what size of boat you can handle yourself with your wife ?

Portofino said:
Wife --they are about as interested in steering /docking a boat as we ( men ) were changing nappies and reading nursery rhymes feeding children .
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Not entirely true. When we berthed in Croatia, I was always surprised at the number of Italian boats that came across from Italy and which were driven by the wives rather than the husbands and generally they were pretty good at it. I guess the Italian male just isnt what he used to be following emancipation:D
 
pascalsunseeker said:
I think the Italian men are just lazy, maybe I have to look first for an italian wife and then look for a bigger boat lol
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Ooops I wonder if Mapism of this parish heard that? He might have a thing or 2 to say about it;)
 
Deleted User said:
I thought not. No point in spending millions of quid on a new boat and not driving it yourself;);)
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2 weekends ago, my wife drove our boat the best part of the night, crossing the adriatic from Montengro to Polignano Italy.
which allowed me to sleep and nevertheless do the crossing in one go.
11hrs, at 10kn, 110nm
just the two of us on board.
 
Portofino said:
Wife --they are about as interested in steering /docking a boat as we ( men ) were changing nappies and reading nursery rhymes feeding children .
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LOL, If PowerSkipper sees this, I hope you either have good medical cover, or you are very good at running :cool:

Just to provide some balance, this is Mini-FP at 22kts, closely supervised, but doing a good job of dodging pot markers in the Solent:

lagTgA.jpg
 
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BartW said:
2 weekends ago, my wife drove our boat the best part of the night, crossing the adriatic from Montengro to Polignano Italy.
which allowed me to sleep and nevertheless do the crossing in one go.
11hrs, at 10kn, 110nm
just the two of us on board.
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But did you allow her to park it at the other end?;)
 
Yeh and here's junior PF taking it out
Dads gathering the fenders etc
null_zpst8vafhrw.jpg

There's a reason I have no pics of Mrs PF @ the helm --now I've found out -forum wisdom she,s not Italian
 
My kids are good crew. Age 7 and 9 they do the lines when we come in. Now she is 9 she can throw them successfully and last year if we had guests and no crew i just asked them to do as my daughter told them to do .. she is a good supervisor!

The 9 year old can take it out ( 58 feet last one was 65 feet) of the berth, take it round the marina, head to an anchorage, stop and then i anchor it.

Coming back I take it off anchor, she drives it, brings it into the marina, turns it to back it on ( on my instruction of when to turn) and then i do the last bit ... so the ladies are most capable!

Given her age i do supervise carefully of course but other than when she knows I am about to take over I have never had to lunge for the controls.

So Italian or not I would not write the ladies off ... and nothing about driving a boat requires bulging muscles ... which is just as well as not sure i have any!
 
jrudge said:
My kids are good crew. Age 7 and 9 they do the lines when we come in. Now she is 9 she can throw them successfully and last year if we had guests and no crew i just asked them to do as my daughter told them to do .. she is a good supervisor!

The 9 year old can take it out ( 58 feet last one was 65 feet) of the berth, take it round the marina, head to an anchorage, stop and then i anchor it.

Coming back I take it off anchor, she drives it, brings it into the marina, turns it to back it on ( on my instruction of when to turn) and then i do the last bit ... so the ladies are most capable!

Given her age i do supervise carefully of course but other than when she knows I am about to take over I have never had to lunge for the controls.

So Italian or not I would not write the ladies off ... and nothing about driving a boat requires bulging muscles ... which is just as well as not sure i have any!
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Agree
Look back at my post ps
"interested "
Peeps can be v interested in a subject ( lets use boat parking -Helming )
and rubbish .
Peeps can be un interested and superb at it .

Jackie Stuart was more" interested "in clay pidgeon shooting in the 60,s as a young man
He failed to get into the Olympic team GB -just not good enough fraid !
So he went off to in his mind do somthing less " interesting " -motor racing
Although less interesting to him he was pretty good @ it .

It's not about ladies or gents competence ,just "interest "
 
[QUOTE

So Italian or not I would not write the ladies off ... and nothing about driving a boat requires bulging muscles ... which is just as well as not sure i have any![/QUOTE]

With regards to the Op,s Q -the realality is that perversely the person most suitable to handling the lines on a boat is not .
It's usually the male @ the helm .
I would agree the limiting factor is how big a couple alone with no hired help can go boat size ( heterosexual for sake of pc )
Is the docking .
Not the Helming , washing ,
Here as stern lines increase in size , fenders , bow lines and apparatus etc ,then ultimately physicality plays a part .

You will never get @ rugby blokes vs girls , too greater difference in physicality .

Of course if you are prepared to hire a lad ( crew cabin ) permanently then that opens up going bigger over 75-80 into 100-120 territory ?
On the basis the 16 st 6 ft 2 lad aged 22 could handle the ropes better than the
Sub 10 st 5ft 3 wife in her fifties .
Maybe the 3 of you with Capitaneries help could cope ?
 
Hey Bart,good to see you at Porto (Montenegro) last week if only for a few minutes.With others on watch I don't sleep only doze....engine revs change,me up like a rocket.....overhearing the chat in the wheelhouse..shall we wake him???..out of the bunk before "him".
Enjoy Italy and keep in touch.
Best
Mad Pad
 
I'd also agree about 80 feet with two, and with the suggestion to have stern controls for the engines.


Portofino said:
...a lot of boat bang for your buck ...

http://www.mondialbroker.com/Barca.aspx?pk=189f9865-81dc-41d2-a4c3-0bed19a999ec
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A lot of shoite for your buck, more like. What a hideously bad example of a generally quite nice boat. Worst one I've ever seen. No way is that worth €360k; they will have to give it away @ sub €200k. Helpfully the broker has included the deck plans for the Leopard 27m fly, when the boat for sale is the 27m sports.
 
jfm said:
What a hideously bad example of a generally quite nice boat.
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Yup, considering that the yard built to a high degree of customization, this one is a good example of the old adage "money can't buy taste".
But just in case one of your reasons for dismissing it is the extended milking on the high gloss interiors, I'm afraid you would find it on most late 90s/early naughties boats, due to a type of lacquering that became very popular among boatbuilders in that age.
I've seen it on Maiora, Ferretti, SL, Antago, FL, Princess, Azimut, S/skr... You name it.
 
The proof is in not how young you can handle a boat but how old. A couple in the marina with the same boat as ours complained that handling it is getting harder especially the ropes, he was 90 and she was, well I didn't ask but must be at least her eighties. Fit and sprightly 50 something couple very quickly develope into a more fragile version of themselves. So I guess the moral is to get a big boat now, you may get more experienced but unlikely to get healthier
 
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