RYA Summer mobo channel cruise

Blackfeather said:
Has anyone taken part in this? It is scheduled for July and I am quite interested.

Any experiences, good or otherwise would be really useful.

Thanks in anticipation.
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We're also interested in this one rather than the MBM cruise for the same school holidays reason!!
 
Havent done the RYA one, but an MBM one.
Was good fun, and relaxed, and you were pretty free..
The only problem, and its a big one, is that the date is set, regardless of the weather.
You only have to look through the cruise blogs on YBM to see the unfortunate outcomes that can produce.
 
We have been on an RYA cruise and I can only really recommend to anyone with a 50ft + sealine.

They make a schedule months in advance and stick to it.
regardless of weather or seastate

40 boats set off through Poole harbour at the 10 knots, the wake is horrendous and you get a stiff talking to if you go out of line or drop back.

Then the lobster pots
all boats are in line at 10m spaces, first boat misses lobster pot by 20m
by the time the 5th boat comes the current puts him on collision course so he wiggles a bit, by the time boat 10 comes he has to deviate 50 m to get round it :rolleyes:
And no warning on vhf.

A day resting at cherbourg through the road bridge where we are instructed to go on the plane through the inner marina in order to get through the bridge before froggy closes it.

The day at rest was sunny and calm, the forecasts was poor but the itinerary says its a rest day.

The following day we set off through the alderney race F5 wind against, seriously rough
out of 40 boats 18 make it many with damage or lost tenders, some went back to cherbourge some took refuge in Alderney but it was so rough they went ashore to B&Bs.

Cruise speed was 25knots, too fast for MOST boats, many sealines experienced overheating issues and other problems that in my opinion were all caused by an excessively fast cruising speed.

Anyway there were a huge amount of sealine breakdowns , many dissatisfied customers made worst by our 17 year old Corniche not breaking down and copping with the seastate/cruising speed all ended with one of the sealine directors being thumped at the sealine sponsored black tie dinner.

Return trip

Everyone is left in CI, the schedule ended at the Black tie dinner, not even a passage plan handed out to get back to England.
Some of the boats were beginners and the rib used to meet them outside the harbour to put a skipper on board to berth it in the marina, they kicked off and it was agreed anyone who wanted to follow the Alfaleader back could but he was cruising at 30 knots.

We followed at 25knts, caught them up as he wrapped his RYA flag round his prop, he refused help as he wanted one of 'his sealines' to help.

Very enjoyable, I wouldnt have missed it but never again !

Just post on here when you are going and you will find loads of company to join you, that way you and your mates can decide when the weather is suitable for your boats , that makes a lot more sense than following a pilock in a 45-50ft flybridge in all seastates.

I am happy to endorse the MBM cruises, they take much better care of you and treat you like holiday makers .
 
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Blackfeather said:
I would love to but I am stuck with school hols as my war department director is in education.
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They usually have one in the schools hols - I think its the Holland cruise this year - we did that in 2008 - but oh how it rained - We got back to the UK on time but got stuck in Eastbourne Marina for a week due to bad weather

Programme here http://www.motorboatsmonthly.co.uk/cruisingclub/programme

Are you at Cobb's Quay? We had a good cruise with them last year to Carteret. I think most of theirs are in schools hols
 
Blackfeather said:
Has anyone taken part in this? It is scheduled for July and I am quite interested.

Any experiences, good or otherwise would be really useful.

Thanks in anticipation.
Click to expand...

We did quite a few MBM cruises in the early 1990's which were excellent. Well run, friendly and fun. The only RYA one we did was their Solar Eclipse cruise in August 1999 to Cherbourg. It was quite the opposite. The organisation was a shambles and there was no camaraderie at all. We were given dire warnings at the briefing that the speed group we had chosen would leave us behind if we didn't maintain the agreed speed. As it happened, we chose to be cautious and opted for the 20kt group. As soon as we set out, it became obvious that the lead boat's idea of 20kts was everbody else's idea of 15kts so everybody buggered off into the distance. We had heard rumours beforehand that the organisation of the berthing arrangements in Cherbourg left something to be desired. Sure enough, we arrived in Cherbourg to find that the length of pontoon which was reserved for the RYA cruise was in fact reserved only for the organisers' boats and the lead boats. We plebs who'd paid good money for this so called organised cruise were rafted up right at the far end of the harbour, about as far away from the town as you could physically get. Needless to say, our complaints fell on deaf ears. There were no parties or dinners as you would get on a MBM cruise and we were just left to our own devices. After that experience I swore I'd never do another RYA cruise. They're probably quite good at organising dinghy racing but not mobo cruises in my experience
 
Yep - i have heard the same. Some people I know signed up for one last year and then had to pull out about 5/6 weeks before due health issues - no part refund; no nothing.

My only experience was Festival of Power that MB&Y did a few years ago - absolutely cracking fun and hugely sponsored too which made it extremely cheap and cost effective.

Lunches and Dinners most days incl. Great themed party nights
 
I'm with most of the other posters.

Done a couple of MBM cruises - fantastic in all regards.

Did one RYA - mmmmmm line astern in thick fog to Guernsey as a novice, as (I was then then), no thanks. Never again.

See, I'm still scarred by the experience!
 
I had heard from another forumite a few years back that the RYA cruises weren't a patch on those MBM organised.... these posts seem to confirm what was said. I think I'll give it a miss.
 
AdeOlly said:
I had heard from another forumite a few years back that the RYA cruises weren't a patch on those MBM organised.... these posts seem to confirm what was said. I think I'll give it a miss.
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Jeez. Iwas just about to send off my cash to the RYA but I don't think I will now. In fact I will send them the link to this thread, maybe they will give us some feedback.

It's a shame that MBM don't do a France cruise in the hols. Perhaps other forumites might want to get together to organise one?
 
Blackfeather said:
Jeez. Iwas just about to send off my cash to the RYA but I don't think I will now. In fact I will send them the link to this thread, maybe they will give us some feedback.

It's a shame that MBM don't do a France cruise in the hols. Perhaps other forumites might want to get together to organise one?
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Hi Blackfeather

As previously mentioned by RIN, we always have one cruise in the school summer holidays. Last year this was to France, Paris in fact, this year it will be going to Holland. I have tried in the past to work 2 cruises into the 6 week holidays but it is just never possible, bearing in mind I have to have at least 2 weeks in between cruises to catch up on the day job, and work magazine deadlines into the equation :D

I'll certainly bear your comments in mind when planning the 2011 itinerary and I'm always open to feedback and suggestions.

Regards

Neale
 
neale said:
Hi Blackfeather

As previously mentioned by RIN, we always have one cruise in the school summer holidays. Last year this was to France, Paris in fact, this year it will be going to Holland. I have tried in the past to work 2 cruises into the 6 week holidays but it is just never possible, bearing in mind I have to have at least 2 weeks in between cruises to catch up on the day job, and work magazine deadlines into the equation :D

I'll certainly bear your comments in mind when planning the 2011 itinerary and I'm always open to feedback and suggestions.

Regards

Neale
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Thanks Neale, much appreciated.

I wouldn't hesitate to do the MBM one in the future.

Sadly the RYA have not responded to my sending them a link to this post.
 
Blackfeather said:
It's a shame that MBM don't do a France cruise in the hols. Perhaps other forumites might want to get together to organise one?
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As a forumite, you could join with us. We are running a CIC to CI's at the end of May - 29th-5th June and then another one 18th-22nd August to the west country.

If you want more info then PM me.
 
Here is a reply to my email from the RYA which they have confirmed I can put on the forum. It seems like a pretty good response to me.


Many thanks for your email.

I too have been watching the YBW post with interest.

You will see from the dates that most of these refer to events that happened a long time ago, and under different managership(if that’s a word!) I will not comment on MBM Cruises, I will only say that we have had some entrants from the MBM Cruising Club on the RYA Cruise and that they have been very satisfied.

The RYA Cruise is not a Club, it is designed for people who may not have the experience or confidence to cross the Channel for the first time so would like to do it with guidance and company. Whilst I say it is not a Club we get about a 60% return rate against 40% first timers. This to me is a very important aspect as they can share their experiences and help others which is all part of the Cruising experience.

We have taken over 400 boats and over 1000 people, including lots of families, across the Channel in the 14 years that we have been running these cruises.

We ask entrants to fill out questionnaires at the end of the Cruise which over the last few years have been very positive. However we have to recognise that you cannot satisfy some people some of the time, I am happy if I can satisfy most people most of the time!

The RYA do not make money out of this, we just want people to gain experience, gain in confidence, expand their cruising grounds and therefore enjoy their boat more.

Kind regards
 
Solitaire said:
As a forumite, you could join with us. We are running a CIC to CI's at the end of May - 29th-5th June and then another one 18th-22nd August to the west country.

If you want more info then PM me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting David, I knew you guys were up for it but didn't know when. I was about to suggest calling group 'Mendez' ;)
 
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