MAGNUM to the med - first stab at a route plan

[Magnum]

Next April me, my wife and (now) 6 month old daughter are heading south from Jersey in our new Princess P68.

The plan is quite loose with no fixed agenda and getting to the med isn't going to be a delivery trip, so your record Hurricane is safe for now Instead we will confine passages to daylight hours in good conditions and stay as little or as long as we please in our ports of call.

It's a bit trickier than I thought finding interesting places to stay, that can accommodate our almost 22m length and keeping passage time sensible. Anyway here is a first stab.

Distance NM / Time Hrs @ 20Knts
1 St Helier - Brest 150 / 7.5
2 Brest - Port du Crouesty 120 / 6
3 Port du Crouesty - Port des Minimes, La Rochelle 115 / 5.75
4 Port des Minimes, La Rochelle - Laredo 195 / 9.75
5 Laredo - Gijon 100 / 5
6 Gijon - La Coruna 140 / 7
7 La Coruna - Baiona 110 / 5.5
8 Baiona - Cascais 220 / 11
9 Cascais - Portimao 130 / 6.5
10 Portimao - Vilamoura 20 / 1
11 Vilamoura - Gibraltar 155 / 7.75

Total 1455NM

Here's our fuel burn data. You will see that about 20 knots works well range wise :-



Comments/suggestions most welcome

 

[Phildorset]

Excellent post & plan, we have thoughts to take our boat down to Sotogrande in a similar fashion, probably over a season or two though - so will read and enjoy this thread as it develops

 

[Nigelpickin]

Looks amazing, very similar to our trip, what a great adventure.

Personally I'd substitute Trinite for Crouesty, add Porinchet if you've not been and stay in Chalutier in La Rochelle, not Minimes.

I'd also definitely add Muros after La Caruna as it is the most delightful marina in the Rias, in my humble opinion.

Could you Squeeze Porto in as well, it's a fantastic city and worth travelling up the river to the first lock for a look see....

But whatever you choose to do have a great trip and come knocking when you arrive in Portimao!

 

[Whitelighter]

Looks like an excellent trip.
Quick q from the princess figures - why does the port engine burn less than the starboard?

 

[jfm]

Looks like an excellent trip.
Quick q from the princess figures - why does the port engine burn less than the starboard?

Lots of possible reasons. There can be small differences between a pair of engines anyway. You might have p/s pump on one engine, and possibly one rather than 2 PTOs for the stabs, and so on. Sometimes it is said the calorifier has an effect, but of course it doesn't make any material difference.

 

[jfm]

Looks a good plan Magnum. With legs that long, you'll want (I expect) to stay in the ports of call for a few days at a time, unless they are deadly dull

 

[IDAMAY]

Looks amazing, very similar to our trip, what a great adventure.

Personally I'd substitute Trinite for Crouesty, add Porinchet if you've not been and stay in Chalutier in La Rochelle, not Minimes.

I'd also definitely add Muros after La Caruna as it is the most delightful marina in the Rias, in my humble opinion.

Could you Squeeze Porto in as well, it's a fantastic city and worth travelling up the river to the first lock for a look see....

But whatever you choose to do have a great trip and come knocking when you arrive in Portimao!

+1 for almost all of what Nigel says. I don't think that Trinite has a lot more to offer than Crouesty but would also consider Haliguen. Unless you like golf, bling and a strip joint or have other reasons for going there, I would cut out Vilamoura.

It is a trip you are almost bound to enjoy provided you get half decent conditions.

Bon Voyage

Richard.

 

[Magnum]

Looks a good plan Magnum. With legs that long, you'll want (I expect) to stay in the ports of call for a few days at a time, unless they are deadly dull

Exactly jfm, which is why it's very important they are not dull.

 

[scubaman]

To my regret I have nothing meaningful to say about the marinas along the atlantic coast, but one consideration I would like to add is that by that time your daughter will be crawling and possibly walking. She'll be needing constant supervision and a safe environment to keep her from bumping into things in a swell. My own experience is that the least stressful (for the person supervising her) place to arrange this is in the saloon or in a cabin, which of course can be demanding for the minder, especially on longer journeys and in anything but moderate sea.

Doing longer journeys with a small kid can be very demanding. Staying in marinas will be just fine.

Edit: it will be a wonderful trip for sure, but the longer legs are worth planning carefully from the child care point of view to minimize the stress.

 

[Magnum]

To my regret I have nothing meaningful to say about the marinas along the atlantic coast, but one consideration I would like to add is that by that time your daughter will be crawling and possibly walking. She'll be needing constant supervision and a safe environment to keep her from bumping into things in a swell. My own experience is that the least stressful (for the person supervising her) place to arrange this is in the saloon or in a cabin, which of course can be demanding for the minder, especially on longer journeys and in anything but moderate sea.

Doing longer journeys with a small kid can be very demanding. Staying in marinas will be just fine.

Agreed. At the moment we have a really good stable travel cot/playpen that will be located in the saloon. This is where she will be placed when coming into port or any other time she cannot be held. On the flybridge she'll be held with a baby lifejacket and harness attached to mum. Anything other than settled conditions means downstairs only. We haven't got all the answers yet but we'll get there.

 

[stelican]

To my regret I have nothing meaningful to say about the marinas along the atlantic coast, but one consideration I would like to add is that by that time your daughter will be crawling and possibly walking. She'll be needing constant supervision and a safe environment to keep her from bumping into things in a swell. My own experience is that the least stressful (for the person supervising her) place to arrange this is in the saloon or in a cabin, which of course can be demanding for the minder, especially on longer journeys and in anything but moderate sea.

Doing longer journeys with a small kid can be very demanding. Staying in marinas will be just fine.

Edit: it will be a wonderful trip for sure, but the longer legs are worth planning carefully from the child care point of view to minimize the stress.

 

[stelican]

+1
But not forgetting the motion of the boat has the magical effect of sending children off into sleep which is ok as long as they don't spend the night awake!

 

[rafiki_]

Excellent post & plan, we have thoughts to take our boat down to Sotogrande in a similar fashion, probably over a season or two though - so will read and enjoy this thread as it develops

Hi Phil, how about a pic or 2 of your new Snazi?

 

[Hurricane]

Good luck
Definitely, don't rush it - enjoy every mile.
Take time - it is one of those lifetime experiences.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Looks amazing, very similar to our trip, what a great adventure.

Personally I'd substitute Trinite for Crouesty, add Porinchet if you've not been and stay in Chalutier in La Rochelle, not Minimes.

I'd also definitely add Muros after La Caruna as it is the most delightful marina in the Rias, in my humble opinion.

Could you Squeeze Porto in as well, it's a fantastic city and worth travelling up the river to the first lock for a look see....

But whatever you choose to do have a great trip and come knocking when you arrive in Portimao!

I'd second your recommendation of basin des chalutiers in La Rochelle. We spent 2 weeks there a few summers back, you can't visit LR and not go up to (or through) the twin towers!

 

[Piers]

Personally I'd substitute ... Chalutier in La Rochelle, not Minimes.

I'd agree 100% with this. Minimes is vast, impersonal, and a long somewhat uninteresting walk to the town. On the other hand, Les Chalutiers is close to town yet surprisingly quiet. We've stayed there on a number of occasions and enjoyed every one.

One point to bear in mind. Les Chalutiers has a lock gate which might restrict your departure timing. It did for us, but we resolved it by staying a night in Minimes which is only a hop and a skip down the estuary from Les Chalutiers.

You might find this story interesting with regard to the France 1 which is now a museum in Les Chalutiers - http://www.playdeau.com/ocean-station-vessel-this-is-speedbird/

Piers

 

[mparrish]

Just a suggestion, but when our kids were small we used a standard car seat (forward facing) which we strapped onto the boat seating (we fitted some additional fixing points to which we could lash the seat to). This meant that when underway the kids were well secured leaving us with hands free for the boat. The kids enjoyed it (similar setup to the car so familiar) and routinely went to sleep once we got to cruising speed. Can also fit the usual toys and attachments to the seat - just like in a car.

Sounds like a great trip - can wait for the progress reports !

 

[JerseyDiver]

You can probably add at least an hour to each of those passage times for the departure and entry. There will be some long days. I hope you enjoy some good weather, I am very envious!!

 

[beebok]

Porto is a must nice new marina easy entry unless the seas are big then you would not be out anyway!
Lisbon city is worth the visit either by train from Cascais or Marina Alcantara near the city.Planning on visiting next year.
Lagos marina is near the old town so worth a visit.
Before Gib go into Cadiz interesting City but a good walk from the marina.

 

[John100156]

What a fantastic trip, hope it all goes well. I trust we shall receive regular reports with loads of pictures, mind you, I expect you will have enough to do. Safe journey.