Anyone been sailing in the Canaries?

[Jaguar steve]

Mrs JS and I love the Canaries but buying property there is way too expensive.

BUT, marina berths are very cheap compared with the UK, there's cheap flights, the wind and weather are year round perfect and I'm hatching a cunning plan to sell our current boat, buy somthing similar or a bit bigger in the Canaries and instead of having hotel or villa holidays there, living on board for a couple of weeks at at time, and doing some sailing between the islands.

Might seem a bit extravagant on the face of it but looking back we've hardly been sailing here in the last couple of years, we spend a fortune on hotel holidays there anyway, my old mate who crewed with me died recently, and Mrs JS hates the st weather we have in the UK, but loves sailing in the warm sunshine.

So I think it's crunch time. Sounds like the idea might work and may even be cheaper than keeping a boat here (and hardly using it) and having holidays out there.

Any comments on island marinas, costs, Canary island yacht brokers, or charter companies so we can give it a try before commiting anyone?

Cheers
JS

[Rum Runner]

Maybe you should think about the Caribbean , much better sailing and much warmer in the winter . The flights are quite reasonable price wise and about 7 1/2 hour trip . Property can still be had at a good price in some Islands like St.lucia and Granada which are booming so prices have gone up recently and are are expected to keep going up so its a good time to buy especially with the dollar rate .
Watch out for the acceleration zones in the Canaries it can blow quite hard .
Talk to Mike and Mayla at http://www.sunshinemaritime.com/Contact.htm , these guys have been there for years and know everything you will need to find out . Tell them i sent you !

Edited by Rum Runner on Monday 31st March 21:23

[Jaguar steve]

Thanks for that, I'd breifly thought about other locations, including the med and westerm France, but I think it's got to be the Canaries.

Very surprised though how little info there is; I can't find any Brokers, or a Pilot for the islands on the web. I thought about buying a boat in the UK and either sailing it there, or arranging shipping. Perhaps a bit more research is required, but the idea is more appealing every day.

[XJSJohn]

Just had a look around on CMap, its damn deep there (unsurprisingly) with not many anchorages or marina,s. Also given that its effectively mid atlantic, you are effectively doing an ocean passage going from island to island, this means that swells will be bigger, winds will be more powerful etc.



Would suggest that you need to look at the actual criosing opertunities there first.

[Jaguar steve]

Yes I know it's deep but we've been on boat trips there and, dispite the Trade Wind (usually NE F4-5) it's surprisingly smooth when you're in the shelter of an island. There's none of the east coast wind over tide chop that makes Mrs JS go almost every time we go out here.

I think chartering for a week would be the way to give it a try

[Rum Runner]

Steve if you want to charter give me shout , my e-mail and website is on my profile . I have spent time in sailing / in marinas around Grand Canaria . Imray do pilots for that area
http://www.imray.com/record.cfm?i_stock_code=086a

Edited by Rum Runner on Wednesday 2nd April 22:16

[XJSJohn]

I also had a look on Google Earth to remind me of the coastline of the Canaries (quite a few decades since i was last there .... ) and i noticed that in teh marinas and about the coast there seem to be many more powerboats / sportsfishermen (i guess things like Sunseekers and Bertrams) than keelboats.

Looks like the kind of place where you would go quickly quickly to your desired BBQ beach, have your fun then quickly quickly back.

[Jaguar steve]

Yes, I'd noticed there is a lot more power boats in the Canary marinas then you would expect to see in the UK. Perhaps there's a bit more cash around, or maybe the price of Diesel has somthing to do with it.

There's a guy called Alex who runs a day charter out of Playa Blanca. He might be a good place to start if we get serious about this.

Cheers for all replies

JS

[XJSJohn]

i suspect more powerboats because its either blast to your chosen anchorage and blast back, or head to deep water for some fishing .....

Bet your wife will prefer a nice Bertram with aircon big windows and that extra luxury too

[Jaguar steve]

Being the hardcore sailor that I am - going out of sight of land, eating out of tins, not washing for several days and spending the nights up muddy creeks rather than a nice clean marina, I'm trying VERY hard not to fall for a motorboat.

Mrs JS would love one...

I'd spend all the time moaning about the price of Diesel.