New 70ft+ boat for the Med

[PowerYachtBlog]

If I was a Brit or of Northern European nationality and have a boat above 15 meters (or even smaller) I would never have a base marina as some (most) have here.

I would actually move the boat around as much as I could to do all the Med as for example Bart seem to do. I know British raggies also do a lot of this.

A base berth say in Antibes or Genoa is only worth it if you have a small boat have an apartment in the area and just want to use it for daily outings.

Having a twenty meter boat with a base is really a waste of time and money. The boat is a moving apartment.

You can do all the med and safe quite a big amount of fuel, and enjoy the areas of beauty much more.

Back and return trips to a permanent berth fixed marina do cost quite a big amount of money.
If you want to save money I would actually start there instead of going into split shares in a boat which in my experience rarely do work as intended.

But hey to each his own.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Having a twenty meter boat with a base is really a waste of time and money. The boat is a moving apartment.

Yes and no. As you know we have moved bases several times during our time in the Med. The big problem with doing that is that every time you move your base, you have to find a new team of reliable and competent people to look after your boat and that can be a right PITA. If, like me, you have a limited time to spend on your boat, often in short periods, you just want to get to your boat, find it clean and in working order and just go. You dont want to be faffing about arguing with people who should have maintained your boat but didnt. For me the ideal situation is to have a base, with reliable maintenance people you can rely on, and then spend several weeks/months on your boat cruising to far off destinations but always returning to your base with the inevitable long list of things that need fixing

 

[petem]

Yes and no. As you know we have moved bases several times during our time in the Med. The big problem with doing that is that every time you move your base, you have to find a new team of reliable and competent people to look after your boat and that can be a right PITA. If, like me, you have a limited time to spend on your boat, often in short periods, you just want to get to your boat, find it clean and in working order and just go. You dont want to be faffing about arguing with people who should have maintained your boat but didnt. For me the ideal situation is to have a base, with reliable maintenance people you can rely on, and then spend several weeks/months on your boat cruising to far off destinations but always returning to your base with the inevitable long list of things that need fixing

I completely agree. It's really important to build relationships with fixers, cleaners, etc. And it takes time for them to know what you want, how you like your boat prepared, etc. And for them to notice stuff that's out of the ordinary.

Interestingly the guy that looks after my boat says that he has quite a few clients that take their boats to the islands for the summer and then bring them back to the mainland for winter maintenance / fixing.

Also, I wonder if PYB has ever tried securing a berth outside of Malta - it's not easy?

 

[BartW]

Yes and no. As you know we have moved bases several times during our time in the Med. The big problem with doing that is that every time you move your base, you have to find a new team of reliable and competent people to look after your boat and that can be a right PITA. If, like me, you have a limited time to spend on your boat, often in short periods, you just want to get to your boat, find it clean and in working order and just go. You dont want to be faffing about arguing with people who should have maintained your boat but didnt. For me the ideal situation is to have a base, with reliable maintenance people you can rely on, and then spend several weeks/months on your boat cruising to far off destinations but always returning to your base with the inevitable long list of things that need fixing

last week there was a 75ft sailing boat moored next to us,
the owner is from switserland and runs a business,
the owner and or the son sail the boat
he has a full time girl; crew - technician - manager - chef - onboard
she does all the cleaning, and manages all the work to be done,

the girl also complained about finding a reliable yard for any type of work.
they sail the boat to the best place were certain works can be done;
fe their permanent (winter) berth is in Genua (owner owns the berth)
but they will sail the boat now to Venice ! region for maintenance work on this type of SY.

one must be fortunate to find the right girl,
but that is imo a good solution.
This year we had a new girl / chef (from montenegro) onboard,
I would immediately hire her all year, but I'm afraid that she has other ambitions,
as she finished lawschool in Italy and US !
In Montenegro it is very common todo a summer job on a boat.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

Yes I forget to add that 60 feet plus needs a crew I would say fixed. May be even fifty.

Yes it is not easy to build relationships, and have what you want that I can understand.

 

[MapisM]

Yes I forget to add that 60 feet plus needs a crew I would say fixed. May be even fifty.

Well, it depends.
You can decide to work like a dog to earn enough money for the boat AND her permanent crew.
Or you can leave the rat race and hire yourself as your own permanent crew, actually saving the cost.
That's how I like to consider myself and SWMBO...
...Man math 2.0!

 

[MapisM]

They say a pic paints a 1000 words
I,ll leave you with this image

I'd be tempted to argue with the thousand words that in your intentions should be painted by that pic.

BUT, being this a MoBo forum, I think it's more appropriate to see that as one of the most capable patrol boats you can find anywhere in the Med, managed by competent professionals who passed a very selective training on fast boat handling in extreme conditions, and who are out there also to help us, if and when necessary - even if we might perceive part of their job as annoying, at times.

Built by Intermarine, Seatek+KaMeWa waterjet powered, good for 45+ knots and capable to run rings around your Itama in ANY conditions.
I'm attaching a couple of pics that will hopefully paint some more interesting words...

 

[markc]

I run a business and manage about 10 weeks a year on the boat in France - we're just finishing up our 6 week summer stint. I must admit that it's not easy and I'm very lucky to have a fantastic team, but I decided a few years ago that time spent on the boat with the family was more valuable than working those extra weeks. The downside is that I can't imagine that I'll be placing an order for a new 70 foot boat in the forseable future!

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Built by Intermarine, Seatek+KaMeWa waterjet powered, good for 45+ knots and capable to run rings around your Itama in ANY conditions.
I'm attaching a couple of pics that will hopefully paint some more interesting words...

Were you not nearly arrested by some blokes on a boat like that off Arbatax once?

 

[MapisM]

Give them some leeway, M: 'twas off season, with no other boats in sight anywhere.
Their somewhat annoying check was just one way to justify their payroll...
We would have been very pleased to see them around, if we would have been in any trouble!

Btw, in that occasion they weren't on a class 2000 patrol boat as the one in the previous pics, but on a smaller one.
IIRC, it was one of the FB design RIBs which eventually were used as a base for the Hawk 38 development.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Give them some leeway, M: 'twas off season, with no other boats in sight anywhere.
Their somewhat annoying check was just one way to justify their payroll...
We would have been very pleased to see them around, if we would have been in any trouble!

I have to say that S and I had a laugh about it later, the fact that the Guardia were more interested in the Italians on board rather than we foreigners and the fact that they appeared to think you were our paid crew

 

[MapisM]

I have to say that S and I had a laugh about it later, the fact that the Guardia were more interested in the Italians on board rather than we foreigners and the fact that they appeared to think you were our paid crew

Actually, the fact that they were more interested in ourselves ain't surprising, if you think about it.
As Brit citizens not resident in IT, yourself and S were subjects with no potential fiscal liabilities, within their jurisdiction.
Otoh, from their viewpoint, we could have been not only your (undeclared) paid crew, but they could also suspect that we were the real owners of a lovely F630 crewed by yourselves, while formally appearing just as guests...

I know it all sounds laughable to ourselves, but I'm sure they have seen it all, and then some.
Sadly, we live in a world where the consultants working for folks who want to hide their fortunes from the fiscal authorities are usually smarter than the fiscal authorities themselves! :ambivalence:

 

[BartW]

I run a business and manage about 10 weeks a year on the boat in France - we're just finishing up our 6 week summer stint. I must admit that it's not easy and I'm very lucky to have a fantastic team, but I decided a few years ago that time spent on the boat with the family was more valuable than working those extra weeks. The downside is that I can't imagine that I'll be placing an order for a new 70 foot boat in the forseable future!

I'm in exactly the same position and made exactly the same choices.
this summer we managed to stay nearly 8 weeks onboard, and some more long weekends to come in the after season, and the next pre summer season.

and totally no reason to change the boat, we did so many upgrades, ao big hilo platform and zero speed stabs, that we wouldn't want to miss anymore.

 

[Eren]

If I was a Brit or of Northern European nationality and have a boat above 15 meters (or even smaller) I would never have a base marina as some (most) have here.

I would actually move the boat around as much as I could to do all the Med as for example Bart seem to do. I know British raggies also do a lot of this.

A base berth say in Antibes or Genoa is only worth it if you have a small boat have an apartment in the area and just want to use it for daily outings.

Having a twenty meter boat with a base is really a waste of time and money. The boat is a moving apartment.

You can do all the med and safe quite a big amount of fuel, and enjoy the areas of beauty much more.

Back and return trips to a permanent berth fixed marina do cost quite a big amount of money.
If you want to save money I would actually start there instead of going into split shares in a boat which in my experience rarely do work as intended.

But hey to each his own.

I am in the same line with PYB. Just wanted to add that the frequency of home marina change should be about 3 years. If we talk about Med, 4-5 different cores will enable you to know all northern Med like back of your hand: Balearics, SoF, South Italy, Croatia/Montenegro, Greece/Turkey. I have covered three of these already in the last eight years and look forward for the other two.

 

[Hardmy]

Same as above, I keep moving on after having throughfully scouted out an area. The boat is our floating appartment, changing places never gets boring! My parents had a house on Mallorca, they sold after some time. Too boring.

I lay-up my boat always twice a year, winter of course and July/August so we usually cruise around May-July and September-October. Where we have we kept the boat so far:
Ugljan, Croatia, 1x
Monopoli, Italy, 2x
Corfu, Greece, 1x
Preveza, Greece, 4x
Ag. Theodori, Greece, 1x
Kalamata, Greece, 3x

Next comes the Central Aegean, Volos and its surrounding, the Halkidiki and the Dodecanese. After that Turkey, or why not doing 1-2 seasons in the Baltic?

 

[BartW]

I am in the same line with PYB. Just wanted to add that the frequency of home marina change should be about 3 years. If we talk about Med, 4-5 different cores will enable you to know all northern Med like back of your hand: Balearics, SoF, South Italy, Croatia/Montenegro, Greece/Turkey. I have covered three of these already in the last eight years and look forward for the other two.

don't forget Sardegna,
for that alone you need 3 years minimum ;-)

 

[MapisM]

The boat is our floating appartment, changing places never gets boring! My parents had a house on Mallorca, they sold after some time. Too boring.

The equations "well known places=boring" and "new places=entertaining" is sort of understandable, but very simplistic, and in several respects wrong, imho.

Last year I crunched a dozen of hundreds miles, circumnavigating 3/4 of the IT peninsula, anchoring in at least 30 different spots and visiting about 20 marinas.
And you know what? Most of those places, both along the HR archipelago and S Italy, couldn't hold a candle to my "home" cruising grounds, with all the anchorages that I can reach in a radius of less than one hour cruising.
The only (partial) exceptions being the most southern HR islands, and the Aegadian archipelago.
Besides, being "resident" somewhere gives the opportunity to establish long term relationships/friendships which can't be even started if you keep moving, though I appreciate that someone might consider that boring, too.

Anyhow, also generally speaking and without restricting the debate to boating, the "old and boring vs. new and thrilling" alternative can also be seen as "deeper vs. superficial" understanding of places.
Nowadays, after several years of travels around the globe using home exchange, if someone should offer me a FoC holiday where you keep moving every other day, just to tick as much boxes as possible in a limited amount of time, I wouldn't get out of bed, and I'm happy to leave that to Chinese and Japanese travellers!
Me, I can consider the hassle of a long haul flight only if I can stay wherever that flight brings me for two weeks at the very least. :encouragement:

 

[MapisM]

don't forget Sardegna

Well, Hardmy did mention Southern Italy, actually. And geographically, Sardinia is obviously part of it.

But funnily enough, you have a point, because also most Italians, when talking of S IT, do not instinctively think of Sardinia.
Not because they would include it in the center (let alone the N, obviously), but just because it's considered as another thing, sort of.
And it's not because it's an island: Sicily would definitely be included, whenever talking of S IT.
Don't ask me why, just an historical thing, I guess...

 

[Eren]

don't forget Sardegna,
for that alone you need 3 years minimum ;-)

I didn’t I thought about it within South Italy as MapisM guessed.

It can be my next base after so many positive feedbacks here.

 

[MapisM]

Doh!
Sorry Eren, I said it was Hardmy to have mentioned S IT, after replying to him with my previous post.
But of course I was referring to your comment.
Gimme a shout, whenever you'll be around Sardinia! :encouragement: