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starting to sail
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08-02-2015 7:27pm#1
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Hi guys,
Sorry for the naivety of the following post! Ok. So for years all I wanted to do was to have a small boat on the Mediterranean mainly for diving, snorkelling and hanging out. So im here. On the journey here we started a family and spent most of our cash on apartment. So I have about 7.5k for a boat. Im looking for a sail boat, and know at this price range the most I can hope for is a cuddy cabin to get out of the sun for awhile....which im happy with.
I now live in Alicante and was wondering about maintenance costs, mainly mooring fees...or is it feasible to remove a small boat after each use like we used to do in Galway with our diving instructors rib. Im used to being a passenger on ribs for diving in various seas, but not sailing....will start lessons soon.
Last question. After a few years of practice in the inshore around Alicante, would it be feasible to sail as far as the Balearic islands?
Any thoughts?
Thank you very much.
I'd say since you seem to be brand new to sailing (as opposed to ribs), approach it slowly and methodically. Do a few basic courses, on as many different boats as you can, big and small, new and old, and get a feel for what's out there. Pick your instructor's brains with all the questions you can think of. You (or we, or anyone) really can't say in advance what might suit your purposes when you don't even know yourself. Get a bit of experience, and time on the water, and you'll quickly get a feel of what you might want.
Costs around Alicante - no idea, and I suspect nobody on here will know either. Bet it's a bit cheaper than Dublin though!! Call into a few marinas or clubs and enquire about berthing fees, or go to local launching areas and get chatting to boaty types there.
If there are clubs near you, call down and get chatting to people. Is there a racing scene locally? If there is, guaranteed boats will be looking for crew - would be a chance to try out different boats.
A boat, even a small one, is an ongoing investment (the cliché that sailing is like standing in a cold shower tearing up €50 notes didn't come out of thin air! although yours would be more of a warm shower.....), there are ongoing maintenance costs, repair costs, berthing costs, and depending on what you buy these can vary wildly. Everything will increase with the boat's length. It is not a cheap hobby, whatever way you go at it. But it's absolutely brilliant, and worth every penny!
As for sailing to the Balearics - you could do it in a dinghy if you wanted to - but I for one wouldn't want to! (I did an offshore race from Malta to Sicily a couple of years ago, and in among all the 40++footers was a little SB20 - a trailer-sailer that's basically built for inshore racing. Fair dues to those guys :eek: ) The most important factor in doing a trip like that is experience and knowing your boat. In general, boats will go anywhere, it's the crew will be the weak link. So if that's your aim, build up your knowledge and experience and you can go anywhere you like!
But start at the start. Get out on as many boats as you can and get a feel for the sport.
And keep asking questions! Don't ever think you know it all
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Tut tut Copper! No need for that plámas.
:o It was a pleasure to have you aboard, a small gesture of thanks to you for the education and entertainment you have provided here. 
(Anyway it wasn't a lesson, you were born to it and needed no help on the helm almost all the time!:P )
OP, first of all I’d fully endorse the comments of Heidi - the Med can be a (very) scary unforgiving place at times with sudden weather changes. Usually there is either too much or not enough wind. Get lots of experience/time afloat with others (and at their expense!) before you make the commitment to buy a boat of your own. In Spain if you are a resident I think you now need to have a qualification.
The good news is you have enough to buy a boat but the bad news is that you do not have sufficient to buy what is best suited to your needs.
Diving and sailing are mutually exclusive – you can tumble in or out quite easily from the sponson of a rib, but it is another matter to get into / out of the cockpit of yacht while wearing tanks, even with a 'good' stern ladder. Ribs are basically a very fast motorised diving platform, yachts have a different purpose and as a result have ‘top hamper’ i.e. masts, guard rails and stuff that causes them to rock when the sails are down and makes getting about more difficult.
For diving you want to get to the dive site quickly, get into/out of the water easily, so a rib is ideal. A small motor cruiser is almost similar, particularly if it has a swim platform on the stern. Yachts – even those with an open transom – have backstays, mainsheets, travellers. etc., all of which get in the way of a diver in full gear.
That type of money would get you a 6 metre trailer sailer, although it would wreck your head and your marriage to trailer-sail a boat that size, with rigging/unrigging, stepping mast, etc. every time. A marina berth is more than a comfort for a yacht, but a rib or MB is easy to plonk in and take out. Sailing and diving are possible from a yacht, but it usually is a catamaran.
Going to the Balearics – from memory it must be about 250 nautical miles from Alicante which in a small yacht is at least three days sailing, so that’s two overnights minimum and you have to cross some very busy shipping lanes – freighters from Marseilles, Barcelona, motor yachts, etc., all heading for the Straits on auto-pilot and a deadline, and while it is do-able it is not for those inexperienced in off-shore and night-time sailing.
IMO you need to decide what you really want to do, sail, dive or motor, but walk before you try running.0 -
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