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David B · 30-08-2016, 18:34

Interesting - thanks for the effort to post this - much appreciated. Ours is a G5 (fifth/last generation - 2012) Oceanis 50. The supporting structure is box section at the top of the tube, which looks very solid, so hopefully the weakness has been addressed, but when we get back on board next year, I will have a close look at it. In the meantime, if/when you get the chance to show your modification, I am sure I would not be the only one interested.

Tayzach · 30-08-2016, 21:04

Join our owners group on YAHOO. Great group of folks. We have owned our 473 for 6 years. Cruising the gulf. Cuba and Mexico. Retiring next year and heading for the islands. It is a great boat. Congrats.

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ReneJK · 15-05-2017, 02:06

Its been awhile again since my last post , and it seems lots has happened , not in the least ... Blue Pearl has moved from Seixal (Tagus Yacht Center) to Almerimar ! So here's my little trip report

Wednesday 19 April , Flying to Lisbon dotting the last 'i''s while Blue Pearl sits high and dry. She was coppercoated , had the rudder bearing replaced , new Radar and other gadgets so we're good to go !

Friday 21 April , my much better half Joline arrives with the kids , this is the 1st time our 2 daughters (4 and 7) set foot on the boat and Saturday is the big day , splash ! and we take her to Oeiras (Marina del Oeiras) where we picked up our 3rd crew member for this week . The girls played on the beach and it the water at Oeiras and had a fantastic time :-)

Sunday 23rd , after fresh buns , which are delivered on board by the marina and filling up with diesel, we set off to Sines (plm 50 mls) with a beautiful NW wind making good time and good speed and in Sines we spend the night

Mon 24 - Tues 25 , We did our 1st overnighter ! From Sines to Faro (Ilha Da Calutra) plm 120 mls - When we arrived there there were some people yelling at at/to us , and we were thinking . 'oh why are you so upset ?, were not *that* close to you !" turns out the previous owners of Blue Pearl were right next to us in there (new to them) Amel 54 ! - fantastic surprise with great visitors on board :-)

Wed 26th April, with wind still blowing from the NW , and after 8 hours of sailing, we decided do another overnighter , this one from Faro to Gibraltar ! 130 miles and we arrived in the morning of the 27th . Passing through the Straight with Europe on one side and Africa on the other is a fantastic feeling , shipping wasnt too bad (considering were used to the North Sea and Wadden Sea) but what a fantastic and special feeling
And where we had absolutely gorgeous sailing weather the previous days it now turned nasty .

Friday the 28th the heavens opened and just threw buckets of water at us. The dinghy completely filled up with water in about 12 hours ! so all we did on friday was a bit of cleaning and provisioning . Saturday when the weather cleared up a bit we do the sightseeing tour with the girls anxious to see the monkey's on the top of the hill

Saturday was also when our new crew arrived , the kids needed to go back to school on monday and our 3rd crew member had to be back to work as well, so Saturday is was really cosy with 5 adults and 2 kids ;-)

Sunday 30th , after dropping my better half and kids at the Big airport , walking across the runway and saying goodbye we went to see the money on the top of the hill again ! what a difference when you can actually see around you from that top on a clear day ! 360 views on where you sailed , planned to go , Africa close enough to smell it

Monday , with 2 fresh crew and winds from the east we decided to sail to Africa, well.. the African continent that is ;-) and after 12 mls we arrived in Ceuta

Tuesday , why oh why does the wind always turn and blow from the direction you need to go ?
So close hauled with NNE winds towards Marbella (40 miles) and with the help of our engine for the last few miles we arrived in reasonable time

Wednesday , predictwind gave winds from the ESE but the reality was NNE , so still exactly from where we needed to go ! so tacking against the wind we did the 20 miles from Marbella to Benalmadena , we probably did 50 miles total

Thursday , with a little better winds from Benalmadena to Marina Del Este . What an absolutely ^&*%# marina to enter with easterlies. Waves confused and high and entering the marina. and expensive ! well .. not Croatia expensive but still ! in the previous days we paid on avg 18-20 euro's per night in Portugal , in Spain 20-22 with Ceuta the exception with 34 euro. Marina Del Este wanted 64 euro's ! but with leaving for another marina (too far away) or anchoring not viable options we 'choose' to stay . And Friday much better winds were predicted, from the west !

Friday the day started with a light breeze , so first we pulled out the gennaker . What a joy to fly that and doing 10 kts with approx 10 kts of wind ! But at 15 Kts and increasing winds we took the gennaker down and away. And we did some 'wing on wing' until I notice 22kts true wind with gusts well above, time to reef , and while I think 'lets do a 1st reef in the main and we'll see later what the winds do' I notice 28-32 kts true so 2nd reef instead of just the 1 and furl the head some more

And there we go ! 13+ kts through the water with 2 reefs , 40-45 kts straight from behind and were flying ! except .. the waves.. were those this big about 30 minutes ago ? , cant remember. Anyway we're going fast , were into the right direction and when we get about 4 miles away from Almerimar Marina we decide its time to fold sails .. well, turning against wind and waves in this blow is not a pretty prospect , so first we try to drop the main , set the boom in the middle , ease the topping lift and drop the main.. right ?... yeah well.. not really . And after a few attempts we decide its quicker and easier to turn against the wind , drop the main and be done with it

that was an interesting experience ;-) but we made it

And without sails , without engine engaged we still did 6.5 kts through the water towards the marina entrance where we docked.. another interesting experience , docking with 40-45 kts wind , but we made it again with 2 scratches (that'll buff out so its not really damage aside from ego damage , is it ?) and now safe and sound moored in Almerimar marine :-)

What a fantastic 2 weeks ! I cant wait to take her out again this summer

johnyhask · 15-05-2017, 03:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReneJK

Its been awhile again since my last post , and it seems lots has happened , not in the least ... Blue Pearl has moved from Seixal (Tagus Yacht Center) to Almerimar ! So here's my little trip report

Wednesday 19 April , Flying to Lisbon dotting the last 'i''s while Blue Pearl sits high and dry. She was coppercoated , had the rudder bearing replaced , new Radar and other gadgets so we're good to go !

Friday 21 April , my much better half Joline arrives with the kids , this is the 1st time our 2 daughters (4 and 7) set foot on the boat and Saturday is the big day , splash ! and we take her to Oeiras (Marina del Oeiras) where we picked up our 3rd crew member for this week . The girls played on the beach and it the water at Oeiras and had a fantastic time :-)

Sunday 23rd , after fresh buns , which are delivered on board by the marina and filling up with diesel, we set off to Sines (plm 50 mls) with a beautiful NW wind making good time and good speed and in Sines we spend the night

Mon 24 - Tues 25 , We did our 1st overnighter ! From Sines to Faro (Ilha Da Calutra) plm 120 mls - When we arrived there there were some people yelling at at/to us , and we were thinking . 'oh why are you so upset ?, were not *that* close to you !" turns out the previous owners of Blue Pearl were right next to us in there (new to them) Amel 54 ! - fantastic surprise with great visitors on board :-)

Wed 26th April, with wind still blowing from the NW , and after 8 hours of sailing, we decided do another overnighter , this one from Faro to Gibraltar ! 130 miles and we arrived in the morning of the 27th . Passing through the Straight with Europe on one side and Africa on the other is a fantastic feeling , shipping wasnt too bad (considering were used to the North Sea and Wadden Sea) but what a fantastic and special feeling
And where we had absolutely gorgeous sailing weather the previous days it now turned nasty .

Friday the 28th the heavens opened and just threw buckets of water at us. The dinghy completely filled up with water in about 12 hours ! so all we did on friday was a bit of cleaning and provisioning . Saturday when the weather cleared up a bit we do the sightseeing tour with the girls anxious to see the monkey's on the top of the hill

Saturday was also when our new crew arrived , the kids needed to go back to school on monday and our 3rd crew member had to be back to work as well, so Saturday is was really cosy with 5 adults and 2 kids ;-)

Sunday 30th , after dropping my better half and kids at the Big airport , walking across the runway and saying goodbye we went to see the money on the top of the hill again ! what a difference when you can actually see around you from that top on a clear day ! 360 views on where you sailed , planned to go , Africa close enough to smell it

Monday , with 2 fresh crew and winds from the east we decided to sail to Africa, well.. the African continent that is ;-) and after 12 mls we arrived in Ceuta

Tuesday , why oh why does the wind always turn and blow from the direction you need to go ?
So close hauled with NNE winds towards Marbella (40 miles) and with the help of our engine for the last few miles we arrived in reasonable time

Wednesday , predictwind gave winds from the ESE but the reality was NNE , so still exactly from where we needed to go ! so tacking against the wind we did the 20 miles from Marbella to Benalmadena , we probably did 50 miles total

Thursday , with a little better winds from Benalmadena to Marina Del Este . What an absolutely ^&*%# marina to enter with easterlies. Waves confused and high and entering the marina. and expensive ! well .. not Croatia expensive but still ! in the previous days we paid on avg 18-20 euro's per night in Portugal , in Spain 20-22 with Ceuta the exception with 34 euro. Marina Del Este wanted 64 euro's ! but with leaving for another marina (too far away) or anchoring not viable options we 'choose' to stay . And Friday much better winds were predicted, from the west !

Friday the day started with a light breeze , so first we pulled out the gennaker . What a joy to fly that and doing 10 kts with approx 10 kts of wind ! But at 15 Kts and increasing winds we took the gennaker down and away. And we did some 'wing on wing' until I notice 22kts true wind with gusts well above, time to reef , and while I think 'lets do a 1st reef in the main and we'll see later what the winds do' I notice 28-32 kts true so 2nd reef instead of just the 1 and furl the head some more

And there we go ! 13+ kts through the water with 2 reefs , 40-45 kts straight from behind and were flying ! except .. the waves.. were those this big about 30 minutes ago ? , cant remember. Anyway we're going fast , were into the right direction and when we get about 4 miles away from Almerimar Marina we decide its time to fold sails .. well, turning against wind and waves in this blow is not a pretty prospect , so first we try to drop the main , set the boom in the middle , ease the topping lift and drop the main.. right ?... yeah well.. not really . And after a few attempts we decide its quicker and easier to turn against the wind , drop the main and be done with it

that was an interesting experience ;-) but we made it

And without sails , without engine engaged we still did 6.5 kts through the water towards the marina entrance where we docked.. another interesting experience , docking with 40-45 kts wind , but we made it again with 2 scratches (that'll buff out so its not really damage aside from ego damage , is it ?) and now safe and sound moored in Almerimar marine :-)

What a fantastic 2 weeks ! I cant wait to take her out again this summer

What a great read. Thanks for sharing. I recently did my dayskipper in Croatia in a 473 so was right there with you in spirit reading that. I'm looking to buy and liveaboard in the UK (maybe sun oddessey 42i) and may have to bring a boat home from Croatia I'm pretty inexperienced so quite nervous about the passage especially the Gibraltar UK part. I'll look at crew bay for a hand for the start and finish. I'm literally soaking up every bit of info and reading every blog of Med passages. Loving it.
Thanks again
John

ReneJK · 15-05-2017, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnyhask

What a great read. Thanks for sharing. I recently did my dayskipper in Croatia in a 473 so was right there with you in spirit reading that. I'm looking to buy and liveaboard in the UK (maybe sun oddessey 42i) and may have to bring a boat home from Croatia I'm pretty inexperienced so quite nervous about the passage especially the Gibraltar UK part. I'll look at crew bay for a hand for the start and finish. I'm literally soaking up every bit of info and reading every blog of Med passages. Loving it.
Thanks again
John

thanks John !
The 473 is a fantastic yacht

I am sure there will be lots of candidates to sail the Med with you if you decide to take on crew , the Gib strait was daunting for us as well but if you choose your weather window its easy sailing (and nothing compared to the Dover strait w/ regards to the number of large ships ! )