Sailing Cote D'Azur with children

C

crimpy999

New Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
5
Visit site
Hi everyone,
I am new to this site and new to sailing! Myself and my husband completed a competent crew a few years ago and my husband is completing his skipper course this year. We have wanted to do a sailing holiday for a few years now and have decided that this is the year and have rented a Bavaria 36 from Bormes les Mimosas in the Cote D'Azur in August this year for one week. Our children are 7 and 9 and feel they are a good age to take part and enjoy a holiday on the water.
Our plan is to sail between 2-4 hours a day with the focus on a relaxed experience for us all. I was hoping that some members may have been around this area of the med and may be able to suggest areas or itineraries, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, tips in general for sailing with children of this age and also any useful info on the area, such as good mooring points.
Thanks in advance. :o
 
At the risk of sounding obvious, Les Porquerolles is utterly enchanting and reasonably close by to your jumping off point. The absence of cars when you get there make it a great place to go with kids and unwind....my own experience of being on the coast with my children (7 and 5) is that you can lose a couple of hours a day with them just jumping off the back of the boat and splashing around in the water (under close supervision of course). Bandol and Cassis look very attractive from the coast side, but have never been that far west by boat, so will have to defer to to others as to whether they make good anchorages.....
 
If you make it as far East as Cannes, the anchorage between the Ile de Lerins is beautiful, and the Île Saint-Honorat is a lovely tranquil place to go for a leisurely stroll. It's the sort of anchorage that fills up quickly howver, so you need to be there before midday in order to bag a decent spot.
 
Go into Toulon, and you can tour the ankle biters around as you ogle the French Navy's finest - under your own command or on a tripper boat.

Also, the Calanques, just west of Cassis. Good fun.

Memories of our own nippers, that age, is that they preferred the company of other kids their age, so if you find another boat with brats aboard it might be an idea to try and buddy up with them.
 
Port Cros, the next of the Iles d'Hyeres from Porquerolles, is also well worth a visit. You can anchor or moor in the bay and La Trinquette is a nice restaurant/bar. Be aware that the third island in the range, Ile du Levant, is largely naturist.
 
Twister_Ken said:
Memories of our own nippers, that age, is that they preferred the company of other kids their age, so if you find another boat with brats aboard it might be an idea to try and buddy up with them.
Click to expand...

Hmm, why did the OP not choose a flotilla?

On other hand, maybe a taker for the marine translation download from US coastguard that was mentioned on the recent language app thread.

Mike.
 
July/August alongthe Cote is VERY expensive, many marinas double their normal rates. So along with all the places mentioned may I suggest that you try the Bay de La Ciotat, it has good holding ground more or less all round and some great beaches. Les Isles de Frioul are also good and also for taking the ferry over to Marseille and the Chat d'if.
Anchoring along the south coast is OK but you must keep a good eye on forcast, its amazing how quickly the weather can change in that area;
 
Scratching head here, as to why the OP didn't do a flotilla in Greece. First timers in the thick of SOF high season on a bareboat charter, could be great...or...

To add: Not trying to be negative, but if you have little experience (?) as suggested, the boat handling might get in the way of the relaxation.
 
Last edited:
DownWest said:
Scratching head here, as to why the OP didn't do a flotilla in Greece. First timers in the thick of SOF high season on a bareboat charter, could be great...or...

To add: Not trying to be negative, but if you have little experience (?) as suggested, the boat handling might get in the way of the relaxation.
Click to expand...


Hi - we opted for France as somewhere we could drive and also combine with another week. As it's our first sailing holiday with the children we only wanted a single weeks sail and thought this area would work best as we know it a bit. I would imagine most places are fairly busy in August but appreciate that SOF will be busy. We couldn't find a flotilla in France and flights to Greece would have really increased the price and hassle of our holiday.

Really appreciate all the positive and negative comments as all very useful. We know we don't have bags of experience (and all the answers, which is why we're here) but my husband is planning on undertaking a couple more sailing weekends before we go, and are going to give it our best shot!

Thanks again.
 
crimpy999 said:
Hi - we opted for France as somewhere we could drive and also combine with another week. As it's our first sailing holiday with the children we only wanted a single weeks sail and thought this area would work best as we know it a bit. I would imagine most places are fairly busy in August but appreciate that SOF will be busy. We couldn't find a flotilla in France and flights to Greece would have really increased the price and hassle of our holiday.

Really appreciate all the positive and negative comments as all very useful. We know we don't have bags of experience (and all the answers, which is why we're here) but my husband is planning on undertaking a couple more sailing weekends before we go, and are going to give it our best shot!

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

FWIW a week is not very long and if you are with children you won't want to spend all your time going from A to B. I would say that you could happily spend a week pottering around Porquerolles and Port Cros. My kids love Porquerolles and, after they had flown the roost, used to go back there for part of their holidays. There is a lot of atmosphere.

However, beware of the Mistral. If that starts you could be harbour bound for several days. Therefore being in a place like Porquerolles would be good. If you hear about a Mistral coming you should try to find a spot as quickly as possible as marina spaces will fill up quickly.
 
We have two girls 8 & 6 and have been sailing with them for a couple of years.

In terms of advice.

Start talking to them early re the rules they must follow, e,g, life jacket on when in cockpit, no going on deck unless with mummy and daddy etc. Also consider how you're going to sail the boat. There will be times when you need both of you to do something so try to minimise those times and make sure that they are busy and won't need you in the crucial moment.

Get them to pick plenty of toys that are not too fiddly, so cuddly toys, drawing material, books. Small bits get lost easily, still finding bits of sylvanian families weeks later!! Don't stint on those! Also consider putting some films on an tablet for them to watch.

They should be ok for passages up to about 3-4 hours in length but take it easy, reef earlier than you otherwise would. Try and involve them in th esailing, they should be able to steer and winching is fine if you have self tailers but an adult will need to "help" Plan on plenty of time in harbour or at anchor.

Do things related to the boat but that don't involve sailing. So dinghy expeditions, anchoring off a nice beach, swimming are all fun things. Try to figure out how they can play on the boat, ours love the bosuns chair and will spend hours swinging round in it.

Ours play nicely together so other children are not a must but many will want other children.

Hope that helps.
 
That's all great advice - thanks very much. We have bought a great book for the children (RYA - Go Cruising!) which they have already been flicking through and are both very excited, but also aware of the dangers the water can bring.

Many thanks.

jac said:
We have two girls 8 & 6 and have been sailing with them for a couple of years.

In terms of advice.

Start talking to them early re the rules they must follow, e,g, life jacket on when in cockpit, no going on deck unless with mummy and daddy etc. Also consider how you're going to sail the boat. There will be times when you need both of you to do something so try to minimise those times and make sure that they are busy and won't need you in the crucial moment.

Get them to pick plenty of toys that are not too fiddly, so cuddly toys, drawing material, books. Small bits get lost easily, still finding bits of sylvanian families weeks later!! Don't stint on those! Also consider putting some films on an tablet for them to watch.

They should be ok for passages up to about 3-4 hours in length but take it easy, reef earlier than you otherwise would. Try and involve them in th esailing, they should be able to steer and winching is fine if you have self tailers but an adult will need to "help" Plan on plenty of time in harbour or at anchor.

Do things related to the boat but that don't involve sailing. So dinghy expeditions, anchoring off a nice beach, swimming are all fun things. Try to figure out how they can play on the boat, ours love the bosuns chair and will spend hours swinging round in it.

Ours play nicely together so other children are not a must but many will want other children.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
 
A further thought,

Not sure what your plans are re lifejackets but would seriously suggest taking the children to a stockist with lots of brands rather than just rely on the charter company having some that fit.

With ours we were advised that once in you should be able to pick the child up by lifting on the lifejacket and ensuring that it didn't ride up. ( no need to lift all the way up - just sit them down and pull!!)

Also with children of the age of yours, they will probably want to have "grown up" lifejackets like yours (I.e. No foam!) our then 6 year old wore her new lifejacket for about a year then this year we found it harder and harder to get her to wear it. Turned it she thought it babyish as mummy and daddy had auto inflating ones. One junior version of the same and was hard to get her out of it as she was a big girl.

If you do go down the auto route then don't let them wear whilst jumping in!!
 
Many thanks Jac ... I have looked at the lifejackets and thought the others looked quite bulky anyway to be honest. Will be fairly warm in France at that time of year so thought the lighter ones would work better. Am assuming they will last a while once purchased?

Will make sure we have the noodles and floats around for when they jump in :). Thanks again.
 
They will last till they grow out of them. 2-3 years probably but with 2 with that age gap you can hand down of course. Just make sure you get serviced (or do yourself)

When you say lighter, do make sure you buy proper lifejackets for them - I.e. Something that will turn them over if face down. A buoyancy aid is great if they are swimming for example or in a dinghy. Also I think all lifejackets have proper spot for you to attach a lifeline.

Up to you what you attach the other end of the lifeline too!!! I joked to mine that they would be attached to the anchor and then had youngest threatening oldest with it!!

We ended up with these ones with harness

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/chil...ver/crewfit-150n-automatic-junior843877.bhtml
 
Last edited:
I have in the past (hope to again soon) sailed out of Port de Bormes We have a friend who owns a Bav 36 there which we use. As others have said Aug in SoF will be crazy busy and expensive, many boat owners antics will make you look like experts. Just before you get into Bormes there is a good supermarket, stock up! You will be able to unload the car near the marina, but the car parking is a little way off, you will pass it on the way in, go under the tunnel to be as close as you will get to the charter boats.

All the destinations people have mentioned are good, we,ve been in to Bandol, its not bad. I'd avoid Toulon, its dirty. Port Cros is a dream with lovely swimming off the back of the boat and star lit nights, there is no light pollution. You will have to anchor off and wait for a boat to leave to stand a chance of picking up one of the bouys, but its worth it, its magical. Anchoring outside Port Cros is OK, but very roly. As already said Les Porquerolles is enchanting, a must to visit. Be cautious going to far west, if there is a strong Mistral, thats where it will be at its worst. Likewise dont try and to be too adventurous with distance. For instance, St Tropez is lovely, but we once had 37knts of wind on the nose getting back to Bormes from there, not pleasant for anyone especially the kids. Going East, next to Bormes you have Lavandou and if you are going East CAVALAIRE-SUR-MER is a fun place the children will enjoy.

It'll be really busy, starting with the road trip, but enjoy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

stav
What sailing jacket have I worn out so I can ask for a new one from Santa?
Replies
9
Views
451
Boathook
Boathook
EugeneR
Help with getting sold boat data
Replies
8
Views
535
Tranona
T
W
Downsizing to your boat.
2
Replies
28
Views
730
Wansworth
W

Share this page

Top