Winter Med Crossing

[jy51]

Early next year, late February or early March I sail my new boat down to Sant Carlos in Spain from the côté d’azur in France. Obviously at this time of year the only problem is the frequent bad weather, either the Mistral blowing from the North West out of the gulf de Lyon or the Sirocco blowing from the south. A route following the coast offers few all weather anchorages and many of the ports are difficult to enter and manoeuvre in bad weather especially with a 51 foot boat which will be new to us. This will entail either a long motor-sail around the bay or the constant entering of ports and marinas if the weather turns foul.

My preferred route would be to find a suitable weather window and head out to Mahon on Minorca this should offer a 200+ nm beam reach to the predominant North Westerlies. Once in Mahon we can anchor protected from whatever the weather throws at us until we take the eight hour crossing to Port Colom on Majorca, once again a well protected anchorage. The next stage would be Peurto de Andratx another eight hour sail. From there we can cross directly to Sant Carlos or sail via Ibiza and the Columbretes subject to wind direction and weather conditions.

Length and time of the passage is of no importance to me but as we will be a small crew on a learning curve a pleasant comfortable passage is, so my question is what would you do, head strait across the Golf and down past Barcelona or around the bay stopping overnight in marinas or my preferred route?

[alenka]

JY,

As you state at the outset this is winter and everything is going to be very much decided by the weather.  If you are dead set on your 'preferred' route than you may have to sit-it-out for days on end waiting for a weather window. Personally, I find there is nothing like being stuck in port to start the onset of cabin fever.

Of course you also have to throw into the mix the limited hours of daylight at that time of year, unless you don't mind sailing a new boat in and out of (strange) harbours during the hours of darkness.

I understand the Predict Wind App has a comfort setting in its passage planning option that looks for the best time to commence a passage based on its own wind forecast models for the week ahead.

The Navionics App also has an automated route calculator option which would at least allow you to look at various plans and come up with some accurate(ish) timings.  If you don't have this app you can access this route function for free on their website.

webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@6&key=g_%60eIzyrL

The bottom line for me is to always have a plan B pre-calculated... And never be over optimistic about how many miles you can achieve in a day.  

Enjoy your new boat and hope you get fair winds for your maiden voyage.

[vasko]

My suggestion will be to do a easy coastal hopping -

1.Till Marseilles is a easy trip and also VERY nice one - plenty of bays , anchorages, little islands and good weather also not expensive at all e.g La Ciotat was 28EUR per night for 10m boat.

2. From the last Calanque I will suggest wait for a good weather and with one (two max) overnight stop you can get to the end of Gulf of Lyon - and the end of the gulf you can stop in St Cyprien (huge marina with all service amenities that you can imagine on a very good price) or anchor in Colioure - free out of season, or in Port Vendres - incredibly safe place for bad weather - cheap also - next some of the bays around Cadaquess and sail down to Empuriabrava - not cheap but well worth a visit. Next going south from there are plenty of bays that you can stop for overnight - Barcelona  - Port Vell is well worth a visit, cheap and not crowded during this time of year. Going down from there the trip should be uneventful and easy..,  calculate about 40nm per day if you visit something and about 70nm with all day sailing.

[jy51]

Local knowledge is invaluable, thank you everyone for your input, much food for thought!  Friends, with some experience of the area have also suggested the coastal hopping route like Vasko, and as this is coming up favourite I will have to look into it a little further. 

Alenka, thank you, yes, I too have the Navionics App and have been using it in the comfort of my living-room to check distances and various routes.  You raise some good points about short days and entering unknown marinas in darkness, this was one of the reasons why I lean towards my preferred route with easy access and well known anchorages where it would be easy to drop the hook rather than have to negotiate small marinas.

My wife calls me Mr Plan, and at the end of the day one has to be responsable for ones own boat, and having good passage planning with detailed alternatives and options, depending on weather or unforseen problems has always been my philosophy.  However, I wonder how many times I have said we are going to X and arrive in Y simply because of a wind change.

Almost forgot to mention, many thanks for the stunning videos vasko, it’s raining where I am here in the U.K. at the moment and it’s nice to watch and reminisce my summers sailing in the Med.

[hoppy]

Rapello near Portofino looked nice until yesterday

[MalcolmP]

Oct 30, 2018 22:09:49 GMT hoppy said:

Rapello near Portofino looked nice until yesterday

Heartbreaking

[alenka]

It's watching footage like this that makes you feel better for paying extra for care in a proper yard, with earthquake proof cradles, etc.  I know nothing can ever be guaranteed but taking the best precautions of offer can save a whole lot of heartache.

[alenka]

This must have been one hell of a storm...

[jy51]

These videos really go to show how horrendous the weather can turn in the Med. 

Having had the change to think further and consider other opinions I have decided that for me, the sail out to Minorca is still top of my list. Vasko’s route across the Golfe de Lyon is fine in the summer but not the winter. Obviously the wind conditions on the day will go alone way in determine the best route, however, as mentioned before the heavy winter winds tend to come from either the NW or the S, crossing the Golfe will either mean a close beat in a north westerly with seas on the nose or in a southerly a lee shore and dangerous port entrances.  The south westerly corner of the bay close to the Spanish frontier is notorious for heavy winds and agitated seas in the winter months. During a NW blow running out to Mahon on Minorca with the wind and seas on the quater or a beam reach should be fast and comfortable. A southerly opens up a different can of worms and will mean a beam reach to Majorca or better still another week in the marina.