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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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Cruising Expenses - Isle of Wight to Chichester Harbour November 11, 1999, Written from Paris, France Up the Medina River at Folly Inn we enjoyed a quiet secure pontoon mooring, several miles up river from the crowded yacht racing capital of Cowes. A harbour launch from the inn came over to collect the nominal mooring fee of six pounds, and also served as a water taxi that could be hailed via VHF. We took it ashore for supper the first night as it was raining, but launched Sprite the next day for our transportation needs. Several charter racing yachts also shared the pontoon, and their crews enjoyed the hospitality of the inn as well. It was a very friendly place. The next day we walked the1.5 km. out to the main road to catch a local bus up to Osbourne House, the summer home (palace) of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their family. It was an impressive tour which made the stodgy impression of Queen Victoria irrelevant as we saw her home and family setting. All the furnishings were as she had them, as after her reign the palace was not used and was given to the state with all the furnishings intact. One wing is used as a convalescent home for the military. We saw the living quarters, and the children's nursery, and many family and state gifts on display. This was the setting for the recent movie "Mrs. Brown", about her personal life after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. There was a lovely view from the rear terrace over the gardens and out to Spithead and the Solent. It was a large mansion, but not overly grandiose as palaces go, with the exception of the Indian Durbar Room, an opulent, ornate marble hall. It was to celebrate the "Jewel in her Imperial Crown", as India was her favourite dominion in the British Empire. CRUISING EXPENSES On the return to Folly Inn, we picked a small bag of blackberries which were in great profusion in the hedges as we walked down the lane. The blackberry crisp was delicious. We ate on board that night, as we do most nights. We have to watch the amount we eat out as meals out are our greatest expense, and in England meals are expensive as is everything else. I have kept track of our expenditures in different categories to see where the money goes. Meals out, drinks and entertainment (museums, castles etc.) is the largest expenditure. Sometimes maintenance expenses can be up there, depending on what major repairs have to be done. Groceries are a middle level expense. The lowest level expenses are fuel and dockage. Even though dockage on the south coast is expensive, we can frequently enough find free or very economical anchorages to keep the monthly expenditure low. Average dockage for our Ontario 32 (approximately 10 metres), on the south coast, is about 18 pounds a night, or about $45.00 Canadian. And yes, they actually charge to anchor in many of the estuaries and harbour areas over here, on the south coast at least. We estimate our dockage costs at Limehouse Basin, one of the more economical marinas in London, and more economical than other south coast marinas (such as at Southampton, Brighton or Dover) for long term winter dockage, at about $300.00 Canadian a month (750 pounds for six months). In England the fuel for our 30 hp Yanmar diesel (about 55 cents Canadian per litre) is far more economical than gasoline (about $1.90 Canadian per litre) as there is minimal tax for boating diesel but not so for gas. So far we are managing quite well on my teacher's pension, not having to go into much of our capital. We find our dinghy a valuable asset as it allows us to get from our anchorages to shore and to explore the many bays and rivers. We enjoy the space and privacy of anchoring whenever possible. Fuel costs for the dinghy are low. Another major expense is insurance, if you can get it. We have a policy with Lloyds of London through my brothers insurance office that has covered us from the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, Cuba, across the Atlantic and all of Europe to the Med. The cost averages out to about $250.00 a month for Veleda. Insurance is required for British Waterways and marinas. Cruising can be a very economical lifestyle as long as the boat and all the upgrades and necessary maintenance are completed and paid for, and as long as you like anchoring out and eating in. Most other things in England are expensive. It is as expensive in England as I found it in Japan when I lived there five years ago. The British Pound is worth about $2.45 Canadian. We figure a pound in England buys what would cost a Canadian dollar back home. So if we see a beer, for example, at two pounds, it would be equivalent to paying $2.00 back home, and that's the way it is. So I would estimate the cost of living over here at two to two and a half times that of Canada (maybe only one and a half times that in the U.S.). We found things in Bermuda almost as expensive. The most economical area we have sailed so far is the Azores. Areas of the Med will be expensive, but may not seem as much so after England. Back to the Isle Of Wight It was still grey and rainy the next day when we walked back out to the highway to catch the bus to Newport, to see the well preserved remains of Carisbroke castle which dominated and controlled the Isle of Wight for hundreds of years. It rained most of the time as we walked the castle walls, giving us a taste of the conditions the sentries and guardians endured throughout the ages. Actually, we have not had as much rain as we anticipated for England. The summer and fall were lovely, with only about four or five days of rain per month. No fog whatever during the summer, and even in London only a couple of days with a bit of fog so far. On our way back the bus did not show up, and after waiting 45 minutes past its scheduled time we called a cab to take us back to the road leading to the Folly Inn, where we picked more blackberries. For our third day on Wight we dinghied the five miles to Cowes, to walk around that Mecca of yacht racing. On our return we saw Grace, an American sailboat we met in Bermuda and the Azores, but no one was on board. We had heard they were in Cowes, and that one of the daughters had a birthday recently, so we left a small gift for her and for her sister. We got a very nice thank you note from them, delivered to us in London via another boat, about a month later. Upon our return to Veleda, we slipped from our pontoon and, after refuelling at a barge in Cowes, had an enjoyable sail across Spithead twelve miles to Chichester Harbour. There we entered a well protected stretch of river and anchored astern of Russ and Lynne in Blue Highway, the only other boat in that area. Next Log |
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