatively small and or old boat.

If you are going to buy a boat in the UK and take it to the Med you have a choice of sailing round the outside or going through the canals. For the former you need a very seaworthy boat and significant experience of both sailing and navigating. The latter is in some ways less demanding, but there are restrictions on draft.

The Med is a big place and generally the western part from Spain to Italy is much more expensive than the east, particularly Greece and Turkey so those on a limited budget tend to make for that part. If you are just planning on living inexpensively and are not bothered about the adventure of getting there (which can take at least a season, even through the quicker canal route) consider buying a boat there. You will get much more for your money as equipping an old UK based boat for living out there plus getting it reliable enough to actually do it will gobble money. A boat already there will probably be equipped and ready to go.

The other thing to consider is where you are going to moor. Again the west is much more expensive generally and more likely to have to use expensive marinas. In the east there are many more anchorages and in Greece in particular you can moor on town quays either free or for very little money. Running up a beach is not practical - remember virtually no tide and the sort of boat you will need will have a deep keel!

Lots of people do exactly what you are thinking of, but perhaps you are a long way back from both the knowledge required and having a budget to actually do it.

Plenty of material available - books, websites, magazine articles, forums like this, blogs for you to access to get a better feel of what it is about.

 

[macd]

Again the east is much more expensive generally and more likely to have to use expensive marinas.

I suspect Tranona had one of his rare senior moments and meant west there.

+1 that the OP considers buying a boat in Greece, unless the trip out there is itself important for him. Boats there are generally sorted for warm-weather living, with extras like biminis, electric windless, maybe solar panels. Recent thread on this very subject here: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-Greece-to-be-avoided-Or-bargains-if-you-dare

 

[Tranona]

Edit done. Got it right most of the time!

 

[Contest1]

Please take care the Med is not at all like a canal ,in fact it becomes very dangerous quickly.

+1. Given the questions posed by the OP it could be well outside his comfort zone.

 

[SHUG]

First point is that the Med and particularly Greece is awash with boats for sale so you don't have to think about canals (unless you really want to).
Second, there is no such thing as "the Med." What I mean is that it is impossible to generalise between France, Spain, Sardinia, Tunisia , Greece etc....they are all very different.
Third, there are places to go in the summer , places to go in the winter and places never to go!
Fourth. You can generally choose a boating lifestyle to suit your budget. It may mean anchoring all the time in the Summer season and finding a basic quayside for the winter.
I could go on but you can only make good choices by talking to lots of people and slowly building up your knowledge and experience.
Good luck.