Moved abroad - what to do with yacht

[petedg]

If you're no longer going to be regularly day sailing, why tie your boat to one location?

How about every time you have a week sailing, finish up somewhere different, then fly back from there. So in the time you are in Switzerland you could cruise all the way up to the Baltic, and/or down the Atlantic coast of France, or up to Scotland etc, all just one week or so at a time. If you got 2 or three weeks during the summer I suspect you'd probably end up getting as much sailing as most people, more than many, and you'll get to see a lot of new people. Cruise planning can then become your new hobby for those long winter's nights.

Or take up skiing.

Have to agree with the idea of slowly moving the boat closer, you get to see some new places along the way. I agree with those who say don't sell, find an alternative that works in your specific circumstances. I'm also living and working in Switzerland and our boat is up on the north German coast close to the Polish border, 12 hours drive! Not ideal but we make it work for us and accept that day sails are out unless we can take some long weekends. We use Easyjet and fly to Berlin then it's only 2 hours by car.....what we do and what we spend just to get on the water!
Oh...and welcome to Switzerland!

 

[sideshowbob]

My friend has had similar problem for the last three years, so I have looked after the boat kept it afloat, arranged for all the trades and work to be done on her each year moved her about had use when I wanted to and he has had maybe two short trips a year. He finishes his time abroad Jan 2014 and he will be back to using his boat as normal.
Had it been a couple of years longer he and I believe it would have been better to sell and buy something on his return as his requirements might be different after such a long period, he did buy another small boat with a sailing partner for use whilst he was abroad.

 

[GBR6400T]

Some good points here, and thank you for the welcomes - it is nice to know I am not the only sailor this far from the sea!

The gradual movement of the boat does appeal and is something that the wife and I talked about, but that was with the purpose of getting her somewhere, but I am now thinking we could keep doing it. Not the cheapest option, but potentially a great way of exploring an extended area (providing I am not too far from transport links!)

The points about availability of berths/moorings is well made, and taken on board.

We have some friends keeping an eye on her, but we hoped they would also be able to get more use out of here than they have so far (none in the last 6 months) so may extend the pool, as it is not fair to expect the maintenance without the use!