ENVOY IN ALBANIA

After we complete the work on Envoy in Corfu's Gouvia marina our agents, A1 Yachting, clear us out of Greece and we head to Sarande in Albania just a short hop across the Corfu Channel. Our friend Chris is still with us. 
On the way a six metre powerboat overtakes us at high speed about five metres off our beam – unthinking, dangerous behavior from locals in high speed power boats can be a problem throughout the Med.

At Sarande the shelter isn't very good as it's fully exposed to the South while the prevailing NW winds send a swell around into the bay. We're directed to moor quayside, but the quay was in fact just a finger about 10 metres long leaving Envoy's stern exposed and close to a large car ferry. So we decide not to stay there but to anchor out in the bay close to a NZ yacht with a solo yachtsman aboard. With our flopper stoppers deployed the effect of the swell is considerably reduced and we're quite comfortable.

Sarande anchorage viewed from castle

Envoy alongside a very short quay - we had to move

Both nights in Albania we eat out finding the food delicious and inexpensive with good friendly service.

View of fishing boats from our harbour side restaurant table

This is our third visit to Albania so we've seen many of the local sights but decide to hire a car and driver for a tour up the coast. Our driver is a nice guy called Mundi,  half Albanian and half Greek.

First we drive up to the hilltop castle for a spectacular view down on Sarande. Mundi explains that Albania was Communist until 1992 and then had a short but violent civil war in 1998 with about 2,000 people killed. It seems to be stable and reasonably safe these days and we never feel ill at ease

The sparsely populated coastline is rugged and spectacular. We stop for lunch at an unusual cafe with fresh water springs flowing through it and the water is so cold it has a cooling effect on the cafe.

Diane sitting in cafe with fresh water springs

Our other main stop is at one of Ali Pasha's castles in Panorma Bay, an important historical stop over point for vessels traversing this coast. The castle's still in pretty good condition and it's easy to imagine what it was like a few hundred years back. Ali Pasha employed French engineers to design and build the castle and being a pretty ruthless guy he had them all executed upon the castle's completion to keep its secrets. I nearly joined them in fact - as I went to step inside one of the nearby buildings a large snake slithered across the doorway just in front of me so I gave up the idea of going inside.

Inside Ali Pasha's castle, once decorated with carpets and tapestries

We leave Albania for Italy, stopping for one night to anchor off the village of Ammou on the south side of an island called Nissos Othoni. This is a first for us and Ammou would rate as one of the nicest anchorages we've been into. Ashore there's some nice tavernas and some torpedoes displayed in a memorial to Greek sailors lost in a submarine called Protefs rammed by an Italian gunboat in 1940. This is a stunning bay and we'll certainly spend more time there on the way back to Corfu. Of course most anchorages are subject to weather and our waitress told us that in southerly gales huge waves wash right up the beach and over the road.

Torpedo and launcher from submarine Protefs

View of Ammou

Leaving Ammou soon after first light we cruise to Otranto on Italy's NE Adriatic coastline. This is new territory for us and it's a nine hour cruise in light winds and a sloppy northerly one metre swell – a good test for the Naiad stabilisers and they perform well. As we get within about 20 miles of Otranto a southerly current sets and we lose about a knot – not significant on a fast boat, but in our case about 15% of our speed. We had planned to anchor in Otranto harbour, but several yachts anchored there are pitching wildly so we decide to moor stern-to the quay alongside some other boats. We're directed to a rather narrow space with a 12m yacht on our starboard side and a 6m power boat to port. As we reverse in to our position the 6m power boat moves in the wind, blocking our entry. A marinara jumps into the boat to move it away, but at the same time we have a problem securing the lazy line quickly and Envoy starts to drift to leeward away from her position. We quickly throw a line from Envoy's beam to somebody aboard the yacht to starboard and order is restored. The marinaras here – Andrea and Fabricio are really nice helpful guys, but the shelter is quite poor with a lot of movement. There are no toilets or showers, power is only available from 1600 to 0900hrs and the cost is a rather high 100 Euros per night! At least the atmosphere and views are great.

This quayside area seemed only suitable for smallish boats but next day a huge Envoy look-alike vessel berths here proving that theory wrong. Otium is about 80ft long weighing about 100 tonnes. Her owner tells me they almost lost Otium several years ago during a sudden 60 knot gale in the Gulf of Taranto when they were unable to turn Otium due to windage on her beam and six metre seas.

Envoy moored in Otranto beside big brother

Most of the boats in Otranto are small motor boats

Otranto's formidable castle

During our stay we enjoy one of our favorite meals spaghetti al vongole (clams) with local rose vino

ENVOY AROUND CORFU

Leaving Parga on Greece's mainland coast we cruise further up to Mourtos – one of Di's favorite shopping areas and also one of mine as they have an excellent hardware store and more importantly a great bakery with delicious chocolate cakes.

Parga harbour viewed from castle

At many of these small boat harbors it's quite difficult to find a place to leave your tender as nowhere provides a designated area and you have to find a spot among the local small fishing boats. There is no real concern about theft, just finding a vacant spot.

The first night at Mourtos there's a lot of lightning in the distance and this is always a bit disconcerting because if a thunderstorm arrives it can often bring nasty squalls and wind shifts. Our only few bad nights aboard Envoy have been during thunderstorms, but fortunately this one stays well away.

Another night we return to Envoy from ashore to find a yacht anchored much too close to us – at times only four metres away. We put out fenders but don't actually touch during the night.

We cruise over to Petriti on the island of Corfu stopping on the way to anchor off the Levkimmi Canal and take the dinghy up about a mile to the sleepy village of Levkimmi for lunch. We'd done this before with Frank and Marie but not with Chris.

Chris and Laurie moor the RHIB at Levkimmi canal

Our Naiad hydraulic stabilisers aren't operational at this point, but it's been so calm that so far we've only deployed our other paravane system – the “Birds” once. During this time we tried deploying just one “Bird”, something we've never done before. Using one certainly reduces roll but induces a lean to the side it's deployed so we didn't like it – if we wanted to cruise along on a lean we'd have bought a sailing yacht!

We spend a couple of nights anchored off Petriti and have a great evening ashore at a restaurant overlooking Envoy's anchorage to celebrate our 48^th wedding anniversary.

By now we've run all of Envoy's equipment except for the watermaker (which we plan to use a bit later when Envoy's new owners join us for a couple of weeks) and everything is working well except for the Naiads and the B&G Network wind.

Our new air horn installed late last year wasn't working properly and we found that its air supply tubes had kinked and blocked the air supply. It was an easy matter to replace the tubes with new slightly shorter ones to prevent it kinking again and then it worked fine.

Leaving Petriti we cruise north stopping to anchor off Gouvia town, then Kalami, Ormos Ay Stefanos and Avalaki.

View from the Durell's White House in Kalami

During this time Chris and I spend some time trying to find the cause of a very small fresh water leak inside the main head's storage cabinet. It turned out to be a leaking anti-syphon valve for the toilet. I didn't even know this valve was there and it was a bit tricky to remove – but we did so and it's now cleaned up and working properly again ready to be re-installed.

Chris working on our leaking anti-syphon valve and close-up of the valve

There's a few super yachts around including this Australian-owned one with a helo on its foredeck

Chris and Laurie with busker in traditional costume

We spend four nights in Corfu's Gouvia marina to sort out a couple of technical issues left over from last year. While there we catch up with Bruce and Gavin from catamaran Midi and have a great night out at a Corfu restaurant, which is a bit different as you just write down what you want to eat and mostly they have it available.

Last year we left our BandG Network Wind instrument with a technician – Dimitris - to fix. Several months ago we'd sent him an eye watering 600 Euros for parts and he says it fixed and ready to install.

So up the mast he goes and fits the sensor. “Is it working?” he shouts down. “No” I reply – dammit!

So next day he arranges for two technicians from the B&G local agents to take a look. These guys seemed to have a methodical approach and were able to fix it within an hour, so all was well. I could have bought a new unit for less than 600 Euros, but the one we have is part of a network and also has a useful built-in battery voltage monitor which new ones don't have.

On Friday 21 June two technicians arrive from Athens to investigate why our Naiad hydraulic stabilisers are making loud banging noises when in use. Dimitris is an electrician and Konstantinos a mechanic – both very nice, competent and hard-working guys.

Laurie with Dimitris and Konstantinos

After checking the system over we start it in the marina and the loud knocking noises soon start.

A couple of years ago we had a modification done by the same company to lock the fins in the central position when de-energised. This was to avoid the need to manually lock the fins in their central position when anchored in rolly conditions so they don't bang from side to side. Dimitris has a theory that the valves fitted to achieve this central locking were the wrong ones and they are causing over-heating the hydraulic fluid leading to the knocking noises. So they remove the centring valve on the port side and the knocking noises disappear. In fact they seem to disappear on both sides. We do an hour long sea trial and they work perfectly. They also re-route the Naiad's oil cooler hoses as they were very close to the Lugger's lagged exhaust. This wasn't a danger but was affecting the cooling. Next day they remove the centring valve on the starboard side and we do a sea trial about 90 minutes long with the system working well. Since then we have cruised for several hours, including one nine hour cruise with quite a swell running and all is working well. The plan going forward is for these guys to obtain the correct valves from USA and fit them when we come back to Greece from Italy in September. So that was excellent news too as it's a great deal easier switching on the hydraulic stabilisers than deploying the “Birds”. I still can't fully understand why the system worked fine for several months after the centring valves were installed. Dimitris tried to explain to me it was something to do with the valve's internal springs but full meaning was lost in language and my lack of technical understanding.

Next Post – our visit to Albania.

ENVOY CRUISING IN THE IONIAN SEA

Before leaving the marina we enjoy one day away from Envoy, hiring a car to tour around this great island of Lefkada with its small sandy coves, picturesque villages and inland mountains soaring to about 3,000 feet. Traffic is negligible and I don't think there's any traffic lights at all on the island.

Greece seems to be a very honest country with little crime evident beyond copious amounts of graffiti in the cities. Shopkeepers often leave items outside overnight and people leave their keys in cars and scooters. So it was a surprise when a 46ft Bavaria yacht was stolen from Lefkada's quayside during our stay and hasn't been seen since. Locals speculate that it will have been sailed across to Italy.

While in Lefkada we also meet our Kiwi friend Bruce from sailing cat Midi. This year his wife Leslie decided to stay home, so Bruce is cruising with two friends Gavin and David. Anybody thinking about sailing in the Med couldn't do better than to buy the superbly equipped and lovingly maintained Midi.

Envoy was re-launched on Tuesday 4 June and everything was fine when we did a short sea trial before going to our berth. It's certainly much nicer staying aboard in tn the water than on the hard.
Overall our cruise preparations went well. The only surprise issue was the sea water leak to the bilge and even that wasn't a total surprise given past history. Without that we'd have been cruising within 12 days of our arrival, but this turned out to be 16.

Chris and I spent a bit of time adjusting the Lugger's prop shaft stuffing box. When Sailand checked the sealings last year they tightened the bolts on the stuffing box too much so that the forward section of the stuffing box wouldn't loosen up as the adjusting bolts were slackened. We used a puller and some levers to get it moving again and now have a nice regular drip – we find that one drip about every 10-20 seconds is about right.

The RHIB maintenance turned into a bit of a saga. After the Yamaha was serviced I took it for a test run and noticed the tachometer (tacho) was no longer working. Spiros came back and did some work on it, telling me he'd put in a new tacho that still didn't work “so it must be the regulator” (that provides an electronic signal to the tacho). A few days later a new regulator arrives and is installed but still the tacho doesn't work. Spiros tries to convince me “you don't need a tacho anyway … just go and enjoy your cruise”. But I tell Spiros I want it fixed. A few minutes after that discussion he calls me to say its all fixed. He explains that when he initially checked the fault by putting in a different tacho, it was an old used one he had laying around his workshop and that one must have been faulty too. When he put in a new tacho it worked fine.

So all was finally ready – jobs done, stores loaded, documentation completed and we set off from Lefkada Marina on the Weds as planned (plan 2!)

Just before we leave our Italian friend Fabricius comes to say farewell. Fabricius had been aboard his yacht next to us on the hard stand. He gives us some valuable advice about places to see in the Italian region we're heading to – Puglia at the northern end of the “Boot”. In fact he surprises us by saying this si one of the most visited areas of Italy. In particular he recommends Lecce – known as the Florence of the south with its Baroque architecture.

We cruise just a couple of hours north to anchor off Preveza. Di has some favorite shops here and there's also a couple of guitar shops I want to check out, ending up buying a cheap Soundsation (Fender strat style)so I don't get too much out of practice while we're away.

Laurie doing first BBQ of the season

Here's an unusual large cat in the Polynesian style noticed at Preveza

Then we cruise up to Parga – one of the nicest village on the mainland coast overlooked by its 14^th century Venetian castle.

DELAY TO ENVOY'S LAUNCHING

We've met a NZ couple from Blenheim – Keven and Kerry who've recently bought a “green” motor vessel. It has an electric motor, good for about 20 miles cruising plus a VW diesel engine with a range of about 600 miles. They eventually plan to ship it home where the electric motor will suit cruising in the Marlborough Sounds.

We're constantly reminded that many costs are still very reasonable in Greece. Last night we went to dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the estuary and had a Greek salad, french fries, fried eggplant, mushrooms with cheese, bread, one bottle of water, one litre of house white wine and desserts of fruit and yoghurt for a total cost of 27 Euros – about NZ$47. In many restaurants at home we'd pay nearly that just for the wine. On the other hand petrol is nearly 2 Euros per litre – about NZ$3.48.

Huge crane lifts our RHIB down for engine service

Preparation for Envoy's launching had been going well and after 7 days aboard were ready for launching the day before it occurred. So last Tuesday Envoy was lifted from her chocks on the hardstand and put into the water. 

Envoy in the travelift slings

We always spend a few minutes checking for any sea water leaks before the travel lift operator removes the slings and we soon noticed a leak into the engine room bilge.

Regular readers of this Blog may recall we've had similar leaks twice previously, but they've stopped quite quickly after launching (although we were never able to figure out exactly why). However this time more water was coming in (at a guess about a litre per minute) and it didn't look like stopping any time soon.

We had Sailand engineer Panos aboard for the launching and he suggested we allow more water to come into the bilge, then lift the boat out and hopefully see water coming back out from the inside.

So we did exactly this and after lifting back onto the hard were able to identify a small area of the keel leaking water .

Within an hour Sailand's GRP expert, Raza, was on the job with his assistant and they used a grinder to cut back the GRP in the area of the leak. In doing so they found some de-laminated GRP and then a plug of sealant. Raza's theory is that a previous owner must have had some minor impact damage, used sealant to make a temporary repair and then pulled the boat out of the water and glassed over it. This must have happened more than 12 years ago. When the boat was on the hard the sealant plug dried out and shrank so that when launched water could pass through until the sealant swelled a little to stop the flow. Anyhow this is conjecture and a fully professional repair is now being completed – first grinding back to solid, good condition GRP and then building it up again using carbon fibre and Kevlar cloth impregnated with West Systems epoxy resin and using presses to apply pressure during curing. They've nearly completed the exterior and today modified the interior of the aft bilge, pouring in Gurit's Ampreg 26 epoxy resin to fill in previous surface imperfections and building up the bilge's  level by about 150mm to provide more strength and a smoother impervious surface finish.
Raza is working on Sunday to finish sanding, undercoating, painting and anti-fouling so we can launch on Monday.

Raza working on the leak repair. A towel covers the Yanmar's prop for safety

He used infra red heaters both to dry the hull and to cure the epoxy

West System's 105 epoxy was used

Also carbon fibre and Kevlar cloth

This image shows the extent of the repair - pink

It's now Sunday and Raza has been working today to complete the job so we can launch tomorrow.

All other work is now completed except that our large RHIB is awaiting a new regulator for its Yamaha outboard's alternator – during servicing the mechanic noticed the battery is over charging. This part is due to arrive on Tuesday so we're hopeful of starting our cruise on Wednesday.

BACK ABOARD ENVOY IN GREECE

We had a great trip up from Auckland enjoying one night stopovers in Dubai and Athens. The flight to Dubai is nearly 17 hours, but the time seemed to pass OK with nice meals, plenty of movies to watch and a few hours sleep. The economy class seats have quite generous space and we had a spare seat between us. Our favourite hotel in Dubai - the Roda Al Bustan upgraded us to a palatial suite having a separate lounge 26 feet across!

Our huge hotel room

After a five hour bus ride we arrived in Lefkada to a beautiful early evening, but the taxi driver told us the weather has been bad until a few days ago with heavy rain laden with red dust from Africa.

After checking into our hotel (which is pretty basic and no comparison with the Roda Al Bustan) we checked Envoy sitting on the hardstand. She still had her winter cover on and we could see the hull had been readied for anti-fouling and the Lugger, Yanmar and bow thruster props had been cleaned. Inside was perfectly dry as always and looked exactly the same as last November when we left her.

Next day we moved our gear to spend our 1,808^th day aboard. We've since spent three days aboard and all is progressing well with re-launching scheduled for next Tuesday. The winter cover has been removed and is in remarkable condition for its age with just minor maintenance needed again, anti-fouling is complete, anodes replaced, washing and polishing of topsides to be completed tomorrow, Yanmar shaft seal checked, generator sea water circulating pump taken away for servicing, small Honda outboard sent for servicing and tomorrow the large RHIB will be lifted off Envoy to a trailer for servicing its Yamaha. Everything that we've used or tested so far is working well although some equipment like engines, heads and aircon can't be checked until we're in the water.

We've been busy loading supplies and the refrigeration has been working overtime to get stuff chilled down. Tomorrow Envoy comes out of Customs Bond and we get our new Transit Log. There is a new cruising tax here costing just over Euro 100 per month. Obviously no new costs are welcome, but a bit over Euro 3 per day isn't a lot to pay for cruising in paradise. So all is good and so far no surprises!

Chris arrives tomorrow and all being well we plan to leave the marina on 1 June.

RETURN TO ENVOY NOW IMMINENT

Diane booked our fares yesterday and dealing with Emirates had no issues getting our travel arranged at short notice at good pricing with departure next Friday. We'll spend one night in Dubai and one in Athens before catching the bus for the five hour trip to Lefkada.
Just to clarify - yes Envoy has been sold but the new owners didn't intend to use her this season so part of the deal was we could use her. They will be joining us for some cruising in early August.
I had already arranged for Envoy's winter storage cover to be removed and for Envoy to be pulled out of the water onto the hardstand. There she will be water blasted to remove any marine growth, the hull sanded before having new anti-fouling applied, the props and shafts cleaned, zinc anodes replaced, stainless steel cleaned and white topsides areas polished.
Internally we're getting the generator and Yanmar wing engine sea water pumps checked over and impellers replaced. The Yanmar's dripless shaft seal will be checked and its Maxprop propeller greased. A new pump hose is required for the engines' oil change system and for the forward aircon's sea water inlet. Hopefully we'll be cruising about a week after our arrival.
We sometimes find something unexpected needs doing when returning to Envoy and fortunately we'll have our friend Chris, aka McGyver arriving a few days after us to help out. Chris not only has lots of knowledge but tons of energy and enthusiasm and will be staying with us until about the end of June by which time we will probably be somewhere in SE Italy.

ENVOY'S 2109 CRUISING

We are home in Auckland, NZ while Envoy is in Greece's Lefkada marina.
We hope to know by this time next week - Thursday 2 May that all is on track for our return to the Med for several months of cruising - watch this space!

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

We are currently home in Auckland, NZ and expect to return to Envoy to do some cruising mid-May. Envoy's new owners will join us during part of this time for a joint cruise.

There all types of boaties and about as many different approaches to the subject of boat care and maintenance. At one extreme plenty of derelict-looking boats can be seen on moorings, apparently never used with growth dangling below their hulls, while at the other extreme some owners can be seen on their anchored boats lovingly cleaning their pride and joy all day long.

Boating is about enjoyment – cruising to great anchorages, swimming, diving, fishing, children playing on the beach, BBQs with family and friends etc and as such it's well to consider that care and maintenance should focus more on the technical than the cosmetic aspects - minor marks and imperfections show that adventures and fun have been had, they add character and are part of a boat's life story. This is not to say that gelcoat and stainless steel shouldn't be cared for and we've learned long ago that regularly washing accumulated salt off our topsides and stainless steel pays huge dividends. We also get our topsides gelcoat professionally polished annually.

It can be challenging to monitor all of the checks and subsequent maintenance required aboard modern vessels with the growing complexity of the equipment they carry, especially as we all tend to focus on the immediate problems needing our attention rather than those in the future. So how can we keep track of the myriad of routine maintenance issues?

Our own approach is to be pragmatic and practical but not pedantic and we try to strike a balance between preventative maintenance and “if it ain't broke don't fix it”.

Maintenance normally falls into one of three categories:

# something that you notice needs doing – eg you see a frayed vee belt

# something based on hours of use – eg replacing engine oil and filter after 200 hours

# something based on elapsed time – eg replacing your oil and filter annually regardless of elapsed hours

The simplest way to manage this process is to go through the maintenance sections of your equipment manuals and make one list of what needs to be done at various time intervals, for example daily, weekly, monthly, 3-monthly, annually etc, plus another list showing the equipment to be maintained and its maintenance requirements every 100 hours, 200 hours, 500 hours etc.

When planning your maintenance consider that it's often best to group similar maintenance items together. For example when replacing the oil and filters on the engine(s), consider doing the generator at the same time, particularly if you're paying a mechanic to do this - if your oil is supposed to be changed at 200 hours it doesn't really matter if it turns out to be 180 or 220 hours.

Some owners like to do as much as possible themselves while others like to mostly use contractors.

If using contractors try to be aboard your vessel while they're working. It may lead to better results and at the least you will often learn useful information. Always check what has been done including a sea trial if anything more than minor work has been done on vital equipment.

It's a good idea for any boat to have an Operation Manual. This can range in size from a few pages for a smaller boat to probably around a hundred pages for a larger complex one. Not only does this simplify the operation of your boat but it's a valuable asset when it's time to sell. This Manual should document where equipment is located - particularly for safety-critical items like isolating switches and seacocks, how systems work - for example how to change from one fuel or fresh water tank to another and maintenance procedures - how to change oil, oil filters, fuel filters etc.

Another useful document is a list of spare parts carried aboard and their location, so they can be found quickly in an emergency like a vee belt breaking on your main engine while under way. Keep this updated so that used parts are replaced as soon as possible. Parts are expensive and should always be well packaged for their protection and stored in cool, dry conditions.

Aboard Envoy we like to keep things simple and rely on a few handwritten documents. Rather than jotting things down on various pieces of paper that get lost we use a Daybook to write down information relating to the boat's operation. For example if we're thinking about replacing an item of equipment and want to do some research about it we note the pertinent facts in the Daybook. We also keep a separate Logbook to record details of the voyage, for example where we've been been, what we've done and people we've met.

Another important document for us is our To Do List and my unlikely-to-be-achieved life's ambition is to have nothing on this list (I've yet to meet a boat owner who says there's nothing that needs doing on their boat).

Finally to maximize your technical security and independence it’s essential to carry aboard a comprehensive toolkit, manuals for all installed equipment, and an extensive range of chandlery items. Then even if you can't fix something yourself this may enable a fellow boatie to assist you.

REALITY CHECK - BUY Vs CHARTER

Envoy is in Greece's Lefkas Marina. We expect to return there mid-May for several months' cruising including some time with her new owners.

We recently wrote this article published in Pacific MotorBoat magazine.

When Envoy, our Greece-based Nordhavn 46 passagemaker was for sale, one inquiry is from a Kiwi guy saying that due to work commitments he'd only able to travel to Greece to use the boat for about one month a year. He asks my opinion on this idea. As much as I want to sell Envoy and proceed with our new boating plans I don't want to mislead anybody so tell him it would be much more practical and cost-effective to charter one of the thousands of boats available throughout the Med. My reply is based not only on cost, but also on the fact it takes at least a week to get your boat ready for cruising and about the same to lay her up again for winter. He agrees and this prompts me to write this article.

We've chartered boats several times here in NZ, in Britain and in Queensland's Whitsunday Islands and never been disappointed. If you own a boat locally there's a lot to be said for chartering overseas during our winter for a much-needed sunshine boost combined with enjoying a cruising adventure in a different location. Consider the Whitsundays, Pacific islands, the countries bordering the Mediterranean, the exotic Caribbean or Alaska's Inside Passage. Alternatively you could explore British canals by narrow boat enjoying the many pubs along the way or meander through European canals enjoying croissants and coffee in the morning and wine in the afternoon.

However it's quite another option and mind shift to charter locally instead of owning your own boat, even though there's a compelling logical and financial case to do so where people enjoy boating, but would use their boat infrequently (say less than about 20 days in a year).

There are two main issues to consider when comparing ownership with charter – the intangible and the tangible (financial) aspects.

Several intangible factors favoring ownership include pride in your vessel, the ability to potter around aboard doing odd jobs, having the exact boat and equipment you prefer, knowing how to handle your own boat and her limitations, being able to keep your gear aboard and of course unrestricted availability for use.

Conversely several intangible factors favoring charter include the ability to use different types and sizes of boat, cruising in different locations, being able to step on and off without the worry of repairs and maintenance (R&M) and being able to try out cruising before making a major financial commitment to purchase a boat.

Then we come to the tangible – the financial question. The cost of boat ownership is something many owners probably don't like to think about and is only generally discussed in hushed tones, preferably without spouses present. As the saying goes, if you have to think about this you can't afford it.

Let's consider the costs attached to a typical 12 metre twin-engine planing fly-bridge launch about 15 years old costing NZ$300,000, of which there are many similar examples currently advertised.

First you have to consider annual cash costs which I've calculated as: marina $9,000, insurance $2,800 and R&M $12,000, totaling $23,800. In this calculation the marina and insurance costs can be accurately defined, but R&M is always a guesstimate based on factors like the vessel's age and condition, how much work the owner does versus using contractors, how fastidious the owner is and whether the owner wants to upgrade ageing equipment etc. Some years may be less than $12,000 but in other years factors will certainly come out of left field to exceed it.

Since we are comparing ownership with charter, where diesel is an extra cost, the above figures don't include diesel. But a good guess on costs would be about $8,400 based on using your boat for a reasonably common 200 engine hours annually, averaging 30 litres per hour and a diesel cost of $1.40 per litre.

To bare-boat charter a vessel around 12m typically costs about $1,000 to $1,500 per day depending on location, season and vessel type so let's take an average of $1,250. This would reduce if you share the charter experience and cost with others (which many charterers do). These figures show you only need to use your boat more than 19 days per year for ownership to be the better financial option.

However we are missing vital components in this equation – the non cash costs of depreciation and opportunity cost.

The vast majority of boats depreciate and like cars the level's higher for newer boats until they eventually reach a level where their depreciation is negligible.

A fair figure for depreciation on a boat of this age would probably be around 5 per cent annually, so in the first five years of ownership the depreciation cost would be about $68,000 or about $13,600 per year. 

Opportunity cost refers to the fact that if you didn't spend that $300,000 on a boat it would be earning for you. In recent years that would easily be 5 per cent annually in a managed fund. So over 5 years that is about $83,000 or about $16,600 annually. Are these “real costs”? You betcha – the actual figures may vary higher or lower than this example but they are real nonetheless.

Now we have quite a different picture with your total ownership cost being about $54,000 annually and chartering being beneficial at any usage level below about 43 days per year. Of course if you borrow money and pay interest to buy your boat the figures change even more in favor of chartering.

To hell with logic though, in our case we'll follow our hearts not our heads and stick with ownership combined with occasional chartering in exotic locations.

ENVOY'S 2019 CRUISING PLANS

Although the sale of Envoy was finalised late last year, the new Brisbane-based owners don't plan to use her until they retire and part of our sales agreement was that we are able to still use Envoy this year.

At the time we left Envoy we were inclined towards not using her again, but having been away for several months we've changed our minds and now plan to return around mid-May and cruise through to about early October.

This of course will be better for Envoy and her new owners since it's preferable for machinery to be used than to sit in storage.

Under normal circumstances NZ passport holders are allowed to spend up to 90 days out of any 180 day period in each of the Schengen Treaty countries, which are similar to but not exactly the same as EU countries. Using an agent we've previously managed to get that extended to the whole 180 days in Greece and if we can do the same again we'll spend the whole time there. However this extension is becoming more difficult and we may be restricted this time to 90 days in Greece, in which case we'll spend 90 days or so in Italy. In either case we'll visit Albania again for a few days in order to re-set the 18 month clock for Envoy's time allowed in EU waters as a non-EU registered vessel.

So in Greece we plan to first cruise north to Corfu, both because it's a great venue and so that our B&G Network wind speed and direction transducer repaired there can be re-fitted. Then we'll head south-east through the Gulf of Corinth and the Corinth Canal to Piraeus so the repair of our Naiad stabilisers can be completed there. Our return to the Ionian will be going south around the Peloponnisos.

Our most regular visitor Chris, aka McGyver is already planning to spend about a month with us and some family members are also looking at joining us.

So watch this space for any updates.

THE MAGNIFICENT MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS

Watch this space for some news of Envoy's future plans about this time next week.

Here is an article we wrote that was recently published in Pacific PowerBoat magazine.

The North Island's north-east coast and the greater Marlborough Sounds area provide New Zealand's two prime cruising areas. Many visitors only experience Queen Charlotte Sound as their ferry cruises into Picton, but this is only a small part of the broader “Sounds” cruising area also comprising Kerepuru and Pelorus Sounds, D'Urville and several other smaller islands, Taman Bay including the coastal sections of the Abel Tasman National Park and Golden Bay, together constituting over a fifth of New Zealand's entire coastline.

The majority of cruisers here are South Islanders, but some hardy Wellingtonians venture across the often challenging (particularly in fresh northerlies and southerlies) Cook Strait, both from Wellington harbour itself, some 50 miles distant and from Mana only about 25 miles away.

Indeed the notorious Cook Strait has a history of shipwrecks including the Union Steamship Company's ferry Wahine in 1968 in winds up to 160 knots with the loss of 153 lives and the Soviet Union's cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov in 1986 with the loss of one crew member.

In early January we arrive by ferry after a calm Cook Strait crossing, entering the Tory Channel with its swirling tidal rips to view wooded hills gently sloping down from around 600 metres in places to sparkling blue (albeit rather chilly) waters, rocky shorelines and delightful sandy coves. Heading up Queen Charlotte Sound to Picton we pass fish farms and sparsely situated holiday homes, many with the ultimate in privacy being accessible only by sea. Later the building intensity increases as we pass the impressive Waikawa marina to port. This is New Zealand's third largest marina and one of five in the area, the others being located at Picton, Havelock, Nelson and Port Tarakohe (near Takaka) all with fuel available.

Maori have inhabited the area for several hundred years and the first European to visit here was Abel Tasman in 1642, but it was well over a hundred years before the next Europeans led by Captain Cook visited here in 1770. He made efforts to meet and understand Maori and while this was largely successful there were also some violent encounters. Whalers established shore stations during the 1820s and although whaling's heyday was over by 1850 the last station didn't close until 1964.

We drive off the ferry at Picton and head to Whatamango Bay to stay with friends at their beachside holiday home. Picton itself is a delightfully quaint village with its ferry terminal and commercial wharves to the west and the marina to the east from where all manner of sightseeing and fishing trips are available as well as bareboat charters.

The waterfront and few short main streets are interesting and lined with basic shops as well as many bars, cafes and restaurants. A short drive south takes you past the airport to one of New Zealand's most famous wine growing areas with many well-known vineyards offering tasting and quality dining.

To the south of this area and about thirty minutes drive from Picton, Blenheim is the region's main town and offerins most facilities.

Our friends are keen boaters owning an impressive Christchurch-built seven metre Huntsman Crusader, kept on a convenient mooring reducing the need to launch and retrieve it. Next day six of us head off for a few hours fishing. The Crusader leaps onto the plane with its powerful 200hp 4-stroke Yamaha outboard comfortably achieving 20 knots at 4,400rpm and topping out 35 knots at 5,500rpm.

Cod is the most prevalent fish here and we find this every bit as delicious (many would argue more so) than snapper, found in larger numbers further north. We easily reach the daily limit of two each and interestingly land eight different species in a couple of hours including cod, rock cod, terakihi, barracuda, shark, spiny dogfish, leatherjacket, gurnard and octopus – an unusual combination compared to our experiences further north. Our hosts tell us that additional common species include red cod, sea perch, kahawai, snapper, spottie, kingfish, eels and rays. It's not unusual to see seals, leopard seals, whales, dolphins and orcas while divers can also find mussels, crayfish and scallops subject to restrictions in place at various times.

Between D'Urville Island and the mainland is the narrow and notorious French Pass where dangerous tidal currents can reach 8 knots and cause whirlpools. This is New Zealand's strongest tidal current caused by a two metre difference between tide levels on Cook Strait to the east and Tasman Bay to the west.

Anchorages here are picturesque and plentiful with moorings also available in some areas (the Mana Cruising Club owns about a hundred). Except for the entrances to the Sounds most areas are free from ocean swell, but the wind is often strong and can whip up a surprisingly large and uncomfortable chop. Katabatic winds can also sweep down the hillsides taking unprepared boats by surprise.

Everybody knows the Sounds are stunning, but the area is much larger than commonly imagined and to explore the area fully would require about a month of cruising, something we hope to achieve one day - a good option for us may be to buy our next boat in that area, spend some time cruising there and cruise back to Auckland.

WHY SO MANY KIWIS AND AUSSIES CRUISE THE MED

This is an edited version of our article recently published in Pacific PowerBoat magazine

Travel not to escape life but so life doesn’t escape you

You don't have to cruise far in the Med to come across a yacht flying the Silver Fern or Boxing Kangaroo flag from its yardarm. I say “yacht” deliberately because the vast majority of Australasian Med cruisers are found aboard sailing yachts (including many catamarans) and rarely aboard motor vessels. Most of the cruisers we meet are retired couples aged in their 50s on who've bought their new or pre-owned boats in Europe. 

Here there are many more boats for sale and consequently more choice and cheaper prices. 

Some cruisers plan to ship or sail their boats home, although if you are planning this you need to consider the total cost of getting your boat back to Australasia including GST and duty. 

There's also a far smaller number of cruisers who've sailed their boats to the Med either as their destination or as part of a circumnavigation. There used to be many more circumnavigators but the piracy issues on Africa's north-east coast have considerably reduced their numbers.

In the Med you come across many other nationalities – in no special order mainly Americans, Canadians, British, French, Germans, Italians, Greeks, Dutch, Danish and Swedish, but over the years we've found Australians the friendliest.

New Zealand has some fantastic accessible cruising areas, particularly the North Island's north-east coast and the South Island's Marlborough Sounds (Blog posting coming soon on the Sounds). However the total area of these destinations is quite limited and while it's great to cruise back to favourite haunts you soon run out of new and varied cruising destinations.

Australia undoubtably has a very strong boating community, but quality cruising (as opposed to day or weekend boating) seems to be pretty much restricted to the east coast, particularly Queensland. 

In this tropical area the sea is nicely tepid, but unlike the Med swimming opportunities can be limited by the dangers of sharks, crocodiles and poisonous jelly fish.

Adventure and diversity

So the first thing the Med offers is adventure, the ability to explore a huge cruising area about 2,500 miles from west to east and 500 miles north to south, with an area of 970,000 square miles containing about 3,300 islands and a coastline of 29,000 miles. 

The Med's large enough that it's divided into seven smaller seas: from west to east the Alboran, Balearic, Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Adriatic and Aegean and each one offers months of cruising possibilities.

Twenty one European, African and Middle-Eastern countries border the Med and this fascinating diversity of cultures offers more cruising variety and historical interest than anywhere else on our planet. Here you can anchor in the same bay where at different times Persians, Phoenecians, Greeks, Romans, Venetians, Crusaders and Ottomans have anchored and many areas famous battles have been fought from ancient times right up to WW 2.

If natural scenery is your thing you can anchor near Santorini's Caldina and ponder on one of the world's largest volcanic eruptions that caused a massive tsunami, ending Crete's Minoan civilisation.

To put the Med's cruising possibilities in perspective during nine seasons we've spent 1,442 days aboard Envoy, cruised 16,300 miles through Italy, Greece, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia, visited about 100 islands and still only covered about 20 per cent of the Med.

Great weather

The Med's subtropical weather is the next appeal, particularly as its summer coincides with Australasian winter. Although some cruisers live aboard all-year-round spending the relatively mild Med winter in a marina most choose to cruise from about May to September when you can expect stable sunny weather without clouds or rain. Although it can be hot with temperatures often reaching the mid 30s or more, there's little humidity and the sun doesn't have the searing ultra-violet levels we encounter. Predominantly northerly winds can be strong often reaching mid-20 knots during afternoons, but then mostly dying away overnight. In some areas like Croatia there are notorious katabatic winds that cruisers need to be aware of as well as thunderstorms throughout the Med, mostly from September on that cause squalls and wind direction changes.

Stunning scenery

The Med largely has stunning coastal scenery and many spectacular beaches with mostly clean and clear waters with that famous turquoise colour and nothing in the warm water that's going to hurt you. Yes many beaches are quite crowded (as many are here) in the July to August high season, but you can generally find your own quiet hideaway. With some notable exceptions when cruising in Australia or New Zealand there's not much of huge interest to see ashore whereas scattered along the Med coast are countless interesting villages and towns each contributing their own piece of history and unique points of interest. Additionally you will find rustic beach-side tavernas, often thrown up just for the summer in a way that would have our health and safety inspectors pulling their hair out, but never lacking frosty glasses full of ice-cold local beer.

Reasonable cost

Cruising in the Med can be surprisingly economical as putting boat-related costs aside (you would have those at home anyway) the costs of most foods as well as eating out are significantly cheaper than found at home. You also have the bonus of visiting interesting markets to buy many of your fresh provisions. The ladies will soon discover that shopping isn't restricted to the necessities of life with plenty of retail therapy opportunities to explore. 

Marinas for wintering over are a similar cost to Australasia although summer casual marina prices can be very expensive, typically NZ$80-180 per night. To keep costs down it's best to anchor wherever possible or moor stern-to to a town quayside being far cheaper and more atmospheric than marinas. The eastern Med is generally cheaper than the western.

Safety

There's no piracy in the Med and ashore is generally safe except in some of the countries on the African and Middle-Eastern coast. Only in the larger Italian and Spanish cities do visitors need to be aware of pickpockets and theft from vehicles.

You could cruise the Med for a lifetime and not see it all, but it's certainly fun trying.

WE MEET THE OWNERS OF STARLET

A couple of weeks back we had the huge pleasure of meeting Mark and Jennifer, the American owners of N46 Starlet, currently in Auckland's Westhaven marina. 

They purchased Starlet in the States then cruised across the Atlantic to explore the Med, cruised back across the Atlantic to the States, then across the Pacific to New Zealand.

Being very keen scuba divers they had a very leisurely cruise across the Pacific stopping not only at some of the well-known islands but also at many remote reefs to dive.

Built about ten years after Envoy, Starlet is a magnificent vessel and a credit to her owners. She has a different layout to Envoy, the main variations being her forward main stateroom (Envoy's is amidships), wider galley layout, a flybridge above the pilothouse and a boarding platform (making diving a lot easier). 

Starlet also has no stair access from the pilothouse to the the forward stateroom, making for more space in the pilothouse. We also liked her carpeted saloon and stairway up to the pilothouse. 

Starlet uses passive stabilisers (ie paravane type) and Mark commented that often deploying one is sufficient for comfort. She also carries a dive compressor.

It never ceases to amaze me how these remarkable and comparatively small (46ft or 14m) vessels safely transverse oceans, bearing in mind that many “superyachts” don't cross the major oceans on their own hulls.

Mark and Jennifer mentioned they'd missed visiting Fiji on the way here so they plan to cruise up to Fiji and back to rectify that. This was said in the same casual way a local might talk about cruising to Great Barrier Island for the weekend!

It seems Starlet's future plans also include visiting the South Island, crossing to Australia and visiting S E Asia. Wishing Mark and Jennifer continued great adventures and safe cruising.

Next Post – why so many Kiwis and Aussies cruise the Med.