Ooops seem to have ended up in the Sunseeker sales office....

[mjf]

Entirely practical in a 50ft+ boat. You will just have to watch the weather forecast a bit more closely than you would in the summer and be prepared to sit a day or two in port waiting for any inclement weather to blow through, should you be unlucky enough to encounter it. The weather you really do want to avoid is the northerly Mistral wind which can blow very hard in the Golfe de Lion and down the east coast of Spain. This really would be an issue if you were returning northwards along this coast because you'd be punching into a head sea but, as I say, if a Mistral is forecast just sit it out in a nice marina for a few days. The Med can be fabulous out of season if you're lucky with the weather. We've seen temps of 30degC+ in Majorca at the end of October. Apart from that you'll find the marinas more empty and the restaurants more welcoming. The sea temps will still be warm enough for swimming too

The 52 looks great off plan. Wonderful bow seating area and table on the foredeck. Galley aft which is the trend these days and I guess works well for cockpit and F/B service as no internal stairs upwards......New hull from S/S.

 

[westernman]

Entirely practical in a 50ft+ boat. You will just have to watch the weather forecast a bit more closely than you would in the summer and be prepared to sit a day or two in port waiting for any inclement weather to blow through, should you be unlucky enough to encounter it. The weather you really do want to avoid is the northerly Mistral wind which can blow very hard in the Golfe de Lion and down the east coast of Spain. This really would be an issue if you were returning northwards along this coast because you'd be punching into a head sea but, as I say, if a Mistral is forecast just sit it out in a nice marina for a few days. The Med can be fabulous out of season if you're lucky with the weather. We've seen temps of 30degC+ in Majorca at the end of October. Apart from that you'll find the marinas more empty and the restaurants more welcoming. The sea temps will still be warm enough for swimming too

.

I have just given notice on my 16m annual rental in Canet and will be moving this summer to a berth in Roses on the Costa Brava. I also found that there are annual rentals currently available in Barcelona Port Vell.

 

[SammyB]

If it helps at all, we bought our first boat together about 4 years ago, a 10m fly bridge which we berthed at Port Leucate. Since then we have changed Marina due to too much wind in the Golf de Lion and moved to Sant Carles and also upgraded our boat since we now spend virtually the whole summer on it, joined by any of 4 grown up kids and partners- which was not in our original plan!!
Our RYA courses were taken in Beaulieu sur mer with Oceanpro which was a fantastic experience.

 

[beebok]

I bought an Aquastar 48 in 2012 after looking at loads of boats.Had a boat for the last 45 years from motor to sail and back to motor.
Reason for a trawler or semi displacement boat is straight forward,with the best weather forecast you still get caught out in
rotten weather they just look after you and the kids better.
Aquastar have been using stabilizers for last 9 years so have experience of this good piece of kit,it helps rolling in a beam sea.

Our boat is now in the Med don't understand Whitelights view at all.

Its not just Aquastar with slow sales for the last 5 years its the whole market.The large manufactures use a dealer network so boats are built for dealer stock.

We like the large aft cabin and side entry for accessing the boat and not just from the stern platform and side deck you can walk on easily .

Go down to Berthons in Lymington they have a good selection of 2nd hand boats from Sunseeker and the like to Flemings Aquastar etc Visit Aquastar in Guernsey the company is run by Geof Wilson the owner and he using the 48 its a great boat.Last year they built a 55 for a Frenchman,talk to Geof about why he bought his boat.
Its good to deal with the owner and not a raft of salespeople.
Even with the amount of playing with boats I have enjoyed, I still needed training on mooring and handling the boat in tight spaces.
Your wife will need guidance in helping to handle mooring lines.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Have a look at the Aquastar ( Guernsey) website. They'll fix you up with a grown up boat and a skipper who will show you how to use it. It would be worth a weekend away to visit their yard on Guernsey. There are others, but after 15 years as the owner of a 50' Bertram, if I was starting and had the cash, this is the only boatmake I would rather have.

Agree - also look at the Hardy 50 or Brooms for a different take on SD styling and of course for a really interesting and lovely safe boat, the amazing Ellings

 

[benjenbav]

That Aq57 and another Aq74 have been around the brokerage listings for an awful long time. They may be great boats but they only have a very specific market of punters looking for that type of rufty tufty SD boat. In terms of resale, the OP would probably be better looking at more mainstream boats like the Man52

I agree. In the OP's position I would want to talk to Sunseeker about the boat after this one as well as this boat.

Bottom line is that everyone takes a couple of boats to find what suits them and, if you're going to want to change in, say, two years you will be more likely to face a long process and a substantial loss if you go outside the mainstream.

It's not a bad idea to pick a manufacturer with a big range if they are also going to offer you the prospect of a quick upgrade without losing your shirt when you want to change.

Shifting a middle-aged tub of the quirky persuasion is no joke.

 

[Portofino]

How practical would it be for a newbie to travel from there down the east coast of Spain in October/November and back again? It's obviously warmer in Southern Spain in those months and would be good to extend the season a bit.

Pics of 4th Nov Antibes 2014 -it can be a long season --Med

 

[westernman]

The Med in France in February 2012.

 

[greenace]

I think some people on here have forgotten that boating is supposed to be FUN.

Med too windy. Flybridge too hot. Decks too tall. Sunseeker not sensible enough. Kids too tricky etc.

Really? Way to put someone off before they've even started.

I think all this sounds bloody fantastic and I'm extremely jealous.

Stick with the 52 - it looks a great boat and you're in good hands with Sunseeker. Apart from that, do enough research and get trained. The rest you can pick up along the way.

But most of all, dive in and enjoy every minute. You sound like the kind of chap who will.

 

[DougH]

I think some people on here have forgotten that boating is supposed to be FUN.

Med too windy. Flybridge too hot. Decks too tall. Sunseeker not sensible enough. Kids too tricky etc.

Really? Way to put someone off before they've even started.

I think all this sounds bloody fantastic and I'm extremely jealous.

Stick with the 52 - it looks a great boat and you're in good hands with Sunseeker. Apart from that, do enough research and get trained. The rest you can pick up along the way.

But most of all, dive in and enjoy every minute. You sound like the kind of chap who will.

!00% first class advice.:encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement:

There are too many peeps giving advice about boating in the Med when they have never tried it.

 

[escapology]

Thanks everyone for all the advice, you all seem a very friendly bunch.

I have very little experience apart from chartering a sailing yacht with a skipper a few years ago. My wife has more experience, having spent summer holidays with her family on sailing boats and has completed a couple of courses.

We wouldn't want a skipper full time, but I would expect to have one with us for the first few weeks until we both felt comfortable and safe operating the boat. We would keep it somewhere in the med and hope to travel around quite a bit, over say 2-3 months at a time.

Due to the toddler and the travelling I am wondering if a displacement boat (trawler type) would suit our needs better?

Just for those wondering how I managed to retire so early, I should point out that I have three grandchildren as well a 2 year old.

You certainly won't be bored with all those kids around !!

We bought a Portofino 35 through Sunseeker Torquay last year and the service we received was second to none.
The whole Sunseeker team seem to be about helping you to enjoy your time afloat and although our boat was a brokerage boat there was never a time when we felt we couldn't ring for advice when needed.

Have you thought about keeping your new boat closer to home for a few months to get used to it and iron out any shake down problems you may have ?

Good luck

 

[Richard.C]

The Skagen 50 also looks like an interesting boat of this price/size range.

 

[jfm]

I've boated in Med (Cote D'Azur home berth but cruised Spain and Italy too) for 14 yrs or so (as a commuter form UK) and I think that if you get a good financial deal then the sunseeker 52 would be a great choice. There are other similarly great choices in near-sized boats from Princess and Fairline too, so choose the one you like best.

FWIW, I do not agree the boring old farts labelling of the princess brand above. Sure the Princess brand has a more conservative feel whereas sunseeker is more champagne-ish, but that is only relevant if you care about such twaddle, and in reality both boats work well so choose the one you like best. Length for length and AOTBE, btw, I'd buy the Princess, fwiw, but its really no big deal.

52 is a good size for couple + small child imho. You'll soon get the hang of parking it but you do need to get instruction etc. You can child-proof it with stairgates etc

Flybridge is great. Better view for berthing, more space in the boat generally, fine for kids, nice to catch the breeze. I totally disagree the claim above that it is too hot up there - you have bimini or hard top of course. I'm on my 5th med flybridge

Each to their own but I wouldn't choose a trawler yacht because I want to have 22 knot cruising for the occasions I want to, and when I want slow cruising a planing boat is fine for that too. Even if I chose a trawler yacht I'd want plenty of assurance on quality before buying an aquastar, but that's another story. The 57 on the princess website does look a nicely specced one though. Some will say a trawler yacht is better in bad weather - well perhaps, very slightly marginally, but you will not want to go out in any really bad weather in a 52 anyway; better to wait in port for better weather.

I'd seriously investigate having a seakeeper stabiliser installed in the sunseeker 52 or any 52 footer. Stabilisation is a wonderful thing - it takes out most of the boat's roll and the benefits of that at anchor and underway are big. Possibly one big unknown for you and family is your resistance to seasickness, which varies a lot from person to person, but stabilisation takes a lot of the issue away

Re the photos above, Porto's Antibes picture tells the right story: it could have been taken ANY day in October or November, any year. I almost live there and picture is typical of the late season weather in that region. In contrast, the picture with the ice shows a once in a blue moon event, so is not representative of typical weather down there and even less representative of Cote d'Azur weather. Ignore it, imho.

Good luck with all this. Should be plenty of fun

 

[Greenhorn]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's amazing the amount of research you can do on the internet in a few days if you have the time.

I've researched most of the trawler type yachts and if I were to buy one I think I'd go for the Fleming. They do seem more kiddie proof, especially with the internal stairs and the enclosed bit in front of the pilot house in comparison to the planing type. Although I thought the sea worthiness would be an important factor the reality is as JFM has said, I'll do all I can to avoid bad weather especially in the early stages. I also get the argument that with a planing boat you can get out of the weather more quickly.

I've also looked into gyro stabilisation systems and I would definitely want one. I've seen boats sloshing about when at anchor and it doesn't look much fun especially if you're having lunch! I'll have to see if it is an option on the Manhattan, I've seen bigger ones specced with it but not a 52. There may not be that much room for one?

If we can get comfortable with the child safety aspect of it I think it has to be the SS, I just think it will be more fun and whilst I'm not really into the whole image thing I do like speed and a modern interior. Plus it also has an extra birth for crew which could come in handy.

Also as others have mentioned I'm sure there are extra benefits of owning a Sunseeker such as there dealer network and contacts.

For those that say charter something first to see if I like boating, well I know that would be the sensible thing to do, but I honestly can't see what's not to like!


I think I'll get over to the Dusseldorf show and have another good look.

 

[DougH]

FWIW, I do not agree the boring old farts labelling of the princess brand above. Sure the Princess brand has a more conservative feel whereas sunseeker is more champagne-ish, but that is only relevant if you care about such twaddle, and in reality both boats work well so choose the one you like best. Length for length and AOTBE, btw, I'd buy the Princess, fwiw, but its really no big deal

In reality I agree about the Princess range John. In fact I think the the current range is spot on and if I was in the market to buy a new boat I would seriously contemplate the new 75.

 

[jfm]

In reality I agree about the Princess range John. In fact I think the the current range is spot on and if I was in the market to buy a new boat I would seriously contemplate the new 75.

Yup that princess 75 is awfully good. It needs some mods to cure stupid bits of Princess design* but I think they would agree to do mod it (not sure about what crazy price they will ask; I hate the idea of giving them 50k to fix their screw ups and would prefer they gave me £50k for the advice). But that apart, I think the princess 75 is substantially better than sunseeker's 75. It even had a very decent engine room, much much better than the car crash of a princess 82 engine room. In fact I think the 75 is all round better than Princess 82; its a small bit of customisation away from being a really excellent boat imho.

*Princess just do not get big boating: you cannot feed 8 adults from a single bachelor pad oven, nor can you fit their plates in a bachelor pad dishwasher. What the heck does David King think owners of this boat are going to do? Buy a load of triangle-box cheese sandwiches and hand them out to guests with a glass of Mersault? Pizza for dinner perhaps. Great. And has Princess's cost cutting department realised that the only LG domestic appliances an owner of this £2.6m boat will ever own are the ones fitted on his new Princess 75? In fairness, the galley has Sub-Zero refrigeration, so there is someone with an eye to quality chez Princess, but he/she works only in the fridge department

 

[EME]

Some folks talking about the 52 as if its a current / old model. I'm pretty sure OP is referring to the new Manhattan 52 model to be launched mid-2016 and they are already taking orders off plan. Great specification ( on paper) and excellent price -- the real thing is of course what it will be. Beamier than the current 55 with H-Top option (Im told) etc etc .

It does have Gyro stabilisation as an option. Fitted slightly off centre in engine room.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Yup that princess 75 is awfully good. It needs some mods to cure stupid bits of Princess design

Like some internal steps to the flybridge?

 

[MapisM]

I'm pretty sure OP is referring to the new Manhattan 52

Mmm... Brand new, and somewhere between 500k and 1m?

 

[jfm]

Like some internal steps to the flybridge?

Well plenty of mods simpler than that, but yes the big challenge would be the staircase. I doubt Princess would do it, though they have said they'd do it on the 82 for bags of money, but its an easier mod on that boat. On this 75 the staircase would have to float, not run down a wall, but of course it is all technically possible if you want to do it. I'd want to float it over the "bar unit" part of the galley, I think, then it would emerge to starboard of the fly helm seats, with a sunbed to starboard of that emerge point. I think, and very tentatively. I don't want to over drift this thread though...