Posted: 5 April 2014.
Here is an update from a client who picked up a new Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41 from the factory in France in June 2011 and his since been living the cruising dream. What makes this story unique is that the client is a female and is sailing solo most of the time.
After a training with our skipper in La Rochelle she decided to cast off to The Med. She hired a crew as a support and dropped him off in Barcelona to carry on with a friend once she acquired enough confidence. Now she spends more and more time overseas on her boat while she remains active with her job in Australia.
Hi Patrick,
See below contacts of marinas where I have stayed long term. I left my boat at Marina Vlaska on the island of Brac a couple of seasons ago and it is very reasonably priced. It is where I also met a couple of other Australians who had just purchased their boats. Both families from NSW who plan to spend their retirement sailing around the world for the next few years.
Before I left Australia last year I had a Schengen Visa put in my passport so that is why I crossed over to Bari (Italy) mid June last year to get my visa stamped etc. I spent nearly a month in Bari and then crossed over again to Croatia. Then in September I crossed over again to Bari for a week and then on to Brindisi. Both marinas again quoted me very good rates. The east coast of Italy is definitely much cheaper than the West Coast. Not many tourists and everyone are extremely friendly.
The passed 18 or so months have been really wonderful. Everyone that I have met has gone out of their way to make me feel special. I feel like “queen of the ocean”. Apparently it’s very rare to find someone sailing alone on such a big boat – especially a woman! People have actually come over to me saying “we’ve heard about you!!”. As well as mentioning how beautiful the boat is!!!
During my time in Croatia, I was approached by a charter company to market their boats for them. The website that I set up is www.sailingcroatiacharter.com The boat on the front page is my boat “Capricia”. It was taken the first year that I bought it whilst we were anchored along the French Riviera. I am hoping that this part of the company takes off as I would prefer to market other people’s boats rather than use my own for charter. In fact, I am now getting information from charter companies based in Italy, France, Greece, Malta and Spain. Please mention my company to anyone who might be interested in a sailing holiday along the Med and Adriatic coastlines.
MARINAS:
Marina di Brindisi
Bocca di Puglia S.p.a.
Via Dardanelli,2
72100 – Brindisi
ITALY
Tel. +39 0831/411516
Fax.+39 0831/414381
e-mail: info@marinadibrindisi.it
WEB | www.marinadibrindisi.it
Nautica Ranieri
Lungomare Starita 1/e-f-g
BARI 70132
ITALY
www.ranieri-bari.com
info@ranieri-bari.com
Tel. +39 080 5344888
+39 080 5344888
Fax + 39 080 5344058
Marina Vlaska (on the island of Brac, Croatia)
tel/fax:00385/21636028
mobile: 00385/958669252
milna@marinavlaska.com
Cheers
Filippina