on a sailboat.
This page updated: January 2006
| Places I'd like to go on a sailboat. |
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Please send any comments to me.
This page updated: January 2006 |
| Area | Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Bermuda | 61-69°, 5" |
60-68°, 4" |
60-69°, 4" |
63-71°, 4" |
68-75°, 3" |
73-81°, 5" |
77-85°, 5" |
78-86°, 5" |
stormy 76-84°, 5" |
72-80°, 7" |
67-75°, 4" |
63-70°, 5" |
| Southern New England (Providence) |
cold, gales 19-37°, 4" |
cold, gales 21-38°, 4" |
cold, gales 29-46°, 4" |
cold 38-57°, 4" |
cold 47-67°, 4" |
57-77°, 3" |
63-82°, 3" |
62-81°, 4" |
cold 54-74°, 3" |
cold 43-64°, 4" |
cold, gales 35-53°, 4" |
cold, gales 24-41°, 4" |
| Chesapeake (Norfolk) |
cold 31-47°, 4" |
cold 32-50°, 3" |
cold 39-58°, 4" |
cold 47-67°, 3" |
squalls 57-75°, 4" |
squalls 65-83°, 4" |
humid calm 70-86°, 5" |
humid calm 69-85°, 5" |
64-80°, 4" |
cold 53-70°, 3" |
cold 44-61°, 3" |
cold 35-52°, 3" |
| East Florida (Miami) |
59-75°, 2" |
60-77°, 2" |
64-79°, 2" |
68-82°, 3" |
72-85°, 6" |
75-88°, 9" |
Tstorm 76-89°, 6" |
Tstorm, hurricane 77-89°, 8" |
hurricane 76-88°, 8" |
hurricane 72-85°, 6" |
67-80°, 3" |
62-77°, 2" |
| Northeast Caribbean (Turks) |
73-80°, 1" |
73-81°, 1" |
74-82°, 1" |
75-83°, 1" |
77-85°, 1" |
79-86°, 2" |
Tstorm 80-87°, 1" |
Tstorm, hurricane 80-88°, 2" |
hurricane 80-88°, 3" |
hurricane 79-86°, 3" |
76-84°, 4" |
75-82°, 3" |
| Southeast Caribbean (Barbados) |
74-82°, 3" |
74-82°, 2" |
75-83°, 2" |
76-84°, 2" |
78-85°, 4" |
79-85°, 5" |
78-85°, 6" |
78-86°, 6" |
78-86°, 6" |
78-85°, 7" |
77-84°, 6" |
75-83°, 4" |
| Mediterranean (Malta) |
cold 49-59°, 4" |
cold 49-59°, 2" |
cold 51-61°, 2" |
54-65°, 1" |
59-72°, 0" |
66-80°, 0" |
71-86°, 0" |
windy 72-86°, 0" |
windy 69-82°, 1" |
64-75°, 3" |
57-67°, 4" |
cold 52-61°, 4" |
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... several of my friends do it this
way: Several days prior to their planned departure they begin monitoring
the normal marine forecast on VHF - they are looking for hints of
approaching fronts, wind speed and direction, etc. On the morning of their
planned departure they monitor the marine forecast, and if the forecast is
favorable, they literally go to the top of the tallest building (or up the
mast if it's the tallest structure around) they can find and look east at
the horizon. If they see 'lumpiness' on the horizon, they don't go. They
repeat this process every day until the conditions are acceptable - then
they go.
Even though much has been written about the Gulf Stream currents, I don't know of any cruisers who try to monitor the Stream currents, they seem to consider that a total waste of time. |
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... We spent the summer crossing the Mediterranean ...
... we did very little sailing. ... Cruising in the Med, the saying goes, consists of motoring from gale to gale. Another ditty has it that that there are two kinds of boats in the Mediterranean: powerboats, and powerboats with masts. There's a lot of truth in both those statements. ... In fact, we motored or motorsailed about 80 percent of our 2,400 miles of Mediterranean cruising ... |
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Florida and Bahamas weather is very predictable with the exception of
the summertime convective thunderstorms. The large
scale systems that affect the region are but two,
cold front/high pressure from October to May and
tropical waves/cyclones from June to November.
Let's do winter first. From late October onward, cold fronts pass from W to E or NW to SE weakening as they move down the Florida Peninsula, weakening even more as they encounter the Gulf Stream and warmer waters south through the Bahamas. Early signs of frontal approach are:
In the winter, and this next situation is rare, if the wind backs instead of veers, you are experiencing one of two situations:
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You should not make a crossing of the Gulf
Stream when there is a northerly component to the wind,
at best it can be very uncomfortable, and at worst it can be very dangerous. In
typical north wind conditions, you will find waves the size and
shape of houses out there - closely spaced and steep. I've seen them once, and
I don't want to ever see them again.
This gets complex, because at the time you have chosen [winter] you can have strong cold fronts that make it impossible to cross for periods as long as a week or ten days. You may have luck otherwise, but I have sat at West Palm waiting for weather for a Christmas in the Abacos, and barely made it to West End on New Years eve. After one cold front blows out, the wind will clock to the northeast, and then east. That's the time to go. You have to monitor the situation very closely. If there is another cold front close behind, the wind will then go southwest, and then turn north when the front passes - you don't want to be out there then. If you hang out in the logical anchorages for a departure, places like the hurricane hole west of the Cape Florida light in Miami, on the city moorings at Ft. Lauderdale or in the anchorage at the north end of Lake Worth above Palm Beach, you will see other boats congregating. Like you they are ready to make the crossing but waiting for that elusive weather window. You compare weather notes each morning, share a drink or dinner - and pretty soon you realize there are six or eight boats right there ready, like you, to cross in company. This is hard to do if you are waiting in a marina. Once you are ready to go, just go anchor out and you will find other boats looking to cross. Incidentally, most boats cross at night, leaving at dusk, 10 PM, or somewhere inbetween depending on speed. The idea is to arrive in the Bahamas when the light is good for coming back into shallow water and Customs is open. |
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Understanding weather and being able to apply it to our route is the single most
important factor in safe, comfortable cruising.
Impatience, or not having good criteria for the
right time to leave, can be hard on the crew and the boat. A weather window really
depends on where you are going and what area you are in.
To cross the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas, you wait for the south-southeast winds of less than 20 knots for the next 48 hours. If it's been blowing hard from the north, you may have to wait for the northerly swell to settle down before leaving. When we left the Dominican Republic, we waited for a cold front to roll down the U.S. and Cuba. This created a stalled area of light easterly winds in front of it. We followed that front to Puerto Rico. The trade winds follow a cyclic pattern. If not influenced by cold fronts or tropical disturbances, they follow a predictable pattern moving from south, southeast, to east, and diminishing in strength as they move to the east. Sometimes if the wind is blowing hard southeast it will just stop for a day then pick up slowly from the east. These cycles can take from two weeks to six weeks. By paying attention, it's easy to pick up on them. |
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Pilothouse Online's "Big River Running North: The Gulf Stream" Johns Hopkin's "Gulf Stream Region" imagery Strongest current occurs where the temperature gradient is steepest. If cold north winds hit warm Gulf Stream, they settle toward sea level and speed up. To find the Gulf Stream when at sea, look for fair-weather cumulus clouds (created by the warmth from the Stream). |
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Hurricane prep:
As much as any of us prepares, there is still a good deal of luck involved -- direction of wind, time of high tide, if your neighbor breaks loose. 1. If you can, head up river and find a well protected hidy hole. 2. Usually anchor gear doesn't fail, lines do. I'd be buying as many of those Davis ballistic nylon, velcro closed line wraps as I could and layer them on. 3. Strip off all the windage you can -- sails, dodgers, etc. 4. There are a lot of irrational emotions surrounding boats. I'd not get carried away with them. A lot of people who have never been through a major storm are carried away by the ideal of the heroism of staying with the boat. The reality of weathering a major storm aboard is that it's dangerous and miserable. Frankly, I can always make enough money to buy another boat -- if I'm alive. Aint no boat worth my life. Besides, think about the number of boats in the area. Most of the marinas will probably make everyone leave to find shelter elsewhere. The good hidey holes will only hold a few boats, so most owners will abandon their boats on an old anchor or two and head for high ground. No matter your good intentions, your love for your boat or will of iron, you can't fight off three or four entangled boats floating down on you in 100-knot winds. |
| ... Marinas in these parts do not build slips with any more beam than needed to fit a boat. That's OK with our typical 1-2 foot tidal range. It's impossible to rig lines for boats in a slip to allow for a greater range. As a result, boats left in slips are often seriously damaged in a hurricane. My slip, rented from the home owner where it's located, is 20 feet wide. That allows me to rig proper spring lines. If I were in a narrower slip, I would have taken the boat out and anchored. ... |
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... I observed marinas that were just off the "protected" intercoastal waterway.
It became clear that most fixed docks are held together by gravity only. I had close looks at several exploded waterway marinas. Some boats broke free and smashed into the shoreline riprap and some quietly sank tied up to their pilings. Seems the dock deck boards are nailed down onto stringers. When even a mild surge comes in, the wave action and water pressure lifts the boards up and off they go; floating battering rams with big spikes sticking out. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Older docks suffer nail rot and come apart with a sneeze but with the nails rotted off. New docks take several seconds longer to self-destruct and shed boards with bright strong spikes protruding. I noticed battered and sunk boats still tied to massive dock cleats bolted strongly to 2 by 8's that were fastened (before the storm) to dock stringers using several 10 penny nails. A joke. I don't recall seeing any deck boards lag bolted to stringers, anywhere. I guess the recommendation is to avoid the area near fixed docks even though dock decking is new and the pilings are sturdy. |
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1. Don't even consider staying on the boat, even if it is "only"
category 3. Karen was Category 2 and I got "stuck" on the boat at the
mooring. Will never do that again! (On the other hand, some friends
saved their Hans Christian by sitting at anchor with engine pushing
against the wind to reduce strain on the anchors. They were thus
prepared when a much larger steel boat barrelled down on them out of the
spray at 30 knots or more. They responded by going full ahead and hard
over, it missed them by 3 feet and crushed the boat behind them. The
winds were only about 70 to 80 knots at the time. They did not stay on
the boat for Fabian.) If you go on deck in 130 knots of wind to try to
resecure a failing mooring line, there is a high likelihood that you
will not be effective or will die in the attempt. We had four die here
in Fabian when they were washed into the water in Grotto Bay.
2. Try to get out of the marina and into a good hole. Most every one here has storm moorings. Marina's and the boats in them get trashed if there is any surge. 3. Even a good storm mooring may not be sufficient. 10 hours of 130 mph winds with gusts to 170 mph will chafe through just about anything. I'm in the process of building new bridles which almost chafed through in Fabian. All-chain is a good idea but if struck by another boat, likely, or you have another boat drag its mooring across your chain it won't hold. (This happened to the boat next to me. The chain stretched and snapped when she was hit by another boat. Many others came off due to chafe, my friend's large Hatteras is in the mangroves high and dry after the fairleads for the bridle ripped out and the bridles chafed through on the hull.) Beef up your chafing gear, distribute the load to as many cleats as possible, try avoid the possibility of shock-loading any cleats. I have the initial strain taken up by a very stretchy bridle running from the midships cleats through the anchor roller to the mooring chain. As this stretches the strain comes onto the main bridles on the foredeck. After about 50 knots all the stretch is taken out of the primary bridle and the boat is effectively secured on four cleats. The primary bridle continues to function as a shock-absorber in the chop and surge. 4. Do what you can to reduce the possibility of sailing on the mooring. Remove everything above decks, even anchors. One study recomended a tiny storm sail at the stern to keep her pointed into the wind. 5. Lock down all lazarettes and hatches as if going to sea. My boat got blown flat in Fabian; had the lazarettes come open, I believe she would have gone down. 6. Secure everything below as if going to sea. If the anchor that you removed from the deck goes flying around down below it could hole your boat, glug glug. Keep the weight low. 7. Find a strong building well away from the coast to wait it out. |
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I had planned to leave Fort Myers Beach (Matanzas Pass) and go up the Caloosahatchee River
if a hurricane approached, to get away from the coast and get out of
the crowded harbor where boats could drag into me.
I ended up staying put in the harbor. Fortunately, the worst of the hurricane missed us by 15 miles, passing north of us. Still, it was very rough and scary, and several boats in our harbor were totally destroyed. I came through without a scratch. I didn't leave the harbor because:
A message I posted after the storm: My preparation: - Just about everything off the deck, including roller-furled sails. (Many people left them up !) - I had a CQR 45 and a Danforth 43 down, each on 100 feet of heavy chain, in 6 feet of water at low tide, in a muddy bottom with great holding. I added a CQR 35 on 10 feet of chain and 100+ feet of 5/8 rope, in the direction of expected worst wind. - Two of us relocated a small sailboat whose owner had come in and dumped it too close to us a day before the storm. He ignored our protests as he dumped it. His boat survived just fine where we put it. Damages to other boats: - One large old powerboat dragged even before the main part of the storm arrived, hit shore, was totally destroyed. There were people on board (they survived), and at least one other boat rafted to it (I think). - Several boats sank at or near docks. I'm told docks inside some marinas were going up and down 4 or 5 feet, causing lots of damage to boat hulls. - One boat dragged into another and chewed a nasty hole through the hull/deck joint near the bow, letting water in. (Ironically, the two boats were owned by friends, and they had left the harbor and gone to a cove in the mangroves, to be away from all the boats in harbor that might drag into them.) - Several roller-furled jibs left up were shredded. The owners were lucky they didn't lose mast or boat; if the jib had opened fully (it shredded before it could do that), the mast or boat would have been lost. Extra lashings around a furled sail are not good enough; take the sail down. The biggest danger to my boat during the storm was my friend's nearby boat: his jib was flogging and sounding like a helicopter as it destroyed itself, and making his anchors drag a bit. - Some other people put out no additional anchors, left roller-furled sails and soft dodgers up, and came through just fine. Go figure. |
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Staying aboard is bad:
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I've had sailboats for the past twenty years in Florida and been scared a
few times but so far been pretty lucky - no hurricane experiences yet. When
i first had my boat in key largo i was threatened by a hurricane - floyd i
think - and I took my boat up into the mangroves as far up as I dared. I
had plenty of company from other boaters doing the same thing. All around
south Florida, including the west coast, there are a number of canals and
rivers you can go up into to get away from the ocean. I don't know how safe
they would be in an actual hurricane strike but I'm sure I would be better
off than staying in an open roadstead or a marina. And with the amount of
advance warning you get today I think you would have plenty of time to do
this if you kept your boat within sailing/motoring distance of a convenient
canal.
The fact is that south Florida has only been hit once in the twenty years I've been here with a hurricane. U know that doesn't mean it won't happen tomorrow but ... I'm now at a dock on a canal near fort lauderdale only a mile from the ocean. I think if it got hit by a direct strike I would probably lose the boat. Fortunately its an old day-sailer of little value which I only intend to keep for another year or so and the loss of it would not affect me in any way financially. But if it were my cruising home I think I would always be alert during hurricane season and make sure I was never more than a day or two sail/motor from a hurricane hole. |
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Considering that I lived almost my entire life in earthquake country, I am
very safety conscious and like to plan ahead for these kinds of events.
My wife and I were one of the few couples in the Bay Area who actually
had an earthquake plan in effect when the
Loma Prieta quake happened ... It was a good plan that did what it was
intended to do. We try to be prepared here, as well.
My take on most of the hurricane articles that I’ve read is that many of them seem to have been written with 20-20 hindsight. Sailing out of harm's way might work if you are in the middle of the ocean, many miles from the storm, and know what course it will take. Additionally, a fast boat and some good luck would help. Consider the geometry of two vessels at sea, their course and speed, closing rates and such. One vessel is your boat doing 5 or 6 knots, the other vessel is the storm doing anything from 0 to 15 knots on an erratic course that no one can predict. Can you really dodge it safely? The first day after hurricane Andrew that the Miami airport was open I flew there, and on the way to the car rental area I passed by several boat yards where there were quite a few boats perched nicely on their jack stands. Only a few had been blown over. Realistically, it may be very difficult to find a boat yard with any interest in hauling out a boat in the face of an oncoming hurricane. It is also expensive. If you tie up in a marina, which is what most people do, the chances of serious damage, even sinking are great. Docklines break, docks break, someone's boat gets blown onto yours ... It goes on and on. You have probably seen photos of this sort of thing. I’m not sure what a "sheltered harbor" is unless it is a marina. Tying to the mangroves is a good plan, almost always damages the boat (gelcoat scratches and such), but at least you don’t lose the boat. Sometimes getting a boat out of the mangroves after a hurricane is a major project. The act of securing a boat in the mangroves can be very demanding physically, and requires lots of line. Additionally, it needs to be done early, because you will need to dinghy ashore to a safe haven in relatively quiet conditions. My thoughts on this go something like this: NEVER EVER consider staying on your boat if it looks like a hurricane is coming. Most sailors have no idea how powerful high winds really are. The next time you are a passenger in a car traveling at 75mph, put your head and shoulders out the window and you will get a hint of what a baby hurricane feels like. You wouldn’t do it, would you ? You probably think it is foolish, even dangerous. Of course it is dangerous ... Just like a hurricane. What that all means is simple. Pay the insurance premiums and evacuate to a safe location. The issue of timing when to secure the boat for a hurricane is a problem. It’s easy to say that you will just take the boat to the mangroves or the boat yard or wherever. It’s a different matter to actually do it, because if you do it too soon the storm may turn towards you, or it may go away. If you wait until you KNOW it’s coming, it is probably too late. In my case, for my 30,000 lb boat, I stay at the dock for winds up to about 50mph. We had one of those last summer, and getting the anchors up afterwards was a real chore. If the forecast is for winds from about 45-60mph, I consider anchoring out, in a very small bay. For that, I have five anchors, one of them is two sizes oversize. If it looks like a hurricane is really coming, I’m planning to head for the mangroves. I have not had to do that yet, but if it happens timing will be a problem because if the weather is already kicking up, it is probably too late to return in the dinghy, and I will not stay on the boat. The bottom line is difficult for some to accept, but very simple. Pay the insurance premiums and evacuate to a safe location. After all, the boat is just stuff. |
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I live on the upper Chesapeake, Sassafras River.
I own a Vector 39.
I keep it in FL, Ft. Lauderdale, off of Los Olas behind a condo, and I worry
about storms.
When Isabel hit last year [2003], I drove like a madman down to the boat with giant fenders, rope and 60- to 120-pound anchors. Isabel didn't hit FL so I drove like a madman back to MD and was in NC when the storm was hitting the Outer Banks. Stopped for gas just as the station was closing at noonish. They said the last hurricane hit and knocked out power for three weeks. 1. No power; no gas and no food. Felt strong desire to get the hell out of there, otherwise I might be stuck for a long time. Storm chased me up to Annapolis where they had just closed the Bay bridge because of 70+ winds. Drove up to Baltimore and just crossed the bridge before it was closed due to winds. Other than these high winds, cloud cover was spotty with a few rain drops. Got home, everything pretty good so I collapsed and went to sleep. Woke up next day with huge tree limbs down, just missed my truck by inches. 2. Don't park near trees, stay away from shit that can fly around. Keep boat away from buildings and shit and stay on it. You are not safe on land unless you are well protected from projectiles. 3. Stay away from sand. Sand will sand blast your boat, even a mile away. 4. Have extra anchors and rode on deck, well tied down. 5. Take off sails like roller furling; otherwise tie very very securely. 6. Reduce windage. 7. Stay far away from all other boats, they can only hurt you. 8. Sassafras River rose at least 8 feet, all power meters under water. 9. You will not stay shallow for long, you are a good candidate for surge. 10. With surge, you will now get waves because water is no longer shallow. 11. Use swim mask in high wind and rain when checking for chafe or letting out rode. 12. Pick a soft spot to land downwind just in case you need to bailout or rode breaks. 13. All in all, a river, like the Sassafras, is a good place to be in a storm. Just stay away from other boats and figure they are going to drift down on you. 14. Use your own ground tackle, not some cheesy mooring that can break or drag like a mushroom anchor. 15. Don't underestimate the problems caused by surge. I don't think the wind is the problem unless stuff is flying around, but waves cause extra stress to yank the anchor out and contribute to chafe. The surge changes your anchor scope. My long-time live-aboard neighbors pull up stakes and head for the New River in Ft. Lauderdale, or tie their boats between the canal shore with loops of chain shackled to line. The chain loops are placed around trees, bollards, pilings (chain sinks to the bottom so the lever arm is reduced on the piling; chain loops counter chafe). If necessary, after the wind tames and the surge comes, the chains can ride up on the pilings. Stay away from floating docks and slips and don't tie to a piling, use chain loops. I don't like the idea of being in a bay during a storm too much, you want to be far inland on a muddy river with soft banks away from buildings and big trees and other boats. |
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Here is some unsolicited Hurricane info that you can have some fun with.
Because the information source may change each year, it may not be suitable
for your web page. It can be an interesting exercise, if you play fair and
don't cheat.
You can 'pretend' that you are located anywhere you choose with a hurricane approaching, and you need to watch it's progress so that you can plan what, if anything you need to do to protect your boat and your life. All this is done in real time. Using hind sight is cheating. Once you pick a starting point or get 'underway', you can't go back and say "Oh, but if I would have done that instead, it would have been ok." Pick a location; the majority seem to think that Marathon is the best place for you to start. So for this exercise consider Marathon your home anchorage. In real time (8/6/2000) Hurricane Alberto is approaching from the east, and will be here (or somewhere) in several days. You need to decide, in real time with information available now, what to do, if anything. Your boat will probably sail at about 4 - 6 knots average, and you know that the Keys get hammered when a hurricane passes close-by. A really good source of information is available at Intellicast. In the upper RH corner, click 'Tropical', then scroll down to 'Active Tropical Cyclones'. Next to 'Atlantic', click 'Available'. There you will find a ton of information ... Including the projected path. So here you sit, in the anchorage at Marathon, watching Alberto approaching. If, on Tuesday you decide to get underway, you must use information that is available on Tuesday. Don't cheat and use information that is not available until Wednesday. So, on Tuesday plot your course and go for it, if you choose to. Then on Wednesday plot your new position along with Alberto's to see how you are doing. Each day you can modify your plan, but you can't use tomorrow's information to do it. No hind sight allowed. Continue this procedure each day until the storm is no longer a threat. This can be a very enlightening experience. If you are like many people, you will wait to make a decision until it is too late to make a run for it, or you will find yourself constantly running away when it is not necessary. Obviously, you can run several different 'plans' simultaneously, and you can use several 'home locations' as well. And, of course there will be other storms to look at. Just don't cheat. |
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> Would I have to go to the mainland to find a good swamp [to tie up in] ?
Many people think that The Keys have some very good 'holes', but they are very close to lots of open water (big waves) and tend to get very crowded (boats cause major damage to other boats) during a storm. Just north of Cape Sable is Little Shark River, look for it just north of Flamingo on your map. You can take a 5ft draft boat about 10 NM inland, away from the big waves. Little Shark River is only about 45 NM due north of Marathon, much of the trip in water 6 to 6 1/2 ft deep. The problem this time of year is that it is infested with mosquitoes that are big enough to eat your boat, then use you as a toothpick! ... And it is NOT a good choice because it is so far from civilization that it is almost impossible to get to safety ashore after you secure the boat, and staying aboard in a hurricane should never be considered an option. This place is miles of open water from any town where you could land a dinghy and get into a car to drive to shelter. ... For a major storm that I knew was heading for me in Marathon, I would consider the Ten Thousand Islands just north of Little Shark. A question to answer is, how many times in a summer are you willing to take such drastic measures? |
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My personal experience would probably have me staying on the vessel,
unless the storm seemed unsurvivable. Having stayed on board a number of times
and seen the aftermath, it is clear that vessels do better when attended,
than when they are not. Simple things like line chafe, tangled lines,
plugged scuppers can easily sink a boat. And tending to these things just is
not that difficult, up to about 130 knots or so. At 170 knots,
you can do nothing; just going outside could spell your death. ...
... I have been on deck with 90 knots measured with an anemometer, and you had to hang on tight and crawl on your hands and knees. I have attempted to move a dinghy, which sank in the process from shore to the boat, following a line that was strung between the deck and a tree, in 60 knots of wind. The moisture in the air feels like sand at 90 knots. We took gusts at over 120 knots, but by that time I was in my bunk with a lifevest and harness on, dive mask, snorkel and fins at the ready, in case I had to make it to shore. To save the boat I am not willing to die, but I am willing to ride the boat to the beach if need be. ... I have also seen a crewmate get popped on the forehead by a piece of insignificant cloth and it cut him like a knife. This is probably the most dangerous element, ranking right up there with just losing one's balance. Gary Green slipped in bad weather and hit his head on the anchor winch, and it should have killed him. ... Having unattended vessels drag down on you is a serious problem, but having been there and seen it in action, only once did it result in a boat going to the beach that was attended and was hit. They just got tangled up and there just wasn't enough time to get untangled. Most of the time it is a bang, bang and I once cut the rode of the boat that attacked us. It did not sink, just went out to sea, and they found it three days later. The best bet when sharing an anchorage is to get in early and secured and then help those that come in after. This is a way to both protect your space and make sure they are properly secured. Only once was the offer to help rejected. The boat was left unattended and sank on its mooring due to filling up with rainwater. |
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Re: Thinking about storing boat on the hard for hurricane season:
I left her on the hard for six months in Nanny Cay on Tortola. Everything rusted, corroded, quit working and even with a solar vent, the whole boat moulded black inside. Get someone to come air out and check the boat every DAY! Without help, my boatyard bill would have been 20k to get her to where she is now, sort of seaworthy and liveable again. A whole-boat cover might have helped with the heat, which must've been extreme inside. The Spectra watermaker is still showing me hairline cracks, seven so far. I'm sure it's from getting too hot. Sorry for the bad news, but this was my experience. Never again! I'll rent the poor boat to nearly anyone to live aboard rather let her sit on the hard again! |
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Re: Thinking about storing boat on the hard for hurricane season:
The Sea of Cortez has been hit by three serious hurricanes during the last two years. Many boats stored on the hard were badly damaged. (I was at anchor 100 to 300 miles NW of La Paz.) Here are a couple of observations based on long discussions with their owners as they repaired the damage: - Most insurance contracts have a clause in them that states that the insurance is void if ANY canvas is left attached to the exterior of the boat when it is left unattended for some length of time (mine is 14 days). Because of this clause, dozens of boats in La Paz found they could collect no insurance after the storms. (I know of only three boats in La Paz that collected ANY insurance money). - Most insurance companies have a clause that says they will only insure boats on the hard when the jackstand bases are placed on concrete or blacktop surfaces. - Most insurance companies have a clause that says they will only insure boats when the jackstands are tied together with chains. In La Paz, before Hurricane Marty had entirely departed, there was an insurance adjustor touring the area with a video camera filming all the damaged boats. He then "sold" the film to the insurance companies, who used the pictures to prove they did not have to pay because the boats violated one or more of the clauses listed above. - Many boats on the hard were damaged when nearby boats blew over. You can do everything right, but if your neighbor screws up you might be injured. You have little or no control over this problem. - I know of at least one boat that blew off their jackstands and seriously damaged the adjacent boat which otherwise had done everything correctly. The 2nd boat was unable to collect damages from the boat that blew over because of some obscure insurance regulation. This was not a Mexican problem - it was a US boat hit by a Canadian boat with Canadian insurance. - Several boats suffered substantial interior damage when their interiors were floated. The boats were sitting bow down on the jackstands. Their cockpit scuppers filled with blowing debris (palm fronds, plastic). The cockpits filled with water (I was 100 miles NW of La Paz and received 20" of rain in 6 hours) and that water then drained through the companionway into the interior. - One boat blew off their jackstands because they had put "waxed paper" between the jackstand pads and the boat to protect the new bottom paint. The wax paper was slippery. - Several boats blew over when the hard-packed sand under their jackstands washed away. - In La Paz after Hurricane Juliett, the ONLY crane operator was charging $2,000 (US) per boat to pick up the 20 or so boats that blew off their jackstands. [7/2004] I just received notification from my insurance company (USF) that they WILL NOT provide any insurance coverage for boats left unattended in the water for more than 20 days in the area from 10 North to 31 North during the period August 1 to November 1. This cancellation of coverage is for boats at a DOCK, MARINA or MOORING (to quote the letter I received). This discontinuation of insurance applies to the Caribbean as well as the Sea of Cortez. |
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If keeping boat on the hard: - Each jackstand must be chained to the stand across from it. - If not on hard pavement, put large plywood pad under each foot of each jackstand. - Don't scrimp on the number of jackstands; the more the better. - Position jackstands where the bulkheads are. - If surface is not paved, consider driving sand-screws in and running nylon straps to the boat. - Provide a way for rainwater to drain out of the cabin if it gets filled. - Prepare early; if you're going to move, move early. - Get away from hard things: docks, rocks, seawalls, etc. - Use all your anchors; no point in leaving anything unused. |
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Tips for handling Customs/Immigration:
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| I have entered the Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico directly from the USA and I have never been asked for exit papers. We got a "dispaticho" in Mexico to clear into Cuba with. I think most of the world realizes that the USA does not routinely issue exit paperwork to its own flag vessels that originated in the USA. All the rest of the countries south of here will want a "dispaticho". |
| We've never cleared out of the U.S. The Bahamas didn't care when we checked in there, neither did any country in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico to **, USVI to ** and back). The U.S could care less if we've checked in or out - we've been back many times, never been questioned once (though never on the boat - only by plane) - but it doesn't matter. The U.S. really only cares where you came from, and if you're a U.S. citizen. If a citizen, you have no obligation to check out or in (they don't usually stamp your passport when you come into the U.S., for example, unless you ask them to for tax purposes). When we come back into the U.S. by boat (if we ever do), we'll have clearance from our departure point. That's enough. |
| Have gone to the Bahamas many times, never have cleared out of the US. We used to clear out of the Bahamas before returning to the US, but Bahamian customs now say it is fine to mail exit forms back after you get home. Having seen first-hand how they file forms in the Bahamas (one room behind the customs desk with floor-to-ceiling piles of loose paper forms stuffed in, sitting on the floor, falling over, being walked on, etc), we have even become less concerned about mailing the forms back. |
| Just as you should provide a list of possibly dutiable items before you leave on any overseas trip -- by plane, train, automobile, or any other conveyance -- it's a good idea to let USA Customs know what you are taking out of the country by boat. They might not believe that you didn't purchase them in a foreign country. |
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Makes it easy for USA boats to re-enter USA. Decal took 10 days to arrive when ordered through web in 2001. After landfall, skipper goes ashore and calls Customs at 800-432-1216, and reports:
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> Is there anywhere I could take my boat to > escape this heat and humidity [July in the Florida Keys] ? > Not that I'm ready to go any distance, but in looking > at weather reports, it seems that all > of the NE Caribbean and coastal SE USA is at this > same temperature range (or worse). Is there > a place where the humidity is less ? > Without leaving me totally exposed to hurricanes ? Short answer nope, it is summer and you still have not seen the worst of it, wait till September. And the bad part is, it does not break till mid October. Put the boat in storage and go for a bicycle ride in Canada. Long answer, anchored out in the Bahamas is better than it is here. But you and the boat aren't really ready yet. ... |
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Call Customs on 800-432-1216. Took us 1.5 days to get through;
maybe they were closed on Monday after Easter Sunday for some reason ?
They asked very few questions once we gave
a US decal number, mainly name and address.
Their automated system says you must be "docked" somewhere,
but they didn't ask. But since one of the crew was a Canadian, we all had to go to Immigration, which is on Dodge Island, on the south side of the main road (Port Blvd), about halfway down the island. From Coconut Grove, we took the 48 bus (comes on every hh:30, $1.25 plus $0.25 for transfer) to Government Center, which is big bus / Metrorail hub. Got Seaport Connection bus (every 15 minutes) to the port. Get off near Security toll-booths, talk your way through. Immigration is at 1500 Port Blvd, about 100 yards past toll-booths on south side, in middle of big Customs building. We were told of two other ways to get there: Dock or dinghy ashore at Bayside Marina (west end of bridge onto Dodge Island), then walk east on Port Blvd to Immigration. Or, Call at least 24 hours in advance, ask to dock at Terminal 3 dock/moorings at west end of Dodge Island. Unclear if Customs/Immigration will come there, or you have to go to them. Each of the officials had a different impression of what the security rules were, how easy it was to get through the security checkpoint, etc. Very confusing. |
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My family and I cleared back in from the Bahamas about a month ago [4/2003]. Here is
the scoop:
You must now clear back in to the USA with BOTH Customs and INS (which now has a new name, which I forget, and is a part of the Department of Homeland Security.) Clearing in with Customs is the same as it has been for several years. In Florida, you call the Customs number and in most cases you will be cleared in and given a clearance number over the phone. Customs may, at their discretion, come to your boat to inspect it. Normally the captain does not need to personally go to the nearest Customs Service office. You now must clear in with INS also. Actually this law has been on the books for several years but was not enforced until after 9/11. All persons on board, US citizens and non-citizens alike, MUST travel to the designated Customs office to present their documentation - passports (or other proof of citizenship), green cards, or visas, etc. Call Customs and clear in with them first; they will give you the INS number to call. If they don't, ask them for it - the fines for failure to comply are heavy. We cleared in at Fort Lauderdale. Clearing in with INS was actually rather painless, except for the not insignificant cost of the cab ride. The INS office there is staffed 24/7, and I think this is true for most of the major ports. Someone who is smarter than I am can explain to me how this enhances our national security. |
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The EU has rules and rules.
The French, Spanish, Geeks and Portu-Geeks make up the RULES as they wish.
All you need is hand-made photostats of the complete set of ships documents*
(40 copies of each to hand out as required) to ensure a safe passage with
no more than $200 per week shelling out of greasy palm monies.
*Documents includes: Builders original certificate; current EU RCD compliance certificate, a certificate of ballast weight declaring that non-depleted uranium or lead are used as ballast; VAT paid (or not paid certificate); Douaniers Certificate of 'International Certificate of Competence' in French; Gas permit to light the stove; Non-Rabies Certification; A certificate signed by a US Consul to say that you haven't eaten any British Beef during the past 14 months; A Certificate signed by the Italian Consul to say that you are not hiding any Serbian War Criminals; A Certificate signed by the Greek Consul to say that you have no turkeys on board; A certificate from the Turkish Consul to say that you will only eat marinated olives; A Certificate from the Libyan Consul to say that you agree to abide by only using green toilet tissue ... Happy days sailing in the Med ... Don't fall overboard. The Med is the most polluted water in the world ... even PUR watermakers won't remove the nasties. |
| ... We totally enjoyed the Med ... Like everyone else, we concluded that in the Med the sailing is terrible, but the destinations are worth the effort. ... |
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Few anchorages: Cyprus, Greece, Italy. Crowded anchorages: Turkey, Greece, Balearic Islands. |
| ... most good anchorages in Italy, France and Spain have been taken by marinas. It's a very densely populated area. There are anchorages, but no "in all weather safe" ones. Don't forget the wind can come from any direction and change 180 degrees overnight. No tradewinds here ! |
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Cruising the western Mediterranean:
Use Imray Coast Pilots (in English), and Livre de Bord (in French, but easy to decipher). In 2002, didn't have problems finding space in marinas, even in summer high season. Stayed in marinas 60% of time, anchored out 40% of time. Most marinas had anchorages nearby too. Best places: Villefranche (between Nice and Monaco), Calvi on Corsica, Alghero on Sardinia, Barcelona. Plenty of wind, but usually less than 7 knots or more than 20, and can shift up to 180 degrees abruptly. |
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In Croatia can anchor out most places.
Southern Italy: poor and lots of crime. Sardinia is wonderful. Able to anchor off Capri. "... in the Med ... there are some places where it's easy to anchor for free, but there are other places where you almost always have to go into a marina." |
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Countries such as Spain and Italy require all pleasure vessels
entering their waters to hold adequate 3rd-party liability
insurance. Seizure of the vessel and/or imprisonment is the penalty
for contravening their regs. The attitude of France is similar, but
with lesser penalties (afaik). I was asked for insurance docs once
in France, but challenged his authority to make such a request. The
official simply shrugged his shoulders (like they do) and walked
away. Dunno if I'd try this in Italy or Spain though ... Greece's
rules are uncertain (does anyone know for sure ?).
This issue is currently a political hot potato, as the UK doesn't have any requirement for skippers of pleasure craft to hold insurance, nor to hold any sailing qualifications whatsoever to sail within UK waters - the sea being one of our last (mostly unregulated) freedoms, which we're hanging onto with true Brit grit. We also have the lowest per-capita sailing accident rate in the world - maybe there's a connection ? Some marinas may require insurance, but all they are empowered to do is turn you away. (I've never been asked for insurance docs - which is just as well as I've never had any !) The controversy exists because EU members are prevented from placing any restriction on movements between member states - hence a requirement for compulsory insurance undoubtedly contravenes EU regs, because liability insurance is impossible to obtain for single-handers, as the insurance companies claim that a proper lookout cannot be maintained, and thus the vessel is being sailed in a manner contrary to COLREGS. All-in-all this appears to be a sticky issue which no-one really wants to deal with - so it continues to be ignored, year after year. The RYA is stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one, as this organisation famously promotes international single-handed sailing, and yet wishes to stay neutral on the EU legal issues. And so the RYA just acknowledges the problem and advises everyone visiting the Med to hold liability insurance, whether it is legally mandatory or not. Advice re: the single-hander/'can't get insurance' issue is not given. |
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... I cruise the Greek waters in my annual holidays during 12 years.
September is a wonderful season there: after the strong Meltemes, before the
winter gales and the anchorage are less crowded. If you can start your cruise from Rhodes, I propose the following route: Rhodes - Simi - Niseros - Kos - Leros - Amorgos - Ios - Santorini - Rhodes |
| We sailed in September, and got plenty of Meltemi winds. Very strong up to 55kt from the N-NE. Typical daily breezes were 25-35 kt. We sailed with a 3 and a reef or two much of the time. They mostly shut down at night, though not always. We did sail through a very windy night one time. |
| Location | Winter | Summer |
| London | 34-44 F | 53-72 F |
| Paris | 34-44 F | 58-76 F |
| Nice | 42-55 F | 68-80 F |
| Toulouse | 35-49 F | 59-82 F |
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You do not need any qualifications to own or cruise a narrowboat.
A licence is not needed to drive a narrowboat. Speed limit of four miles per hour on British canals. The huge majority of narrowboats are powered by diesel engines, the fuel being readily obtainable at boatyards and marinas along the waterways. |
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The locks on many U.K. canals are only 7 feet wide; you will need a "narrowboat" to travel them.
Wider boats can be used in the U.K. on river navigations, wide canals, and the Norfolk Broads,
and on most European canals.
... A 'broad' lock (14 ft wide) on a broad canal takes longer to work through than a 'narrow' lock (7 ft wide) on a narrow canal. |
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One can license a boat with British Waterways (BW) as "permanently cruising", which removes the need to have a home
mooring, but then one is limited, in theory, to never stopping anywhere more than 14 days. A lot
of people who do this actually pay for a winter mooring each year. But BW are talking of changing
this system and introducing some form of "intensive use" license.
If you use your boat for cruising away from your home base, you can moor at most places on the canals for up to 14 days without charge. Certainly no one pays for overnight moorings (it's different on rivers like the Thames). If you are weekending and need to leave the boat somewhere between trips, then it is often possible to find towpath moorings in villages that will be safe, and once again you would only expect to pay if you were staying there for an extended time. Or you can pay to put your boat in a marina or boat-yard. Prices vary quite a bit for this. The next main cost is your license. For British Waterways (covering nearly all the canals and quite a few of the rivers) the cost is about GBP400 a year for a 48 foot cruising boat and about GBP490 for a 60 foot boat. Houseboats and multi-user boats pay more. Outside the BW system, the Environment Agency (the Thames, Great Ouse, Nene and Medway) and various smaller navigation authorities have their own scales of charges. BW charges are based on boat length, whereas the EA license fee is based on length multiplied by beam. Insurance - Premiums depend on the value of the boat but a member of the group with full no-claims bonus is paying about GBP 200 per year for fully comprehensive insurance including contents cover. It's well worth going to a company with specialist experience of canal boats, as you are almost certain to get a substantially lower premium than from a marine insurance company more used to dealing with sea-going craft. Much cheaper insurance is available restricted to third party cover only. You need a boat safety certificate, which has to be renewed every four years. If the boat you buy already has one, then the renewal cost should be negligible, although the technical requirements of the scheme change from time to time. Also, beware if you change any of the equipment (especially anything to do with fuel, gas or electricity), because the new stuff must comply with the regulations. The old equipment may have been exempt from some of the requirements. If you're looking at a boat with a view to buying it, then be very wary if it does not have a certificate already, as bringing a boat into compliance that was not originally built that way can be very expensive - which may well be why the boat is for sale. |
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Before you launch your boat, you need to buy a licence (or registration). This allows you to
cruise around and to keep your boat on the waterways.
Almost all of Britain's waterways are run by three main organisations, each of which issues its own licences and registrations:
Just like a road tax disc, you will need to provide evidence that your boat meets safety standards (the Boat Safety Scheme) and has third-party insurance before being issued with a licence. [Gold licence, covering all British Waterways and Environment Agency waters. Costs between GBP299 and GBP784 depending on length of boat.] |
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Re: estimate of per diem costs to cruise the UK:
I guess it's very subjective and depends how you want to live. ... Famously/notoriously the UK is expensive for marinas, particularly the South Coast. In our marina (Ipswich Haven, East Coast), pontoon berths are £1.80 per metre per day, reducing of course for longer stays to £184 per metre for an annual berth (2004 price list). This is considerably less than the South Coast from Falmouth to Dover, but considerably more than the North of England, Scotland or North Wales. Costs generally include water but exclude electricity. Outside marinas with pontoons, there is much greater variation, particularly if your boat can go on a drying mooring (i.e. do you have bilge keels?) or you take a swinging mooring. Payment for anchoring is a hot topic here and the subject of great legal debate. Many rivers and offshore anchorages are free, but you may see a harbour charge, particularly May-September, of £4-£10 per day. Prices are much cheaper on the other side of the channel - Northern France, Holland, Belgium. ... Communications, I think, are dearer than you are used to in the USA (I don't know about Canada) - if email/internet is important to you, then investigating local mobile charges is really worth it and may well still be dearer than your experience. Some marinas are introducing wi-fi networks, but in our experience none are working well yet and they are expensive so far. There's tons of lovely sailing here, many friendly people, and hey, we (sort of) speak the same language! |
| [Maybe just about France:] You can moor up just about anywhere along the canals, unless otherwise posted. Just be sure to keep a proper distance from the locks. Be careful not to tie your lines across the tow-path, but put stakes into the ground on the canal-side of the towpath. |
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You don't want to come to the UK:
£5 per gallon of fuel, 17% tax (VAT) on nearly everything,
and polluted rivers and canals. I will not even dive here in the Solent,
only off the back of the Island. Even then it is not good:
you are lucky to get 5 feet viss. Also the average temp over here in
the summer is 20 C [88 F] with 40% humidity. If you want to do the Canals,
you should try the French Canals down to the South of France and the Med. ...
... [I asked about public libraries, with newspapers and internet access:] One thing about the UK is we are way ahead of you in the USA with our net and phones I don't know why we have not had Internet cafes for a long time. It is all done wireless now most places you can just go on line with your laptop whereever you are and 99% of homes have Internet most of our mobile phones have it as well. ... The libraries do have the newspapers but they are not as good as your libraries over there usually the oldest run down building in town the net has killed them. ... |
| In France, for example, the waterways are free and there is no charge for using the locks. In Belgium and the Netherlands there are more marinas than in France, but even in those countries stopping in a town or on a canal is free. |
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Almost everyone in Holland speaks English, so language is not a problem ...
another reason to shop for a boat in Holland.
Holland has lots of nice mooring facilities for pleasure boaters, quite unlike Belgium, which caters to the commercial bargers, and has all but forgotten pleasure boaters, except for Ghent and Brugge. The cost to moor in Holland averages about $US11-16/day depending on facilites and location. sometimes there is coin-op electricity and showers. Other times, by tying to a piling/railing/tree or staking into the bank, it's free. There is no license or permits required to cruise in Holland ... but studying and understanding the boating regulations, charts, and navagational systems, is a must before casting off. Upon entering Belgium the first big locking system you encounter will have an office where you must purchase a permit to cruise in the country. The permit is affixed to your window and is checked as you go through subsequent locks. It costs about $US25 and is good for 90 days and is renewable. Moorage in Belgium, when you can find any, will cost about the same as in Holland. Again, soon after entering France there will be an office at the locks where you will be required to purchase a permit to use the French waterways. There are three options; by the year, 30 days or two weeks. Cost is calculated on the basis of cubic volume of your boat. I found most people went for the 30 day permit since the days are only applied when your boat is actually moving ... days tied to the dock do not count. This permit cost me about $US220. The funny thing is that you are given a card to tape on your window that has 30 blank squares on it in which you are to note the days you have moved ... after a while I was forgetting to sign it as I moved along ... but no one ever checked it anyway ... but at many locks you must go to the office and give them the name of your boat and your permit number. We eventually approached Paris from the west and made our way up the River Seine past the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, under countless bridges, amidst heavy barge traffic to the marina at the Bastille. The trip from Amsterdam to Paris had taken us just under 7 weeks of leisure travel. The Bastille marina has a convenient location in the heart of Paris and costs about $US28/day. |
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A long-stay visa must be requested from the French consulate before your departure.
The initial process was time-consuming, but we now just submit simple paperwork to renew it each year.
We started our application for a long-term visa at the French consulate in San Francisco.
You must show your passport to enter the building, so bring it along on your
first visit even if you are just going there to pick up the forms.
Be sure to read the entire application form very carefully and follow the instructions exactly.
You will need several different letters stating your income source, health insurance, etc.
Make sure that these letters are succinct as each letter will need to be translated
into French by a translator from the consulate's approved list and long letters will be more expensive.
Check each translator's fee, as we found they varied greatly.
The process took about 4 months on the American side. We made a mistake in the initial
paperwork and that seemed to complicate the whole process for us.
Once we were in France it took us another four months to complete the French side
of the process. After we arrived in France we were asked for an original birth
certificate (with a stamp), and this was something that they had not asked for
in San Francisco. After we obtained an original, they asked that it be translated also!
This translation was done for us by a French friend with no problem from the
Mairie (town Hall) about official translators.
We would advise you to make several copies of all of your original letters and their
translations, as you may need to resubmit some of the same paperwork after your
arrival in France. You should also scan copies into your computer for safekeeping.
We also scanned our passport photos into our computer and have often reprinted
those photos when we have needed to submit a passport-type photo for our visa
renewal or when we renew our international driver's licenses by mail.
The process of living in France begins with having an address. When we made our visa application in San Francisco they asked for our future French address. We were lucky that a barge broker helped us by providing us with a letter stating that we would have a mooring in their marina for a year after we purchased a barge from them. Once here you could ask your port captain for a letter that states you have a long-term mooring. Then you will be allowed to use the port address. You will need an address to open a bank account as well as to complete your visa application. ... "The Barge Buyers Handbook" is a must "how to" book for anyone looking to buy a barge. It is available through the DBA website. Also, "Barging in Europe," an essential guidebook by Roger Van Dyken which explains barging essentials. The air draft is an important consideration when buying a barge. In Holland where many barges were built, there are many lifting bridges and height is not a problem, but it is on the French canals. A barge with an air draft less than 2.7 meters or with a wheelhouse that can collapse to that height, can go anywhere in France, and therefore it can also go easily through Belgium and Holland. With an air draft of 3.1 meters or a wheelhouse that will collapse to 3.1, you will be able to travel on almost all of the French canals. The majority of the bridges along the French canals are 3.50 meters or higher. A barge with a water draft of 1.2 meters can travel on almost any canal. Ideally, you would want the water draft of your barge to be closer to 1 meter. ... In Europe, there are two diesel fuels, white and red. The red diesel, which is just white diesel with red dye added, is much cheaper, about half the white price. In the EU countries all cars, trucks and boats must use white diesel in their engine of propulsion. Red diesel can only be used for domestic use, such as in generators and furnaces. Like most barges, we have two separate fuel tanks, one for white and the other for red. In Belgium they use only red diesel. If you travel into Belgium and put red diesel in your white fuel tank it is recommended that you keep all of your fuel receipts to prove to the other EU boating police that you purchased the red fuel while in Belgium. If you are caught with red fuel in your white tank and do not have your Belgium receipts you will have to pay the tax difference and a large fine. Fuel tanks are one thing the French police will always check on your boat if you are boarded. |
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Owning a French-registered boat requires that the operator have a French boating
license and to get that license one must take a test - in French!
Yes, there is a fee for using the inland waterways of France. VNF (Voies Navigable de France) issues permits for 1 year, 30 days, 15 days or just for one specific delivery. In 2003 we were charged 106.00 euros for our 8-meter boat. The permit must be displayed in the boat's window so its number can be seen by lock-keepers. |
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No qualifications are required for rental pleasure boats, but if you
contemplate staying longer than 6 weeks on anything bigger than 20 metres,
you will need a Certificate de Capacité (known as the 'PP') qualification in France.
This comes at the cost of a weeks course (about $A 1500) an examination (in French)
and most likely, a practical test on your ability to operate such a vessel.
This of course means that you will have to have some grasp of the language,
a boat on which to learn, practice and take your test and preferably, a skilled instructor.
Visa: You must be a European to live in Europe or you need a visa. Since I am an Australian, I need a Carte de Longue Sejour (Long Stay Visa) if I am to stay for more than one year in France or a Carte Sejour for a year - otherwise I have to leave and re-enter each 3 months. In order to get a Carte de Longue Sejour, I need to prove I am of good character, have an income sufficient for my needs, health insurance, and a place to live. I also have to have an address (no, not a barge) and a bank account and telephone account (more on that later). Here's where it gets interesting. In order to get a visa you have to have an address or a bank account (which you cannot get if you don't have an address - Catch 22). If you plan to live on a barge, that is a difficult one. More interesting is that the address is supposed to be one where you have received accounts from the electricity company in your name (no not the phone, water, gas or rates). And no, they don't deliver electricity to moving barges. We think we have the answer here, as they appear to be willing to accept a cancelled cheque from your French bank account as proof of your existence since, as in Australia, it is difficult to get a bank account without extensive identity checks. We understand that others have been able to get bank accounts set up with La Poste, the French Postal Service, which also runs a banking service, an internet service provider and poste restante services and, is in every town and village throughout France. Ideal ! Fortunately, life is quite cheap on the waterways of Europe. ... To run the boat in France one also needs local qualifications, gained at some expense in November 2000 in Cambrai on Tam and Di's Barge Friesland. Tam is a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) instructor and examiner who has a very good working relationship with the French Inland Waterways department who administer the Certificate de Capacite or PP as it is known. Doing a course with Tam and Di involves a 3-day barge handling and 3-day intensive PP study course plus the bonus of some cruising in Champagne or St Quentin. Tam has been on the water in narrow boats in the UK and now Dutch barges in France since the 60s. Qualification this way comes with the bonus of a British Inland Waters Helmsman Ticket, membership in the RYA and the opportunity to also join the Dutch Barge Association (barges.org) - worth its weight in gold for the electronic contacts available on every subject from the arcane to the very practical. ... Information on power systems, electricity supplies and issues, hulls, toilets, rules and regulations, best areas to cruise and restaurants to frequent - absolutely everything you may need to know is available though this great organisation. |
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[About boating in general, not canal-boating:]
... each country has its own requirements, but in EU mostly these can be met by what (in UK) is called the International Certificate of Competence. In the UK this is issued by the Royal Yachting Association, and the details of the ICC requirements are on their website. They accept a number of other qualifications as equivalents, and issue the ICC on production of the relevant evidence. In addition of course, each/most EU members have their own governing body training and certification, but the only one I know about is the British one. What differs is how heavily this is enforced. There's lots of scuttlebutt about this, but the last I heard Spain cared, Portugal was beginning to be bothered about it, most Scandanavian countries don't seem to care. This can be checked out on various lists I'm sure, but the simple answer is to get the ICC. This should not be confused with the CEVNI, which is the acronym for the Certificate of Navigation in Inland Waterways (I think the original wording is French). This is an absolute requirement in various canals (though not the Kiel Canal which connects the North Sea and the Baltic), and is I believe quite strictly enforced in France. Again, the details are on the RYA website. |
| To obtain a residence permit (carte de séjour) entitling them to stay in France, all foreigners must be able to prove that they have health insurance (couverture sociale) covering partial or total reimbursement of medical expenses (hospital, doctor, dentist, medicines). |
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> Is it possible to cruise rivers and canals in Europe > from Nice to Amsterdam? Is this a practical idea for > a 4'6" draft sailboat, mast down? Would there be free > anchorages, or would we be required to pay to tie up every night? Is there any other recommended route for a > one-season trip that is a low percentage of open-water > passages? We've gone from Amsterdam to Lyon on 'Santorini', which draws 4.7 feet, without running aground more than once or twice ... There's a fairly well defined route south - basically from A'dam take the Maas River SE to Maastricht where it dives into Belgium and becomes the Meuse - wander through Belgium heading generally S-SE past Liege and Namur. You enter France at Charleville, and shortly thereafter join the Canal du Nord (O'est) which goes through Dinan and Verdun, basically using the Moselle and short linking canal sections. The Canal du Nord is fairly long and has something like 228 locks as I remember - but it will eventually drop you on the Saone river which you can take S to Lyon where you join the Rhone river which will take you to the Med. Mast down is no issue as long as you are comfortable maneuvering in tight quarters while carrying a spear on your boat - do get it high enough to see and move under. Bank moorage is typically free and open unless otherwise posted - rivers allow for stern tying (it's considered polite to mark your anchor with a small, red ball buoy) - many cruisers carry bank stakes and screw-in land anchors to create their own moorage if bollards aren't available (tying to trees and infrastructure is frowned upon, if not forbidden, in most places). We use two stakes and a center screw-in for spring lines, which are critical since passing barges can create very powerful standing waves. The only time you pay for moorage is if a town has constructed dockage or provides electricity - typically pretty cheap at 4-5 Euros/night. We pretty much follow the 3-B's rule for canal travel - looking for spots which have a Bank (so or 'deep' draft can get close), a Bar (so the Capt and Mate are happy) and a Bollard (so we don't have to fuss with the damn stakes). |
| Re: Units of measure: If you sail across the pond and try to put 100 gallons of diesel into a 100 gallon tank you will get an awful mess. Just remember, a Texan's 10 gallon hat is EIGHT gallons in England! |
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Book recommended by someone (I haven't read it): "Courtesy Flags Made Easy" by Mary Conger (out of print). Also: "Make Your Own Courtesy And Signal Flags" by Bonnie Ladell and Matthew Grant (out of print). Make courtesy flags out of sturdy, UV-tolerant fabric. From Missi on "Too Lazy To": make courtesy flags by painting on white fabric. Karlin of Quakertown's blank flags Christine Davis Flags Waypoint's "Courtesy Flags" American Flag and Gift Karlin of Quakertown's "Flag Making Tips" In some countries (e.g. Bahamas), the "courtesy" flag a visiting boat should fly is not the same as the "national" flag. From Rick Kennerly on The Live-Aboard List:
From Pierre Mitham on The Live-Aboard List:
From my sister Jane:
From my sister Carol:
Craft stores carry "fabric paint". Avoid "dimensional" paint; get "sun" paint. |
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Well, the San Blas Islands of Panama did not live up to the hype ... Two things stuck in our
throats – a fee of $5-10 dollars for EVERY anchorage even though only a
few miles apart, and a fee of $2 to walk the islands. That is $2 to
go east around the island, $2 to go west around the island, $2 to go
up the hill, $5 to go up the river, $2 to take a picture.
Also the reefs near the villages were totally stripped of life – dead.
NO edible fish in sight bleached and/or fished to death.
... their crowded villages packed sardine-like on tiny islands have outhouses on stilts out from the waterfront all around the circumference. On a calm night if one anchors near a village, the eau de outhouse can nearly gag a fellow. ... Once you get south and east of the Turks and Caicos Islands you discover that our Caribbean Island friends have no regard for their environment whatsoever, and true also of the San Blas, WHATEVER is not needed or wanted is thrown into the ocean. Trash abounds around every village and shoreline from the Dominican Republic to Grenada, Venezuela, Columbia and Panama. ... be sure to have super-shiny topsides before you get to the San Blas. After the hundred or so canoes are crunched into the sides you will have an artistic mosaic of pretty red, yellow, blue and black marks. You see, every lady in every village just knows you will buy a mola from her. ... |
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This discussion lacks perspective, altho' there is IMO much truth ...
The whole time I've been sailing (3 decades) this same "paradise is spoiled"
view has been expounded on ... and to a degree, justified.
But things are hardly black and white and, as Paul points out,
there are great cruising grounds even in small bodies of water
like the Caribbean. Jamaica offers some great and unpopulated spots,
Grand Cayman's North Sound is a treat, Haiti's Ile a Vache is safe
and fascinating (imagine walking thru the front cover of a 1940's Nat'l Geographic),
the S coast of the DR is little changed since Hart and Stone wrote
their Caribbean Guide in the early 1970's, the Rio Dulce may be
seeing development but you'd never know it when you step 10 miles inland,
and so forth. The advice to listen to where the bulk of the cruising fleet
is going and then go elsewhere is good advice, and will be richly rewarded.
The same broad, sweeping comments are made about Europe: highly regulated and rule-bound, congested and expensive, etc. We have a hard time squaring that with our cruising in Scandinavia (perhaps the best cruising we've ever seen) or what we hear about Scotland's west coast and the Irish Sea. I'm also unimpressed with sweeping generalizations about the vast Pacific when I hear such discrete, unique and diverse descriptions - even today - about places like Vanuatu, Tonga, Sabah, Kiribati and the Phillipines (yes, even the safe parts of the Phillipines). IMO one of the biggest contributors to this Paradise Lost theme is the expectations we bring with us, along with the crowd mentality we operate from. We want Hal Roth's Pacific or CDR Nicholson's Caribbean, which of course do not exist today any more than 29 cent gasoline, but we begrudge island nations imposing cruising fees (part of our entitlement mentality), whine when we can't find boat parts and web access, and are afraid to go off the beaten track to find the experiences we claim we want. Instead, many of us stick among our own cruising clans and grouse about how bad things are. Some places have been despoiled. Others haven't. Most of those rich cruising yarns we remember, and the idyllic cruising grounds they described, came from folks who were sailing away from civiliation, not looking for it. The earth is still big enough to offer that experience but many of us aren't willing to step off the edge of the earth to the same degree sailors did in the past ... or at least that's what I see. Pogo was right; we're just reluctant to admit it because it puts the responsibility on our shoulders to step off the beaten track. But to return to Paul's original comments about the Kunas, of course they're going to demand and loiter and demand some more. Guess who taught them? |
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Cruisers are part of the herd, just like everyone else ...
I'm amazed that there still are so many gems still sitting right under our noses, and yet how few sailors make the effort to seek them out. Even in a crowded area like New England in the summer, it's still possible to a certain extent to find solitude, and get away from it all. In Maine, for example, all one has to do is sail east of Schoodic a bit. Yet, I'm amazed at the number of cruisers who appear to think Mt. Desert represents the very edge of a flat Earth, and would not dare to sail further East. Nantucket harbor can be jammed with boats, but how often do you see a boat anchored off Coatue beach in prevailing conditions, or around the western tip of the Island in Madaket? Travelling even on the ICW, examples of the reliance on cruising guides abound. The entire length of the Pungo River is lined with beautiful creeks that would be delightful to explore, and make perfect anchorages. Yet, you will see a dozen boats squeezed into the few that are "officially endorsed" by Skipper Bob or the Waterway Guide. It appears that cruisers have completely lost the ability to determine what may constitute a fine anchorage simply by reading a chart. It has always surprised me how many cruisers will not venture one mile further than Georgetown, Exuma. Within 2 days sailing, there are some incredible places - Conception, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Long Island and Salt Pond, and the Ragged Islands. In the Raggeds, you can sometimes feel as if you're the only person on earth; most regulars there say there are rarely more than a dozen boats in the entire chain at one time. And yet, 50 miles to the north, 400-500 boats sit in Georgetown. Of course, it's tough to find internet access in the Jumentos (grin). Most of my dreams of travel and cruising have come as a result of poring over maps and charts. I'm sure there are many of us here who would sit looking at a world atlas for hours as a kid ... how a place looks on a map or chart was enough to make the determination, "Now THAT looks like it would be a cool place ...". I think the modern cruiser's over-reliance on electronic charting has a lot to do with the loss of this art; no one seems to spread out a large scale paper chart to plan a cruise any more. That's the biggest disadvantage to electronic charting, IMHO, its lack of utility to easily "browse" on a larger scale, and be intrigued by the location or "look" of a certain place. Paper charts, spread out on a saloon table, or read in front of a fireplace in the dead of winter, permit your future destinations to "come to you" in a more serendipitous and meaningful way. Electronic charts, on the other hand, generally require that you know where you're headed in advance, and then prove their utility in helping you get there with a minimum of cross-track error, and little risk of getting side-tracked into an unplanned exploration of a spot that might intrigue one without his electronic blinders on along the way. You're right, Jack, there still are PLENTY of great spots out there - one just has to keep your eyes open, and nose to the wind, rather than buried in some guide book. |
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The travel rule I wish to stress here is: Never trust anything you read in a travel article.
Travel articles appear in publications that sell large expensive advertisements
to tourism-related industries, and these industries do not wish to see
articles with headlines like:
So no matter what kind of leech-infested, plumbing-free destination travel writers are writing about, they always stress the positive. If a travel article describes the native denizens of a particular country as "reserved", this means that when you ask them for directions, they spit on your rental car. Another word you want to especially watch out for is "enchanting". A few years back, my wife and I visited The Blue Grotto, a Famous Tourist Attraction on the island of Capri off the coast of Italy that is always described in travel articles as "enchanting", and I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one Travel Adventure that will forever remain a large stone lodged in the kidney of my memory. ... |
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