Lousy Med summer weather too

[Deleted User YDKXO]

SV you've hit the nail on the head. With Med boating, you've booked your flights months/weeks in advance and you have to take the weather as it comes whereas in the UK/Ireland, at least you can go home early or cancel if the weather is rubbish

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

wakeup, we have had one full season in the SoF and the weather was mostly fab but you have to be careful about describing the SoF. Cote d'Azur/Riviera weather is probably as good as it gets for motorboating but go further west towards Marseille and particularly the Golfe de Lion and the strong mistral winds are a much more common occurence

 

[Davy_S]

Sorry your weather has not been so good! However In the Ionian this year has been fantastic, Two days since end of April it was a bit humpty, all the rest of the year has been sunshine, up to 46c, even the yachties could not complain as there has been a good breeze most afternoons. We have had two hours of rain since June, I am due to come out of the water at the end of October as jobs need doing to the boat, plus I never antifouled (big mistake) otherwise it would have been the end of November. Never mind next year will soon be here.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

now the Ionian is usually one hell of a sea
still this was marked as an El Nino year and it is a bit crazy when it is El Nino
last one was in 2002 and we had crazy weather and winds over here
1997 was the worst with only 2 good weeks in August
the span of El Nino usually is from 2-7 years
according to experts before it used to be 5-10 years and Global Warning effects it more often and the sea mainly Atlantic Ocean heats up faster

 

[Nick_H]

I can confirm the Cote d'Azur weather has been unbelievably good all summer, just a few windy days and no rain. The last week has been over 25 deg and less than F2 the whole time. We've just spent the day sunbathing, swimming and drinking yet again.

However, try and find a berth and you'll see why not everyone is here. At 2.00 this afternoon we had nowhere to leave the boat tonight, and we're flying home tomorrow morning. Having phoned every marina in the Cote we finally found some space in the public port at Golfe Juan, but I will have to move it again in 3 weeks. And if you think the answer is to buy one, then the French can even make that remarkably difficult. Think i'll have another beer and sit in the sun for a bit....

 

[captainalex]

I read in the Var Matin just the other day that there is a proposal to enlarge St Tropez harbour by 50 berths. The town wants to cash in on the charter market by exploiting it's income potential. The popularity of the Cote d'azur seems to be booming

 

[wakeup]

Agree with your comments re Marseille, it has always been uncomfortably windy EVERY time we have ever been there. Ditto Gulf du Lion, we were out in a force nine once although was a cruise ship. I was referring to east of SoF Porqrolles to Monaco.

 

[mjkinch1]

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect that many who claim 'things/weather aren't what they expected' are really referring to their inability to cope with the differences in culture and language. Over the years you see that as 'a recurring hidden theme' on this forum ( and I am NOT referring to Deleted User) .


[/ QUOTE ]

Not me - we are taking spanish lessons, and can pretty much manage OK, no culture issues either. Cant think of a nicer place to be than Majorca, people etc, but even locals concede its been a mixed bag of weather this year.


I have had this debate with Meddie about the approaches to Med boating, and generally there are those that love the Med lifestyle, so boating is secondary in a sense to the enjoyment of being in teh Med. Then there are those that love boating and happen to be in the Med for the weather, rather than the UK or somewhere else, which is me.

So my frustration was not being able to boat as much as I wanted or planned to, sure the sunshine was there, but so were the swells and winds, which made some of the journeys a little less comfertable than I would have hoped.

I would love to continue to stay in the Med, and hopefully 2008 will be a great year, but if not (as I have to commute and take my chances with the weather) then snatched moments in the UK at short notice will satisfy my boating need as much as being in the Med.

Having said that it could all change if we get a good couple of weeks, and I will be boring everyone with some pictures of far flung ports.........and planning 2008/2009 etc

Who knows

 

[jfm]

Wow, amazed to read all that Mike. I have stayed east of St Trop this year, so not caught many mistrals, and we have had wonderful weather. I can't remeber any rain, and only a few windy days. We have done 155hours and 1600+ nm

The first pic below was taken off Cap D'Antibes on saturday 22/9/07 (day-before-yesterday). The 2nd pic is beautiful Girolata in NW Corsica on 14/7/07 and the weahter in that shot pretty much sums up the whole of summer 2007 for me. Maybe try a move to France/Italy? There's plenty of space in Genoa new marina folks say

 

[EME]

Very, very fair comment .. and No reflexion on yourself ..


MOBO = Monaco to Theoule .. 'heck I don't even own-a-boat , when will folks realise that Shpoine is WRONG for (casual) Moboers .....

Some like JFM. Deleted User , et al , consider it a judgment call based on this year's 'personal' needs ... some think it's a lifetime decision


If you think the latter then why wouldn't a MoBo'er choose Cote d'Azur ???

 

[jfm]

But dont mike. Treat the med like the UK. Book your weekend flights on Thursday morning, after getting a good weather forecast. Change flights if the weahter turns bad and come home early. Get a printer on the boat to do the boarding passes and get to airport 25mins before takeoff. I haven't booked next wekeend yet cos it's too early in the week

 

[Magnum]

[ QUOTE ]
I have had this debate with Meddie about the approaches to Med boating, and generally there are those that love the Med lifestyle, so boating is secondary in a sense to the enjoyment of being in teh Med. Then there are those that love boating and happen to be in the Med for the weather, rather than the UK or somewhere else, which is me.

[/ QUOTE ]
Summed up nicely. I'm with you on this (here's hoping for a sunny calm UK '08 season /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

 

[jfm]

Agreed, cept I'd say Theoule to Naples, not just Monaco. And include Corsica too, and the other islands like Elba, Monte Cristo, etc.

First pic below is entering Portoferrairo harbour, Elba, 20 June 2007. Second pic is moored in Portoferrairo. Beautiful place and beautiful weather (check out the sky...) Sorry for pix overload, but just refuting the header in the original post and showing that the Schpoinisch part of Med is utterly different from France and Italy

You had me baffled on "Schpoine"* but geddit now - was slow, doh! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

* I took liberty of adding a "c" to recognise ze German influence

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

[ QUOTE ]
Book your weekend flights on Thursday morning, after getting a good weather forecast. Change flights if the weahter turns bad and come home early. Get a printer on the boat to do the boarding passes and get to airport 25mins before takeoff. I haven't booked next wekeend yet cos it's too early in the week


[/ QUOTE ]

Ha, ha, have you got kids, jfm? Maybe you can do that for out of season weekends but for school half terms and holidays, you've got to book early or you may not get a flight at all. The last time I waited until the last moment, I ended up buying 3 Bmi premium economy tickets. For example return tickets to Palma going out 20th Oct returning 27th Oct 2007 (half term) on Bmi are already premium economy rates at £600+ each and thats 4 weeks away.
Yes for long weekends with SWMBO or mates during term time when child can be parked with grandparents, I will wait until I have a weather forecast before booking but it's still potentially far more costly than booking ahead

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Nice pics, jfm. On 22/9 it may have been glorious in Antibes but in Cala d'Or, it was cloudy and blowing about a F4 onshore easterly. Luckily we had planned to catch the England rugby game in the afternoon so it did'nt matter that it was raining by then. During the night of 22/9, there was a violent thunderstorm which went on for about 5 hours. By the morning of 23/9 it was still cloudy and chilly as we motored back to Palma. By lunchtime on 23/9 it was chucking it down again and that continued until the time we flew home at 17.00.
Always fancied Italy but has'nt the Gulf of Genoa got a reputation for dodgy weather too or have I got that wrong? Where do you cruise from Genoa?

 

[Richard10002]

I set off from lagos on Jue 18th, was in the Balearics from 26 June to 23 July, then to Sardinia, Italy and now Sicily.

Scorching from leaving Lagos until a few days ago.

2 or 3 spots of rain in Puertocolom, but first real rain 2 evenings ago in Siracusa.

For me, it's been roasting almost 24/7.

 

[MedDreamer]

I completely agree Mike and I don't think its down to your bad luck with timing, it's been pretty poor all year, no real period of sustained calm weather all summer.

We have had plenty of warm/hot weather but the seastate/wind have never let up. I am about ten hours down on this time last year even though we have covered more distance.

In June we cruised down to Porto Cristo and Cala D'or and ended up just marina hopping because of the sea state. Our July trip to Menorca ended up just being five nights moored in Mahon, very windy and on one evening even cool enough to require long trousers and a jumper, the crossing back to Mallorca was very errrrr interesting

In August we ended up enduring a scary storm that came from nowhere while we were anchoring overnight in Pollensa Bay and our week in September only allowed us out to local anchorages on a couple of days. All season I've been wanting to get around Formentor and down to Cala San Vincente but not yet had the weather (still chance yet though).

All in all by some margin the worst weather in the past four years.

Despite that we have enjoyed every minute out in the Med, and flights already booked for next year

 

[MaltaBob]

Sorry Mike, have to say, Malta has been brilliant for 6 months!
But I can understand your comments on where you are. Maybe it's our turn next summer? ( hope not )
Today is the first day since April we've seen rain! But it sounds like we are gonna know about it later, lightening, thunder, and probably a bit of flooding too! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Sorry to hear that your trips have been blighted by the weather too, Martyn. To be honest, I don't think this summer is typical of Balearics weather but it is really frustrating all the same when you've gone through the hassle and expense of getting there to find the weather is worse than the UK. I did'nt even mention Easter. We cancelled our trip to Palma at the last minute because the weather was so much better in the UK, Easter being the UK summer
Cala St Vincente is well worth a visit. We anchored there in June whilst moving our boat back to Palma from Alcudia and the water is wonderfully clear blue. Did'nt see any jellyfish either unlike many other anchorages

 

[Nat]

Yes Mike the swell has been relentless, we finished up on a strong mooring boay in the SW corner of San Miguel (compliements of a local fisherman) It was so bad I just did not feel comfortable at anchor. The only place that wasn't too bad was San Antonio & tight in the NE corner of Cala Tarida. At least the wind made the heat bearable, on some days it was 36/37C. On our return we practically had to surf into my home marina such was the swell
Apparently the storm you mention a on 22/23 sep also hit the mainland, my pal in Alicante rang me to say the weather was terrible with torrential rain & high winds.
All in all I still would not consider swapping the med for UK boating even med bad weather is good compared to here also I just love the culture & laid back atmosphere, so different to my life here.
regards Nat