The Med - ogaryo wants to berth there next year

z1ppy said:
You know what you need Gary, a bigger boat in the UK. (think we had this conversation before!)

you get a lot of use from Bizzy Bee even if its just staying on here, i reckon you would miss that if you were to move to the med....
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+1 H. With a busy job, how often can you realistically get to the Med? When you have had a long week, do you really want the faff of an airport? I know several on here do, but not for me at the moment. Friday evening is for chill, and get a few jobs done. Saturday down to Rafiki, Sunday evening home. Chill again. Weather dreadful this year, but we have still got a lot from our boat.
 
rafiki_ said:
+1 H. With a busy job, how often can you realistically get to the Med? When you have had a long week, do you really want the faff of an airport? I know several on here do, but not for me at the moment. Friday evening is for chill, and get a few jobs done. Saturday down to Rafiki, Sunday evening home. Chill again. Weather dreadful this year, but we have still got a lot from our boat.
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Most Med boaters started in the UK and then moved to the Med.

There are always threads on here about UK boaters being fed up with UK weather and thinking about moving to warmer climes.

Cannot think of one thread (will now be proved wrong) that consisted of a Med boater saying they were fed up with the sun and Med life and was considering returning to the UK scene and all the wet conditions.

Don't knock what (I assume) you have never tried.
 
Andrew M said:
We are new to being coastal as of last November when we changed boats and moved berthing to Lymington from the Thames. All I keep hearing is that this year has been far worse then normal, especially at the weekends.
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Not just weekends, we work weekends and have days off in the week. It's been no better.

Like you though we moved to the Solent from the Thames but we moved in April last year, and therein lies the problem. Last summer by comparison to this year was idyllic with seemingly hardly a day lost. You almost never had to check the weather forecast. We went through four tanks full of fuel last year even though we lost most of April and May due to engine and battery issues. This year I've filled up once and put another 400 litres in a couple of weeks ago. Says it all really.

And I think the contrast between last year and this year is so marked (and last year proved how much more enjoyment you can get out of boating when you're assured of the weather) that is why people like Gary, me and some others are considering a move to the Med.

Written as I sit here in the office looking out the window at the appalling weather being rather glad I'm actually working today.
 
For us, probably less than local(ish) based boaters, we made a complete recalibration of how we will use the boat. As others have said, it's nice to know you can have an impromptu weekend on the boat driven by the weather and we did that, to a degree, but it was still c4hours door to bathing platform . But now trips to the boat are planned well in advance and across a longer weekend than in the UK, but the probability of good weather is much higher. If you are thinking of moving, my view is you need to get over that mental hurdle first especially if you are working....
 
DougH said:
Most Med boaters started in the UK and then moved to the Med.

There are always threads on here about UK boaters being fed up with UK weather and thinking about moving to warmer climes.

Cannot think of one thread (will now be proved wrong) that consisted of a Med boater saying they were fed up with the sun and Med life and was considering returning to the UK scene and all the wet conditions.

Don't knock what (I assume) you have never tried.
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Doug, I agree with all you say. It is a personal choice, and much as the Med has huge attractions for us, it is not a sensible option for us at the moment. Maybe this will change at some point?
 
I'm absolutely fed up with boating in the UK , I can count on one hand the good days we have had this year, we have not been hardly anywhere because of the weather , wrong tides etc when we have been off. This weekend hasn't helped either , we had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday as well as the weekend, we left Marina Thursday to Yarmouth wind against tide all the way a shocking ride even in a 43Ft Fairline, my wife just about kissed the pontoon when we tied up. Was it worth it , no it wasn't. When you add up what you spend on a typical weekend boating in the Solent it seems a rip off. Yes I know it has been for years, but the novelty has worn off completely. Some Marina staff make you feel like a fart in a space suit some of the time, not welcoming at all then they mismatch boats alongside you for profit and expect you to sort out how there clients can walk all over you boat at all hours to get ashore, had a belly full of Yarmouth this weekend .

Gary we went to Croatia last week and it was stunning , so cheap to eat out, hotel fantastic . Was talking to marine staff thee , 1euro per foot including electric and water, staff to take lines and assure your ok. I'd be off if you can make it work. Having a boat for me in the Solent is becoming a means to an end, I really need to live there now and enjoy boating in decent weather or buy another Rally car!
 
Gary,

Here are the lessons from our move to Beaulieu Sur Mer in March last year. Like you we had had enough of rubbish weather and wanted to actually use our boat more.

1. Choose your location on heart and not head. Make sure your family get a full vote.

2. South of France has long wait lists for berths and you might want to buy a lease instead. Your call.

3. We kept our boat and moved it. Looking back we should have sold it and bought locally as now we would have saved 000's. However I know every corner of our boat and can work on list systems.

4. Go for easy transport links. We like Nice as it is served by loads of airlines and we can be on our boat within an hour of landing.

5. We now use our boat more as we have two two week breaks, 4 day weekends once a month and my wife has even popped down for a week on her own when I was away with work in Febuary.

Hope this helps.
 
Gary, I have no idea where you are coming from.
Take this weekend as an example, this was Louise on Saturday, sunbathing whilst moored up on the Isle of Wight:

IMG_1372.JPG
 
All, thanks for the input in this thread and PM's as a whole, it's whetted our appetite and it needs to as my better half really has lost interest due to the weather. I've shown her this thread and she is up for a move to the med which is always (as it should be) half the battle.

Time for some serious research then !
 
Well then strike whilst you can - The Cannes Boat Show starts on Tuesday next week. Compared to Southampton you will have sun and good weather, great food and even better wine. Fly to Nice, catch the train to Cannes, stay in a hotel for a couple of days, look around and then pop the question. The question being which bit and boat do you love best.

You can thank me later.

P.S. Avoid the weekend. We are going on the 11th.
 
so med guys i get 2 weeks in the med on the boat ,but be honest talk me through 4 day weekend ,ie time leave home wait at air port fly time transfer to boat include que ing for car or taxi,and same back again ,not knocking just is it 4 days or 6 with travel,r
 
It obviously depends on where you start your journey ...

When friends from London visit us, they leave the office/home at 6-7pm, catch the last BA flight from Heathrow to Nice and even with the inevitable delays usually arrive by 1am local time (so 6 hours door-to-door travelling time). First flight back departs Nice at 7.30, lands at Heathrow at 8.30 (or more realistically 9am) and has them back in the office/home by about 10-10.30am.

A four day or even a two day works fine if you plan ahead.
 
I catch the last flight on a Thursday night from LHR - 2100, arrives NCE at 2400. On the boat at 0100 Friday morning. I then catch on of the evening flights on a Monday back to LHR. Back at work Tuesday. 4 full days. Door to door about 5 hours.
 
seastoke said:
so med guys i get 2 weeks in the med on the boat ,but be honest talk me through 4 day weekend ,ie time leave home wait at air port fly time transfer to boat include que ing for car or taxi,and same back again ,not knocking just is it 4 days or 6 with travel,r
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depends on where you live and where your boat is, but i do 3 or 4 4 day weekends per year and its works fine.It ~5 hours door to door. Out of the house at 5am on friday morning, back at the house around midnight on a monday night typically.

breaks down as follows:

15 mins taxi from house to airport (manchester)
1.5 hours fanny around in airport
2.5 hours in flight
30 mins getting out of palma airport
30 mins driving to apartment
 
julians said:
depends on where you live and where your boat is, but i do 3 or 4 4 day weekends per year and its works fine.It ~5 hours door to door. Out of the house at 5am on friday morning, back at the house around midnight on a monday night typically.

breaks down as follows:

15 mins taxi from house to airport (manchester)
1.5 hours fanny around in airport
2.5 hours in flight
30 mins getting out of palma airport
30 mins driving to apartment
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Considering a standard journey for us to the boat is 2 hours in the car, that isn't bad at all and we're in a similar position of being 20 mins or so away from Luton airport in a taxi. Debbie doesn't work Mondays and the youngest lad will be 16 in Feb so will legally be able to be left on his own for the weekend if he needs to stay back for school commitments, not so sure about the house though and not sure we'd want to as a habit. I get 28 days holiday a year + bank holidays so I can imagine many a long weekend spent on the boat in med versus very few in the UK as things are currently panning out with Debbie's (and the lads) decreasing appetite to go boating in the UK
 
julians said:
depends on where you live and where your boat is, but i do 3 or 4 4 day weekends per year and its works fine.It ~5 hours door to door. Out of the house at 5am on friday morning, back at the house around midnight on a monday night typically.

breaks down as follows:

15 mins taxi from house to airport (manchester)
1.5 hours fanny around in airport
2.5 hours in flight
30 mins getting out of palma airport
30 mins driving to apartment
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You, obviously, don't fly BA
I've just had a text from SWMBO
Barcelona (main hub) to Heathrow (main hub)
And they were late enough for her to meet her ongoing connection.

Easyjet and Ryanair both have a better record with us than BA - useless IMO
 
Hurricane said:
You, obviously, don't fly BA
I've just had a text from SWMBO
Barcelona (main hub) to Heathrow (main hub)
And they were late enough for her to meet her ongoing connection.

Easyjet and Ryanair both have a better record with us than BA - useless IMO
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I find Ryanair pretty good, usually on time. Which is a stark contrast to monarch, who couldnt organise a p1ss up in a brewery. Monarch are my last resort airline these days.
 
I always work on 4.5 hours to boat, literally door to door. 45 mins to airport. 50 mins before flight. 15min delay 2 hour flight. 10 mins thru Nice airport (from touchdown to being outside). Car waiting outside airport then 20-25 mins to boat. Thing is, someone else is driving the whole time so you can read/snooze/email/daydream. Much better than driving yourself. Contrary to Daw's experience I find BA's 0725 Monday NCE-LHR always on time, landing LHR T5 0830 so I'm in office 0930. The crew stay in a hotel in Nice (its the 2100 hrs LHR departure that landed 0000 the night before) so they are always on time and the plane hasn't had chance to gather delays during the day.

If you depart NCE >once/month you get a special card that gives you parking at the front door and opens a gate to a private baggage x-ray area that never has queues

I use both BA and Easyjet but overall prefer BA, though only by a small margin

You need to throw some money at it. Short stay car parks, easyjetplus card so you get a seat in the first 5 rows, BA gold card helps a lot, etc. Priority Plus for the Nice lounge when you're on Easyjet. Also the easyjet black card saves a lot of time and money but it's by invitation so you can't buy it

Gary, check out the sea state and weather in the video I posted today in the quadcopter thread. Taken last Saturday 29 August. I'd trade that for UK weather even if I only got 1/3rd as many boat weekends. As DougH astutely wrote, you will find very few who have done the UK--> Med move then come back
 
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jfm said:
I always work on 4.5 hours to boat, literally door to door. 45 mins to airport. 50 mins before flight. 15min delay 2 hour flight. 10 mins thru Nice airport (from touchdown to being outside). Car waiting outside airport then 20-25 mins to boat. Thing is, someone else is driving the whole time so you can read/snooze/email/daydream. Much better than driving yourself. Contrary to Daw's experience I find BA's 0725 Monday NCE-LHR always on time, landing LHR T5 0830 so I'm in office 0930. The crew stay in a hotel in Nice (its the 2100 hrs LHR departure that landed 0000 the night before) so they are always on time and the plane hasn't had chance to gather delays during the day.

If you depart NCE >once/month you get a special card that gives you parking at the front door and opens a gate to a private baggage x-ray area that never has queues

I use both BA and Easyjet but overall prefer BA, though only by a small margin

You need to throw some money at it. Short stay car parks, easyjetplus card so you get a seat in the first 5 rows, BA gold card helps a lot, etc. Priority Plus for the Nice lounge when you're on Easyjet. Also the easyjet black card saves a lot of time and money but it's by invitation so you can't buy it

Gary, check out the sea state and weather in the video I posted today in the quadcopter thread. Taken last Saturday 29 August. I'd trade that for UK weather even if I only got 1/3rd as many boat weekends. As DougH astutely wrote, you will find very few who have done the UK--> Med move then come back
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Or do it my way, JFM

This year it seems that I have just taken two flights
One to get here and one to go home!!!
 
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