jimmy_the_builder
Well-known member
Sorry about this ... I've thrashed my Med story pretty much to death here on the forums this year, first with my story about leaving Brighton for the Med and most recently with my slightly sulky taking my ball away and going home post, punctuated along the way with the occasional trip report, sometimes even with silly pictures.
Anyway, when I'd finally decided I'd had enough of the verbal flagellation dished out by the menopausal sorcière in the capitanerie, I received quite a bit of public and private encouragement from the forum to think again, and try for at least another season. I also got a good deal of practical help and info on alternative berthing solutions, from leads on berths for sale through to info about dry berthing and even undercover winter storage.
All hugely helpful, and this did at least cause me to stop and think. I wrote down a long list of things that had contributed to my decision to return, and in truth, an objective look at that list showed that everything that had gone wrong was some sort of teething pain - with the single exception being the whole process around getting, and retaining, a berth. With this fresh insight in mind, I decided that I would try and find a cost-effective way to change the berthing story. I also decided that if I couldn't easily do this, I'd just stick to my plan, and bring the boat back and be happy with that decision.
So Friday before last found us on the plane to Nice (for the 17th time this year, yikes). We had a busy week planned on the boat last week - guests joining us on the Friday for the weekend, then a changeover on Monday morning and different (forumite) guests joining us until Wednesday. On the first Sunday of our stay it was a bit windy to go out, so we took the train up to Beaulieu sur Mer, a pretty town about 10m north of Nice airport, and the site of the first port on the riviera to be exploited as a pleasure port with leasehold berths.
I wanted to have a look at BsM because it is reasonably close to the airport, and because it was the first port to issue leases, these leases have the shortest period left to run and consequently are more affordable than some other ports. However, on further investigation it transpired that the leasing arrangement at BsM is slightly unusual in that you don't actually acquire the lease to a specific berth - instead, you acquire shares in the port, which in turn gives you an absolute right to park your boat there - but the specific location is controlled by the capitanerie. You can quickly see where this is going - you write a big cheque for the shares ... and then you have to try and find a way of getting 'in' with the capitanerie in order to make sure you get, and then retain, a decent berth. Doesn't sound hugely different to the problems that I've been facing in other ports in the SoF, except that this time there's a big capital sum involved.
So we had a mooch around, but tbh I found it a bit underwhelming, the fairways are tight, and to cap it all, lunch in the African Queen was somewhere between average and distinctly odd on my hestonometer. Strike BSM.
On the previous weekend that we'd been down, we went to have a look at Baie des Anges - this is a massive residential/marina development a bit like Port Solent, on steroids. Berthing there seems slightly less popular = slightly more affordable, so definitely worth a look. It was ok, but apart from the facilities in the marina itself there's nothing particularly of note there. We decided not to subject the local cuisine to the usual inarticulate savagery of a JTB review, and instead headed home for a nice cup of tea to consider our diminishing options. Bye bye Baie des Anges.
From previous excursions we'd already delisted La Rague (too far from the airport), La Napoule (ditto), Camille Rayon (bit hard to get to), Galice (everything shoreside a long walk), and St Laurent du Var (bit too noisy and grubby, sandwiched between the main road and the airport). Yes I realise we are being a bit high maintenance about all of this, but if you were contemplating spending half the value of your boat on a berth, you would be too.
Either way, try as we might, we couldn't get away from the conclusion that Antibes is evidently The Place To Be, and that train trip to Beaulieu sur Mer kinda just proved the point.
So there we were, walking up quai 1 in Port Vauban on the way home from BsM on Sunday afternoon, with just six days boating left in the south of France, transport booked, ready to go home - when I bumped into my friend Bjorn. In the course of chit-chat, Bjorn asked where we'd been, and I mentioned the abortive trip to BsM. (I spared him no detail about our disappointing lunch as well). 'You're looking at berths?' he said. 'You should speak to my friend Dirk, he's selling his 10x4 on quai 2, it's just the right size for your boat'.
Ooh. Ok then. Pausing only to put the kettle on, off we went to quai 2. Given that it's the next quai along, this didn't take long. Big enough for the T40? Check. Facing the right way for the sunshine? Check. Plenty of space to manoeuvre? Check again. Ok, this could work.
Back to Bjorn - can I have Dirk's email address? I finished my evening on Sunday by firing off a note to Dirk expressing an interest. On Monday morning Dirk was on the phone, and: let battle commence. We spent the next 36 hours exchanging a series of apparently laughable offers and counter-offers, expressed in carefully-crafted terms of restrained offence, over a series of about eight or ten phone calls. Very wearing, not just for me, but also for our poor unfortunate guests who had to endure the glacial action.
We eventually got to the end of our dialogue, and managed, just, to set aside our differences to agree a very reasonable price on Tuesday night. Contract terms were agreed, and I paid a small deposit.
I only had berthing booked and paid for until Saturday morning, so one of my terms was that the whole deal had to happen in time for me to take possession on Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday night Dirk came down from Amsterdam, and on Thursday morning he moved his boat off the berth (and by Thursday night it had left the port, by road, heading for Muiden in the Netherlands). At 3pm on Thursday afternoon we met with the capitanerie and all the transfer papers for the berth were signed. The plan then was for me to immediately pay the balance, but due to some proper stupidity by Barclays I had to split this into two payments, one on Thursday night and Friday morning. (It took nearly two hours of phone calls to eventually establish that we couldn't do this in one payment, grrr).
And finally ... at lunchtime on Saturday we moved the boat on to the berth, slightly on trust, because at this stage although I'd paid for the berth, the vendor hadn't yet received the funds. This morning first thing he was in touch, all the money had arrived, the deal is complete, and the berth is mine, woo-hoo! Looks like we're staying for a bit longer in the Med, after all.
Cheers
Jimmy
Anyway, when I'd finally decided I'd had enough of the verbal flagellation dished out by the menopausal sorcière in the capitanerie, I received quite a bit of public and private encouragement from the forum to think again, and try for at least another season. I also got a good deal of practical help and info on alternative berthing solutions, from leads on berths for sale through to info about dry berthing and even undercover winter storage.
All hugely helpful, and this did at least cause me to stop and think. I wrote down a long list of things that had contributed to my decision to return, and in truth, an objective look at that list showed that everything that had gone wrong was some sort of teething pain - with the single exception being the whole process around getting, and retaining, a berth. With this fresh insight in mind, I decided that I would try and find a cost-effective way to change the berthing story. I also decided that if I couldn't easily do this, I'd just stick to my plan, and bring the boat back and be happy with that decision.
So Friday before last found us on the plane to Nice (for the 17th time this year, yikes). We had a busy week planned on the boat last week - guests joining us on the Friday for the weekend, then a changeover on Monday morning and different (forumite) guests joining us until Wednesday. On the first Sunday of our stay it was a bit windy to go out, so we took the train up to Beaulieu sur Mer, a pretty town about 10m north of Nice airport, and the site of the first port on the riviera to be exploited as a pleasure port with leasehold berths.
I wanted to have a look at BsM because it is reasonably close to the airport, and because it was the first port to issue leases, these leases have the shortest period left to run and consequently are more affordable than some other ports. However, on further investigation it transpired that the leasing arrangement at BsM is slightly unusual in that you don't actually acquire the lease to a specific berth - instead, you acquire shares in the port, which in turn gives you an absolute right to park your boat there - but the specific location is controlled by the capitanerie. You can quickly see where this is going - you write a big cheque for the shares ... and then you have to try and find a way of getting 'in' with the capitanerie in order to make sure you get, and then retain, a decent berth. Doesn't sound hugely different to the problems that I've been facing in other ports in the SoF, except that this time there's a big capital sum involved.
So we had a mooch around, but tbh I found it a bit underwhelming, the fairways are tight, and to cap it all, lunch in the African Queen was somewhere between average and distinctly odd on my hestonometer. Strike BSM.
On the previous weekend that we'd been down, we went to have a look at Baie des Anges - this is a massive residential/marina development a bit like Port Solent, on steroids. Berthing there seems slightly less popular = slightly more affordable, so definitely worth a look. It was ok, but apart from the facilities in the marina itself there's nothing particularly of note there. We decided not to subject the local cuisine to the usual inarticulate savagery of a JTB review, and instead headed home for a nice cup of tea to consider our diminishing options. Bye bye Baie des Anges.
From previous excursions we'd already delisted La Rague (too far from the airport), La Napoule (ditto), Camille Rayon (bit hard to get to), Galice (everything shoreside a long walk), and St Laurent du Var (bit too noisy and grubby, sandwiched between the main road and the airport). Yes I realise we are being a bit high maintenance about all of this, but if you were contemplating spending half the value of your boat on a berth, you would be too.
Either way, try as we might, we couldn't get away from the conclusion that Antibes is evidently The Place To Be, and that train trip to Beaulieu sur Mer kinda just proved the point.
So there we were, walking up quai 1 in Port Vauban on the way home from BsM on Sunday afternoon, with just six days boating left in the south of France, transport booked, ready to go home - when I bumped into my friend Bjorn. In the course of chit-chat, Bjorn asked where we'd been, and I mentioned the abortive trip to BsM. (I spared him no detail about our disappointing lunch as well). 'You're looking at berths?' he said. 'You should speak to my friend Dirk, he's selling his 10x4 on quai 2, it's just the right size for your boat'.
Ooh. Ok then. Pausing only to put the kettle on, off we went to quai 2. Given that it's the next quai along, this didn't take long. Big enough for the T40? Check. Facing the right way for the sunshine? Check. Plenty of space to manoeuvre? Check again. Ok, this could work.
Back to Bjorn - can I have Dirk's email address? I finished my evening on Sunday by firing off a note to Dirk expressing an interest. On Monday morning Dirk was on the phone, and: let battle commence. We spent the next 36 hours exchanging a series of apparently laughable offers and counter-offers, expressed in carefully-crafted terms of restrained offence, over a series of about eight or ten phone calls. Very wearing, not just for me, but also for our poor unfortunate guests who had to endure the glacial action.
We eventually got to the end of our dialogue, and managed, just, to set aside our differences to agree a very reasonable price on Tuesday night. Contract terms were agreed, and I paid a small deposit.
I only had berthing booked and paid for until Saturday morning, so one of my terms was that the whole deal had to happen in time for me to take possession on Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday night Dirk came down from Amsterdam, and on Thursday morning he moved his boat off the berth (and by Thursday night it had left the port, by road, heading for Muiden in the Netherlands). At 3pm on Thursday afternoon we met with the capitanerie and all the transfer papers for the berth were signed. The plan then was for me to immediately pay the balance, but due to some proper stupidity by Barclays I had to split this into two payments, one on Thursday night and Friday morning. (It took nearly two hours of phone calls to eventually establish that we couldn't do this in one payment, grrr).
And finally ... at lunchtime on Saturday we moved the boat on to the berth, slightly on trust, because at this stage although I'd paid for the berth, the vendor hadn't yet received the funds. This morning first thing he was in touch, all the money had arrived, the deal is complete, and the berth is mine, woo-hoo! Looks like we're staying for a bit longer in the Med, after all.
Cheers
Jimmy
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