an American in Paris ?, no, a frenchie in Miami ( with his trawler!)

[balder8]

Hi,

I wonder if I will not decide to ship within one month my Trawler "Balder 8" ( mmsi 227 399 280) to Miami, from french Atlantic Coast on one cargo booked by Peters and May. Peters and May is chartering this cargo, on the way to deliver other brand new yachts to US. I should take the last slot on deck. I am ready to approve a quote..

I have been travelling few times in Miami and know quite well FL which is more my taste. But travelling with some "bagages" to museums, beaches, hotels and restaurants is not the same story than discharging a 60 feet trawler to water in a foreign commercial harbour, do the clearances for our boat, my partner and I.

And quite immediatly I will have to find a berth available before coming back home in Europe for Christmas. My nephew will say to me: what does it mean? You are not able to be back to Canarias islands, and further Capo Verde, Barbados and Caribe before Bahamas and Key West on the keel of your sturdy dutch steel trawler with his reliable JD 6081AFM heavy duty and your Keypower Get Home!! Ok, but I am near seventy, I did it long time ago when younger with my beloved Colin Archer Ketch Fisher Balder 4, times have changed!

Find a reliable crew today to assist me during the passage is also another story...

Doing that - I mean ship my boat -, I will start one of my boating dream: discover your georgeous Nation, enjoy friendly american relationships, discover US historical cities, small towns or villages, and so on on the ICW.

One question dear American forumites, where do you think I should book a 57-60 feet in the Fl area, and what should be the average price for 2 or 3 months?
Question 2: my insurance will not cover next summer an hurricane risk. Where should I go north to stay in the safe marina and be back in Europe ? ( I am not unfortunately a livingboard)

Thanks by advance for your replies! Et vive l'Amérique, pays de liberté!

 

[ranger58sb]

Question 2: my insurance will not cover next summer an hurricane risk. Where should I go north to stay in the safe marina and be back in Europe ? ( I am not unfortunately a livingboard)

Within the States... many insurance companies require the boat be north of Florida for the hurricane season, so Brunswick, Georgia has been a popular choice for that. But you'd also want to first consult specific guidance from your own insurance company, if it's anything more definitive than "not Florida."

Transit from south Florida to Georgia can be a decent sight-seeing trip, and navigation isn't too difficult.

-Chris

 

[READY]

How exciting. Have you considered a possible boat swap? Time on your boat for time on a suitable US boat. I understand this may not be perfect but solves many of the challenges.

I'm addition to berth and insurance, even items such as electrical system might be a concern.

Just tossing this out as an idea.

 

[long-cours.62]

Your friend, meet in south Portugal, said to us you will be back in south of Spain soon, finally it seams it will be south of Florida !! )

 

[Judy at JWY]

Let's have a steel boat/steel boat owner rendezvous in Florida! How many potential boaters do we have?

Count me in!

 

[balder8]

Thank you very much for all these positive replies and friendly advices!
@longcours62, Sorry in french: la situation de la France me rend dingue, je ne supporte plus. Le retour en Espagne est effectivement normalement prévu et nous y avons notre palacio mais je crois que si j'ai l'opportunité de m'éloigner quelques mois par an de cette Europe islamo gauchiste, je retrouverai le sourire.

 

[balder8]

@Judy, I will be very happy - et très honoré - to meet you. You are even in the small trawler world in Europe considered as the best professional and so experienced lady in yachting and boating brokerage and industry. Nb: I just viewed two days ago the excellent vid on you tube about the nordhavn 40 and his so courageous captain and owner

 

[Judy at JWY]

Thank you so much for the kind words! Looking forward to meeting you!

 

[Frosty]

When (which month) would you be planning to head back to Europe (and leave your boat in the US)? If it's not early spring, but rather later in summer, I think you would enjoy heading further north on the ICW first and perhaps leaving your boat further north. It gets hot in Florida (by my standards anyway) around April. May can be nice on the Chesapeake, and by June it's nice up north.

Of course some of this would depend on when you were planning to return to the US again, and what you were thinking of boating next winter (2026).

I'm just thinking of the big picture, seasons-wise.

 

[balder8]

When (which month) would you be planning to head back to Europe (and leave your boat in the US)? If it's not early spring, but rather later in summer, I think you would enjoy heading further north on the ICW first and perhaps leaving your boat further north. It gets hot in Florida (by my standards anyway) around April. May can be nice on the Chesapeake, and by June it's nice up north.

Of course some of this would depend on when you were planning to return to the US again, and what you were thinking of boating next winter (2026).

I'm just thinking of the big picture, seasons-wise.

Normally, european people like to come back in june until late october. It matches the beginning and end of hurricane season in the Carib and south Florida.The weather starts to be great, if it is not a rainy season on the atlantic facade of Europe( not in Spain, Italy, Greece french med),..French sailors who are cruising the Caribe use to move their boats to Trinidad or ABC. Before, and I did it once, we used Venezuelà ( impossible by these times, hope somebody on this small planet will do the job...we thank him with respect by advance!). Sailors who want to come back with their boat are doing more or less the same journey as American who like to go to Med or Northern Europe: steer to Bermuda, acores and Gibraltar or atlantic coast of France or south of UK, sometimes the passage can be quite rough...the issue for me who have had not done many miles in US waters, is that every year, when a major hurricane is on the way, it is moving along the east coast of US and reaches most of the time NY or Canada. How do you cope with that on the ICW or along the coast?
About visa, I have To check if the boat can stay in US water few years and me travelling 5 to 6 month per a year with a tourist visa

 

[ranger58sb]

the issue for me who have had not done many miles in US waters, is that every year, when a major hurricane is on the way, it is moving along the east coast of US and reaches most of the time NY or Canada. How do you cope with that on the ICW or along the coast?

Well... there's a boatload of luck involved.

But then planning can be a big deal. We would travel with an eye on potential bail-out locations... and the best of those might have more than one possibility for a temporary haul-out and dry storage during a storm event, more than one possibility for good floating docks with HIGH piles and protection from fetch, and more than one alternative destination we could maybe quickly move to if necessary, including "hurricane hole" anchorages if possible. Finding all that in discrete locations along the ICW is like pulling teeth, but at least all the research and planning can augment luck sometimes.

We tend to NOT do much long-distance travel during the hurricane season, though. Instead, we can pick a temporary location, stay there, and get really familiar with all those options for when a hurricane might pass by.

And then you could spend 20 years on the Chesapeake Bay (for example) and not see it all, anyway.

-Chris

 

[cafesport]

Miami is our home port but I wouldn’t say it’s very boater friendly unless you secure moorage or dockage for a longer term stay. Here are the city rates.

Marina Rates

I think your best bet might be to secure a mooring in the dinner key area. I won’t be down that way for another month, but I may be able to get a friend to secure one for you. They fill up fast in November.

Many things to do, see and taste throughout the various neighborhoods here and prices can rival Paris. Weekends are like Ibiza in season at the popular anchorages.

You might look at shipping to Miami and cruising to the keys for two months and then a hop over to the Bahamas in late February when the weather improves. You can cross back to the US in June north of 32N and cruise like a vagabond for 6 months or so. We usually run directly to Newport, cruise New England in the summer and cruise the Chesapeake in the fall once the weather turns in September.

As far as hurricanes go we’ve gotten closer to the hurricanes by going north than our home dock in Miami has been for the last 20 years. Morning cruise routine always starts with a study of the weather and plans to hide out if necessary for a blow.

We cruise at 7 knots, but we have never been caught out in hurricane weather that we couldn’t deal with in our travels this way. There are tons of good anchorages once you make the determination to head for them,the key being get going early.

 

[Frosty]

Okay, I see. This will basically be winter boating only. You'll be back in Europe for the summer season.

Then, yeah, Florida makes sense. In fact even Florida north of the Keys can be a bit "wintery" in winter when Northers blow through. Though of course nothing like "up north" type winter.

I wouldn't be thrilled to leave a boat in Florida year round while I was gone. Not only because of hurricanes but also just a lot of heat and humidity. Unless perhaps there are climate-controlled large boat storages (?). On the other hand, tens of thousands of boaters LIVE in Florida, so their boats are always there year 'round. They just take some risk I guess.

You could bring it up to, say, Brunswick, Georgia (still in the hurricane zone but statistically I would think safer than Florida). That's still a longish trip (Florida east coast is LONG), but that could be part of the fun.

I'm sure locals will have better info, but now we know that there is no reason to be heading truly up north since you won't be boating in the US or Canada for the summer (that's what I was wondering).

 

[slowgoesit]

An option to moorage in Miami area is off of the Okeechobee Waterway. There are people in our neighborhood who rent dock space occasionally, but it's pretty much an on available basis. We have room right now as we've just finished building a new dock where we used to have two small docks. 50 amp 120vac power available, as well as water. General rate is $10/foot/month, or for your boat $600/month plus metered electric.
We're 175 nm from Miami, up the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway), and through the Okeechobee Waterway, just off of the Caloosahatchee Canal. About 30 hours cruise at 6.5 kts, an easy 3 or 4 day run. Up three locks, and down one after crossing Lake Okeechobee. 5.5' draft is no problem getting in, or at the dock. We had one person who was supposed to be bringing in a Grand Banks 49, but it looks like that isn't going to happen though.
Fresh water, you bottom paint lasts forever, and very sheltered from winds, no storm surge, and no fetch to build wind waves. No issues keeping your boat here during Hurricane Season that we've run into or heard of.
If we don't have space for your time period, I can probably find someone in the neighborhood who has space for three months or longer. Just a thought.

 

[ranger58sb]

I mentioned luck, and planning... forgot to include hope.



Actually, for winter boating here, it'd probably be possible to just store on the hard in FL for the "hurricane" months.

-Chris

 

[balder8]

Thank you so much for all your advices and clever recommandations! I appreciate. Considering Miami marina rates, to be able to afford a berth at these prices, I must ask before to Mr Macron to stop picking my pockets! ( he is a specialist..)
I keep in touch with trawler forum members!

 

[balder8]

Well, I have had subscribed the Peter&May shipping contract and after few - cold- weeks preparing Balder 8 and waiting for cargo UAL Bodewes ETA in La Rochelle, we will be loaded next friday. Delivery will not be FL or Miami as the destination is now Tortola, expected next december 10. 14 new Sunsail sailing charter boats are loaded and 2 trawlers including my boat ( a Delphino 64 and my 60' Balder 8), both dutch steel built.
I will add comments and infos about the process when finished.
I am still considering the ICW journey but will stay few months before in the Caribe.
Thanks again for infos provider to me on this three.

 

[rslifkin]

I am still considering the ICW journey but will stay few months before in the Caribe.

As far as options for how far you could possibly explore, what is your draft and air draft?

 

[balder8]

I must take measures fof air draft because I have on starboard and portside small paraves fof flopper stopper or fishing lines. Underway paravanes are horizontal foldaway. Draft is 1.70m...

 

[Frosty]

You went for it! Exciting times