jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
One of the problems of being a newbie renter in the SoF is that you don't get to stay in any given berth for very long. I'm in Port Vauban, and I'd much rather be there than anywhere else in the SoF, so I guess if the choice is move around a lot, or find another port, then I accept that I need to move around a lot. (In fairness also, when I was researching my move to the Med, this issue did get pointed out by a number of other forumites).
My first berth in PV ended on 25 July, and on that day I had to move to another spot - for a week. That ended today, and so now I'm in my third PV berth, which I've got for the whole month of August.
The slight issue for me is that in an attempt to keep my costs down, I booked most of my flights at the end of last year - and of course, the unlucky result of that is that I am inevitably never in France on the dates when the boat needs to move. Because we're in the peak season now, there is zero flexibility from the port on these changeover dates, so the boat has to move, or it'll be moved for you, at your cost.
I was down last weekend anyway, so for the move on 25 July it was quite easy, I just came down a couple of days early (BA reward flights have a surprising amount of flexibility), and came back to the UK on Monday night. For the 1 August move, I looked into getting a skipper to move the boat for me, but it was proving tricky to organise, again because it's the peak season and so all the jobbing skippers are out doing day charters.
I went into see a crew agency in Antibes on Monday, and I explained that I needed to move my 12m boat 100 metres up the quay. They were very sweet, and they did phone a few people to see if they could find someone to move it for me - but after the third time of having to explain to the candidate that no, it wasn't a 100m boat that needed to be moved 12 metres, but actually a boat that was substantially smaller than some of the tenders they were used to, I got the message, made my excuses and left.
It was pretty clear that I was going to have to head down to France today and move the boat myself. So yesterday afternoon I booked myself on to the 0740 out of Gatwick today, using the last of my BA points. I didn't book a return because (a) I didn't have any points left and (b) I didn't know if the new berth I had to move the boat to would actually be vacant or not, so I wasn't sure if I was heading down for a bounce trip, or something longer.
I was up at 5.30 this morning, jumped on my motorbike at 6.15, was in the terminal building at Gatwick at 6.50, on the plane in time for the 7.40 departure, and as is traditional with BA, we were then promptly delayed (by some mystery tech issue), so it wasn't until 11.15 local time that the plane eventually landed in Nice. Collected my scooter and I was on the boat at noon.
My plan was to check that the new berth was free, and if it was, just move the boat up there, and then call swmbo to ask her to book me the flight home. However, my route from the airport to the port takes me along the coast road - and the sea looked very inviting. The best laid plans, etc. I decided to very slightly alter my itinerary, and instead of moving the boat from one end of quay 1 to the other, I thought a detour via Baie des Anges would be reasonable. (This is navigationally equivalent of going from Yarmouth to Lymington via Dartmouth, albeit scaled down a titchy bit).
The new berth _was_ free - so sticking to the first part of my plan at least, I called swmbo, and she very sweetly booked me the homeward flight using _her_ BA points. So now I had a deadline: I needed to be on my scooter and head for the airport at 3pm.
Heading out of PV, the sea looked very inviting:
It was quite scorchio today, so it seemed eminently sensible to have a dip, and I offer this desperate self-shot as evidence:
In fact, I am rubbish with a camera, swmbo is the one who takes the clever shots. Unfortunately I was singlehanding today, so I got that with a combination of the wide angle lens, flash, and self timer. Took me a few goes though - first attempt, camera went off too quick:
Second attempt. Too late:
Third attempt: that just looks a bit weird:
And the fourth attempt got the result. So, evidence bagged, it was time to head back to the port and a bit of singlehanded stern-to Med berthing. On the way back in, I went past the IYCA, some proper big stuff there:
Spot the odd boat out:
Amazingly, that tiddler is actually something quite bonkers like a Leopard 27m (it might be 24, or it might be Mangusta 80, I'm not completely sure, but it's one of those three. I daresay someone'll be along in a tick to put me straight). For context, the boat on the right is Lady Moura, which is 105m long.
Here's Vega on this months berth:
It actually took a little while to get the lines all set the way I wanted them, and suddenly, time's up! Exactly three hours after getting to the boat, I jumped on the scooter and headed for the airport. I dropped the scooter off at the storage place, collected my boarding pass from the machine, and at 4.50pm it was doors shut and away.
Unusually, the flight ran to time, and (unlike Monday night) the queue at the e-gates at Gatwick immigration was short - so by 6.15pm (UK time) I was back on my bike and at 6.40pm I was in the house. Just under 12.5 hours door to door - not bad for a swim in the Med! Happy days...
Cheers
Jimmy
My first berth in PV ended on 25 July, and on that day I had to move to another spot - for a week. That ended today, and so now I'm in my third PV berth, which I've got for the whole month of August.
The slight issue for me is that in an attempt to keep my costs down, I booked most of my flights at the end of last year - and of course, the unlucky result of that is that I am inevitably never in France on the dates when the boat needs to move. Because we're in the peak season now, there is zero flexibility from the port on these changeover dates, so the boat has to move, or it'll be moved for you, at your cost.
I was down last weekend anyway, so for the move on 25 July it was quite easy, I just came down a couple of days early (BA reward flights have a surprising amount of flexibility), and came back to the UK on Monday night. For the 1 August move, I looked into getting a skipper to move the boat for me, but it was proving tricky to organise, again because it's the peak season and so all the jobbing skippers are out doing day charters.
I went into see a crew agency in Antibes on Monday, and I explained that I needed to move my 12m boat 100 metres up the quay. They were very sweet, and they did phone a few people to see if they could find someone to move it for me - but after the third time of having to explain to the candidate that no, it wasn't a 100m boat that needed to be moved 12 metres, but actually a boat that was substantially smaller than some of the tenders they were used to, I got the message, made my excuses and left.
It was pretty clear that I was going to have to head down to France today and move the boat myself. So yesterday afternoon I booked myself on to the 0740 out of Gatwick today, using the last of my BA points. I didn't book a return because (a) I didn't have any points left and (b) I didn't know if the new berth I had to move the boat to would actually be vacant or not, so I wasn't sure if I was heading down for a bounce trip, or something longer.
I was up at 5.30 this morning, jumped on my motorbike at 6.15, was in the terminal building at Gatwick at 6.50, on the plane in time for the 7.40 departure, and as is traditional with BA, we were then promptly delayed (by some mystery tech issue), so it wasn't until 11.15 local time that the plane eventually landed in Nice. Collected my scooter and I was on the boat at noon.
My plan was to check that the new berth was free, and if it was, just move the boat up there, and then call swmbo to ask her to book me the flight home. However, my route from the airport to the port takes me along the coast road - and the sea looked very inviting. The best laid plans, etc. I decided to very slightly alter my itinerary, and instead of moving the boat from one end of quay 1 to the other, I thought a detour via Baie des Anges would be reasonable. (This is navigationally equivalent of going from Yarmouth to Lymington via Dartmouth, albeit scaled down a titchy bit).
The new berth _was_ free - so sticking to the first part of my plan at least, I called swmbo, and she very sweetly booked me the homeward flight using _her_ BA points. So now I had a deadline: I needed to be on my scooter and head for the airport at 3pm.
Heading out of PV, the sea looked very inviting:
It was quite scorchio today, so it seemed eminently sensible to have a dip, and I offer this desperate self-shot as evidence:
In fact, I am rubbish with a camera, swmbo is the one who takes the clever shots. Unfortunately I was singlehanding today, so I got that with a combination of the wide angle lens, flash, and self timer. Took me a few goes though - first attempt, camera went off too quick:
Second attempt. Too late:
Third attempt: that just looks a bit weird:
And the fourth attempt got the result. So, evidence bagged, it was time to head back to the port and a bit of singlehanded stern-to Med berthing. On the way back in, I went past the IYCA, some proper big stuff there:
Spot the odd boat out:
Amazingly, that tiddler is actually something quite bonkers like a Leopard 27m (it might be 24, or it might be Mangusta 80, I'm not completely sure, but it's one of those three. I daresay someone'll be along in a tick to put me straight). For context, the boat on the right is Lady Moura, which is 105m long.
Here's Vega on this months berth:
It actually took a little while to get the lines all set the way I wanted them, and suddenly, time's up! Exactly three hours after getting to the boat, I jumped on the scooter and headed for the airport. I dropped the scooter off at the storage place, collected my boarding pass from the machine, and at 4.50pm it was doors shut and away.
Unusually, the flight ran to time, and (unlike Monday night) the queue at the e-gates at Gatwick immigration was short - so by 6.15pm (UK time) I was back on my bike and at 6.40pm I was in the house. Just under 12.5 hours door to door - not bad for a swim in the Med! Happy days...
Cheers
Jimmy
