In the MED with a 40 foot Cat...

[alphabravo2]

We cruise a Broadblue 385 Sports Rig and are considering going to the Med for 2 years. We also hear that few marinas are Cat friendly, or that there is very few dock spaces available for such sailboats... We like anchoring as much as possible, but at times to visit inland or travel for a few weeks we need dock space...
True, False,??? I am trying to make an inventory of friendly marinas or mooring places for Catamarans... If you can help, It would be appreciated.
Our plan is to cross from USA to Spain in May 2016 cruise around Western Med for the first season, winter in the Canary Islands and cruise the Eastern Med in 2017.

[monte]

There's no problem anywhere in the western med for a cat. Lots of anchorages and marinas. Some free docks as well. Expect around 60 euro/night in most marinas for your cat, some cheaper, some up to 200 euros in the Balearics in season. Have fun!

[Palarran]

I didn't find a lot of good anchorages in the West Med. Almost all were open from a good 90 degree's so if the wind changed you'd be faced with a lee shore. And the weather forecasts are crap IMO. Also, there is thick weed on much of the bottoms so make sure you have a good and big anchor. Finally, in the West Med, they double the cost of a berth for cats instead of 1.5 x in the East. Still a great place to go so have fun.

[Kenomac]

Cartegena, Spain.

[Two Drifters]

Last season we took our Lag 440 from Marseilles down to Denia in Spain and then across the Med and up to Genoa before coming down Italy and ending up in the Ionian for the winter.

This season we have gone all the way round the Aegean and are now heading back to the Ionian for the winter.

We spent a total of 15 nights last season in actual marinas and even then it was only when we could negotiate a decent price, BUT in some cases that meant Euro 100 per night (discounted from Euro 200!!!) that was in Mallorca when we had no choice due to breaking our water maker. Everywhere else we anchored or went onto floating pontoons or mooring buoys. Out of high season a lot of buoys are not charged for, and marinas are more relaxed, come August you will be on the hook or paying top dollar.

We found that the best thing to do was book in advance and negotiate, or suggest taking the shallowest crappiest place in the marina. We were never charged double a monohull and rarely more than a mono, but we are happy to anchor and have a big Spade with 110 meters of 12mm chain.

Once you hit Greece then cost worries disappear and we never pay more than Euro 25 a night and that is a rarity. More often than not it is FOC or a nominal Euro 7 per night.

If you do mainland Italy be prepared for some rolly nights at anchor, or longer passages from one island to another.

As for the Balearics there are loads of anchorages as there are with Sardinia and Corsica.

If you want any specific info on islands then PM me Safe sailing

[med]

Be careful.

The med is one of the most dangerous places to sail a cat due to the very sudden changes in wind strength which are possible and also the extreme conditions which can pop up very quickly. It is all very well saying reef conservatively for the conditions, but you can still get caught out and there are quite a few cruising catamaran capsizes in the med as well as a few disappearances.

In my marina in the South of France the first year I was there they measured 183km/h (about Force 16 on the Beaufort scale???) winds inside the marina during one storm.

I have also experienced winds going from F1 to F7 in the space of 5 minutes.

As some one else has said, in certain areas the weather forecasts are complete crap. For instance they have not the slightest idea of the effect of the Pyrenees mountains on local conditions on the Costa Brava and the Golf de Lion.

I have heard experienced round the world sailors say that the worst conditions they ever had was in the Med in the Golf de Lion (and Cape Horn was comfortable in comparison).

[mark_morwood]

"med"issues a good warning, though maybe a little general. Most of the Med doesn't require much more than usual care. There are however some areas with particular local geography like the Gulf of Lyon that can get very sudden and severe changes in wind strength. Other areas of note are parts of the coast of Croatia, and downwind of a many of the Aegean Islands (and I'm sure other areas I am not familiar with). We always found the appropriate guidebooks had good warnings of such areas.

[Snowgoose35]

We've been in the Med for over a year now and found no problem anchoring everywhere and being able to go ashore for days at a time. There are also plenty of reasonable marinas for cats - out of season - that charge little more than for a mono. We've done the last 150 or so nights at anchor but did have one night in the marina for my wife's birthday in May and were charged $20 for the night in one of the most expensive in the Balearics - ok in August that would be $200 but even in June its under $50. Its all very doable and the weather forecasts are not brilliant but I've only heard of one boat sunk this year and that was a mono that anchored on a lee shore despite a two day early forecast of 40 knot winds. The Med is certainly not paradise but don't be put off, its as safe as anywhere else if you watch the weather and sail sensibly. By the way, wintering in the Canary Islands does mean over 1000 miles sail from the Western Med and then 1500 or more back for the Eastern Med - its a long way to go for a not great winter berth - why not look at Spain - Cartagena is amazing and warm and safe all through winter and charges no premium for cats

[Sarayu]

We have spent three seasons now in the Med.
Prices are very reasonable in the Eastern Areas, but take a catastrophic jump once you hit Italy Spain and the Balerics.
You will still have to still call into Marina's, our last call in Palma , Mallorca cost us 120 Eu / night , that was 8 days ago. Since we have been on anchor or moorings buoys.
The necessities of life require that you have a good anchor ( take care in the weed over here), a watermaker and solar power.
We are on our way to Barcelona now, we have booked into a Marina there for 60 Eu per night plus their local taxes, still not to bad., for such a magnificent city.
It's a balancing act, we anchor when we can and take the hits of double or one and a half times price hike on mono's when we have no choice.
If you are content with swimming coves and secluded Areas , there are plenty of anchorages, if you wish to explore ashore then an anchorage is still possible,but we tend to prefer to leave our yacht in a Marina while away.

[Two Drifters]

Do not be put off by the wind issues - yes there are areas where the wind is unpredictable and nasty. We had to sail the whole west coast of Corsica in one night due to an unforecast storm, and last week at anchor off Arki we had 30 minutes of F8 along with a 180 degree wind shift which was just plain weird.

But as long as you are prudent, take daily notes of the weather forecasts and only trust what is shown 48 hrs ahead of you then you should be fine. Have a big anchor, lay lots of chain, and avoid Med Mooring on the lee shore side of the harbour.

There is usually a safe harbour within easy reach, and if you end up having to run before a storm then your next safe landfall is never to far away.

As for the bit about loads of Cat's capsizing in the Med, I have not heard of any on our travels.

Reef early and often, expect the wind in the afternoon to pipe up and aim to get everywhere you are going with a few hours of daylight in case it is full.

For us if there is a decent blow forecast we always aim to get into the anchorage or harbour a day ahead so that we can guarantee a good spot, this is especially the case in Greece where there are so any charter boats who head for cover and fill up the harbours making it hard to find a double space for a Cat.

The nice thing about Greece is that because the harbours are so cheap lots of cruisers do the same and you all end up being somewhere for a few days and make firm friends over Meltemi parties

At the end of the day we are in no rush, so if we arrive early and end up sitting out a storm for 4 days, who cares.

[med]

Originally Posted by Two Drifters

But as long as you are prudent, take daily notes of the weather forecasts and only trust what is shown 48 hrs ahead of you then you should be fine.

There are areas where weather forecasts basically don't work at all. I have personally overheard on the VHF a yacht 3 miles north of Cap Bear, call up Cap Bear signal station and ask for the latest weather forecast for the area for the day.

Anyway, they read out the latest weather forecast for the day issued at 6am by Meteo France for 6am (that was 4 hours ago) to 6am the next day - basically calm seas, light winds from the South, no changes for the next 48 hours. Then at the end, the signal station added, by the way, you might just like to know that at the moment outside here it is blowing a gale from the NW and the waves are 3m high.

This is one area where weather forecasts seem to be wrong more often than they are right.

Another area to be very cautious is Cabo Greus. I had full sail up hardly moving in the F1 (thats being generous) from the S. I then saw a suspicous line on the water about 700 yards away and starting reefing (against the crews opposition). A couple of minutes later, before we had finished, we had F8 from the N. We were almost laid flat (with 13 tons of lead in the keel holding us up) and shipped a load of water through the saloon skylight which had not been firmly closed before hand (hell it was F1, hot, sunny, clear skies etc).

I am sure there are many other areas as well - but these are the two I have been very much taken by surprise in despite careful analysis of all the available weather forecasts and gribs.

At Cabo Greus on that occasion, if I had been in a Cat, I would have capsized. If I had been in your average Beneteau, Bavaria etc, I would have had the spreaders on the mast in the water.

[Rapanui]

I can only speak about Croatian Adriatic from 5 years sailing from April to November, but there there are plenty of good quality marinas and town quay harbours as well as very many well protected bays for anchoring. Typically for a 385 which is the same length as our cat you will pay 70-100 Euros for a marina, 40 - 70 Euros for a town quay with water and electricity, in the season. Often less outside the main season and if you do not want water or power. In August, quays and marinas fill up quickly in the afternoons, not a problem other times and far less of a problem than South France or Spain.
If you want to leave the boat for several days, it is as someone suggested, worth trying to negotiate a discount by phone before docking. Just remember, that with stern to mooring on lazylines you will have neighbours of variable competence coming and going daily so you will need plenty of fenders.
There are also buoys run by municipalities which are good and well sized. These are probably the best bet for leaving a boat for a while. Buoys run by private concessions vary and often have undersized blocks. Typically they are about 50% of a town quay price for which they will take your rubbish.
There are loads of nice anchorages and quite a few which are really good boltholes for riding out bad weather. you are rarely more than say 10 miles from a good bolthole. You do however need a really good new generation anchor conservatively sized and well dug in. All chain rodes are the norm.
While Croatia has its share of bad weather, in 5 years I have never experienced bad weather that was not forecast. Their weather service is excellent. The problem is that you will frequently get strong wind gust warnings, and you have to grade them according to their magnitude.

[Two Drifters]

[QUOTE=med;1903775]There are areas where weather forecasts basically don't work at all. I have personally overheard on the VHF a yacht 3 miles north of Cap Bear, call up Cap Bear signal station and ask for the latest weather forecast for the area for the day. QUOTE]

Fair enough, and we have also experienced incorrect forecasts. I think I was really trying to counter your idea that cruising a cat in the med is dangerous.

It's no more dangerous than cruising anywhere else. With prudence and correct planning you will be fine in a 40 ft Cat. Plenty big enough.

Enjoy it, life is to short to not do it

[Factor]

Originally Posted by med

there are quite a few cruising catamaran capsizes in the med

name three

as well as a few disappearances.

Name another three

[alphabravo2]

Thanks to all of you that took some precious cruising time to answer my question!!! Truly appreciated.
We have plenty of solar panels with 6 X 130Watts...
A D-400 windmill...
A good watermaker...
We did Bahamas, Eastern Carribean, Cayman, Guatemala over the last 4 cruising seasons... and have been in a marina probably 10 nights hile cruising... So we LOVE good anchorages, snorkeling secluded coves, exploring rivers, swimming miles, etc...

I could raise only two other issues...
1. Anchor: I have 70Meters of 5/16 High Test Chain, a 55 pound Plow as a main anchor, a 40 Pound Delta as a spare and a Fortress as an emergency anchor with 250 feet of 3/4 inch rode with 30 feet of chain... Should I size-up in your opinion... For example a 65 pounds ROCNA??
2. Any of you hauled-out in the Med... Our Broadblue is 19.8 feet wide... ??
Thanks in advance for your help!!!