Waiting lists for French marinas in med

[max]

SWHBO startled me in an idle post Boat Show chat in the pub by suggesting she would contemplate letting me get a bigger boat IF it was in the med.

So - does anyone know what the waiting lists are like for a decent marina close(ish) to an airport serviced by easybuzzgo type airlines?

Thanks as always in advance.

Max




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[tcm]

Re: ahem

Hi, several hereabouts have boasts and berths in the med , incl me.

Almost all french med marinas have a waiting list. Actually, forget the "almost" bit - they all have a waiting list, sometimes several years. There are two possible ways to shorten the waiting list
1. Buy a boat from a dealer, and stipulate that you won't buy unless he can help you find a berth. This increass your chances. But you'll be renting a berth, and unlike the UK where once you have a space it's yours' for life, in the med you can chucked out, cos, well, someone else the next season another person with excellent wife says that they'll buy a boat provided that etc etc and you get chucked out, and have to try and find a space down the coast.

2. You buy a lease on a berth. These last from under 20 years to even over 30, depending on how old the marina. They are not cheap, but they do guarantee a space. They also go up in value. We have a marina berth for sale in La Napoule, near Nice, frexample, 18ish years to run, 15.4metres x 4.58 metres, a snip at €170k.




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[doris]

Try http://www.triangleberthbrokers.com/. Chris Gill is the man there.

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[tcm]

Re: ah well

that's the forum discount down the pan! but Chris Gill is a very nice chap tho and well worth giving him €5k to have a chat first, glub.

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[david_e]

Reort Vauban

Looks a bit crowded, are there many prangs, assume that's where you are?

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[tcm]

Reort Vauban

It's faily crowded. ok, it's full. All the marinas are full. I think that, except for rafting, the med marinas are always more squished - up against each others boats rather than a little pontton which the brit marinas seem to like.

Not sure how many prangs constitute "a lot". Seen a few here and there, one 80 footer went through the bow lines of three other boats and twanged them into the quay, the helm must've been drunk! Another time a 30 footer went under the bow of a 140+ footer and irrepairably bent his mast on the bigger boat's bowsprit. In St trop there was a mangusta with the whole back end of the boat bustified 1 metre in, whole swim platform smashed to splinters, must've whammed in at 20 knots+. Shame i missed it...

No action from us yet but there always a chance. Mind you, if there's a crowd the pressure is always "on" regardless of how big or smal the boat eh!



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[Twister_Ken]

Reort Vauban

The trouble with Port Vauban is that unless you're at least 50' loa, you get mistaken for someone's tender.

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[oldgit]

Trick seems to be just get into the marina to start with ie. purchase berth with some sort of boat with it.Then get to know who actually can allocate nicest berths by loads of arse licking by buying lotsa drinks for him in his fav. marina bar.This could result in you getting the 2500 euro berth in a nice quiet peaceful area as opposed to the crap 10000 euro berth adj to main road and right next to the poxy all night disco./forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
Posted by one very ungrateful annoyed and sleepless ligging freeloader

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[david_e]

Reort Vauban

So the solution is to stick your boat onto the front of mine and we should just srape through. Think of the performance benefits in a blow, superb upwind, no pounding and a rocket ship surfing down wind!!

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[charles_reed]

ALL Med marinas like to quote you the length of their waiting lists, it starts at 2 years and goes up to about 6.

You might have a chance in the Roussillon marinas - allegedly another 800 berths were being added on at St Cyprien Plage and there's usually room in Port Leucate (providing you draw about 1.2m). Both these are fairly close to Perpignan which has summer flights by Ryanair from Stansted.

Personally I can't see why anyone would want to leave the Atlantic to go into the mucky, expensive, overcrowded, uncomfortable Mediterranean.

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[TonyD]

Are you really set on French marinas? Why not try Greece or Turkey? Its a lot cheaper at the eastern end of the Med and there are a lot more places to anchor when you are not in the marina. I seem to recall that Rod Heikell sometimes overwinters his boat in a yard near Bodrum and it was much cheaper to get work done there.

TonyD

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[tcm]

Re: Large tenders

There is actually a 60 foot 40 knot powerboat/cruiser down the pontoon from us that is indeed a tender to a large ship/megayacht. It has little covers for every single bit of teck teak too, to stop the smoke from the ship exhausts spoiling it...

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Large tenders

Years ago I saw a 'yacht' in Cannes open up its transom to reveal a slipway down which was lowered a very substantial Riva-style speedboat (all chrome and mahogany, apart from the velvet cushions).

It was a good trick.

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[max]

Re Thanks to all for the advice NM

thanks to all for the advice

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[jfm]

contrary view

People say med mooring is spensive. But hang on a minute....

In October 2002 we bought a cote d'azur berth, about 20 year lease. Last week we sold it. There was no waitlist for either transaction, and "lead time" was about a month. Boat LOA 14m.

I should keep precise numbers secret to protect the innocent but we did better than buy it for £80k and sellit for £85k and we paid £1k in service charges for the 2003 season. Is that expensive? Or look at it another way, we paid £80k for 20 years mooring, so £4,000 pa plus the service charge. Again, is that expensive? This is a premium location, premium marina, near Antibes.

OK, you need the capital to buy berth, but have you seen the price of capital lately? They're almost giving it away.

By my simple reckoning this is cheap. What's expensive is a swinging mooring on the East Coast.

All imho, interlaced with a fair bit of fact

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[DavidofMersea]

People have been talking about France, but what about Portugal? - I know it is not in the Med, but it is near enough.

I go to Lagos every year and I know the area, particuarly the marinas, quite well. Lagos has a huge marina which is only about two thirds full. I was told what the fees were, and whilst I cannot now remember how much, I recall thinking how reasonable they were.

Just down the coast at Playa de Rocha they have just built another new marina, which is only one third full, so competition will be keeping prices down.

The local airport is at Faro, and there is a cheap train all the way to the marina at Lagos

Let me know if you moor there, I am always glad of a sail.

David of West Mersea

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