Why not winter Motor Boats in the Canaries?

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db631018

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Hi Guys

Have any of you owners thought of wintering in the Canaries?

Sunshine through the winter, Use the boat 12 month of the year, No lifting and Storage Ashore, Berthing Avaiable!

I know this is rubbing it in for you UK guys after the summer you have had but I cant understand why the med owners espaecially dont come down here and go back for the summer.

Help and advice is available for the trip down and back and a delivery skipper is a good answer for those who dont fancy the passage.

Too Good to be true? What do you think?

Regards

Duncan
 
Heard of a guy who lived in Manchester and kept boat at Southampton, commuting on a Friday evening. Due to poor summers he moved boat to the Med and discovererd that it was quicker and cheaper to fly out to the boat on a Friday rather than drive from Manchester to Southampton.

Got to be worth thinking about!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Help and advice is available for the trip down and back and a delivery skipper is a good answer for those who dont fancy the passage.

[/ QUOTE ]It's not just a matter of help and advice, or delivery skipper, I reckon.
It takes a pretty good range (not to mention seaworthiness) for a MoBo to cross the pond.
There aren't probably many between us who could even consider your suggestion.....
 
[/ QUOTE ]It's not just a matter of help and advice, or delivery skipper, I reckon.
It takes a pretty good range (not to mention seaworthiness) for a MoBo to cross the pond.
There aren't probably many between us who could even consider your suggestion.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Understand where you coming from but have to say that with proper preperation and planning the passages down and back are fun, obviously the boat needs to be sea worthy!!

Fuel is available in Morocco and carrying additional fuel is hardly a new thing, we move boats of 12m and upwards, backwards and forwards regularly.

The passage does need a spirit of adventure though!
 
Thought long and hard about this. Puerto Calero & Rubicon are both so much cheaper to berth in than here. The lift outs are a fraction of the price. The fuel is cheaper. The weather is better.

However, on the down side, I'm not convinced that the cruising ground is as good. There ain't that many places to go - Papagayo, Lobos, Fuerte??? Also the swell can suddenly get up, which would be horrid in our T34. Also it would cost about £8k to get out there, so would take many seasons to recoup.

Also, there's the cost and hassle to getting to & fro.

Plus you cannot just go down to the boat and tinker about, and enjoy the social life, both in summer & winter, the marinas in the UK offer.

What you really need is 2 boats, but would prefer the "other one" to be in Airlie Beach or Shute Harbour etc where you can enjoy the best cruising ground in the world. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Just how far is it from landfall to landfall? saves me getting charts out ect, but if you do this regularly you will have a good idea?

Some motorboats only have a couple of hundred miles range, that would take a few gallons on deck to get out there!

Tom
 
Blimey, that's a passage in the 2,500 nm order of magnitude, unless I'm mistaken.
Or are you going through Cape Verde and Fernando De Noronha? But that's a much longer journey overall, innit?
I can't think of many 12m MoBos I'd confidently cruise along those routes, anyway!!!
 
I was talking to a man some years back, he had a humber 38 called humdinger, on the deck were 4 45 gallon drums, he said he had enough fuel to cross from africa to the canaries, and sure enough 2 years later I went to gran canaria to find him berthed in porto mogan. He had sailed from Grimsby!.
 
Hi Quester

Plenty to de here, add Graciosa, Castillo and the beaches off Carmen to the local list you have, oh and the weather to do it in!
Its the Atlantic so we do get swell but dont you get that in the Uk too! Much more predictable here than the med too!
 
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Whats the general cruising like in the canaries? Is it fairly sheltered and plenty of places to drop anchor?

[/ QUOTE ]

We are little Islands in the middle of a big ocean but if you apply a little nounce you can usually find the sheltered side of the Island to cruise or drop the pick in. A nice feature is quickly shelving seabed giving deep ancorages close inshore and plenty of shelter.

We can get some big swells but the weather is pretty predictable so you know its coming and simply stay out of the way! We also have wind acceleration zones off the coasts of the Islands but to be honest this does'nt bother Motor Boats as much as sailors as we dont get the sea state to match the wind speed in the lee of the Islands.

Anyone boating in the Uk or Ireland will experience worse in the so called summer!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Just how far is it from landfall to landfall? saves me getting charts out ect, but if you do this regularly you will have a good idea?

Some motorboats only have a couple of hundred miles range, that would take a few gallons on deck to get out there!

Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Again Guys

The passage from Gib to Lanzarote is 750 miles give or take a little. We would usually make a fuel stop in morroco at one of several places and carry extra fuel onboard. If you cruise at about 7-9 knots you can get a range of about 300 miles with 20% reserve out of lets say a modern 13m fly bridge, if you carry extra fuel for another 150 miles you only need to fuel up once. I know several more traditional motor boats that have the range to do the passage in one hit with extra fuel being carried.

I think that the idea of cruising slowly is a little foreign now to motor boaters but it doesnt half save some gas! With a good skipper and decent crew you get to experience a watch system and everything that goes with long distance cruising, a bit like being under sail on a cruise but with a little more style and comfort!!! Thats sure to get a response............
 
I think there's a T34 on your pontoon - towards the end on the left. "Second Course" I think is the name. I quite fancied having a chat with him but he's never there when we are! Another time maybe.

Oh yes, another plus in your neck of the woods, of course, is all the totty on the beaches /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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