Mediterranean

[fjc2013]

Hi all,

We’re just thinking of next year holiday and thought we may drive to the med with our rib and stop couple nights on our way and hire a villa for the duration of the holiday.

Was wondering if anyone has towed their ribs to the med and if it’s easy to launch and use with no hassle?

We’re open on where to go, France or Spain but closer the better.

Tia

[Poly]

Originally Posted by fjc2013

Hi all,

We’re just thinking of next year holiday and thought we may drive to the med with our rib and stop couple nights on our way and hire a villa for the duration of the holiday.

Was wondering if anyone has towed their ribs to the med and if it’s easy to launch and use with no hassle?

We’re open on where to go, France or Spain but closer the better.

Tia

there are some threads on here if you search - e.g. pikey dave has done croatia and Portugal (the latter is obv not the med). bear in mind anyone who's done it won't have done it since "the B word" and so may not know any extra admin they might need.

[Tim M]

I'm currently running two boats out of Cannes (23m motor yacht + 10m RIB) which we brought down (by sea) from the UK a few months ago. A little extra paperwork post Brexit but we use an agent who takes care of all of that. If it's a small trailered boat, as long as your boat is registered and you carry the correct paperwork (registration, insurance, radio licence and licence for you eg ICC etc) you won't have any issues. We haven't been required to present any bills of sale/VAT status etc - for the purpose of entering the EU we came in on a temporary import which gives us 18 months hassle free time. BUT we have been boarded twice (in Spanish waters) and all of our paperwork checked (everything was fine) - I got the impression our red ensign was their primary reason for checking us.

I've trailed my own RIB all over Europe (pre Brexit) and never had any issues. Certainly here in Cannes there is a public slip where you could launch - I don't think you'd struggle to find launch spots. If you're thinking about keeping it in a marina only real thing to consider is how you set up ground lines etc (generally no finger pontoon berths in the Med) on your RIB as many particularly UK spec ones don't have cleats etc in the right place but should be easy enough to overcome! Took a bit of fiddling to get a good, easy system set up on my Avon Searider.

I actually drove down last week (having had to pop back to collect some spare parts). Very easy run from Hampshire down to Cannes. A little under 1000 miles. Did it over two days with an overnight stop in Dijon. £150 on diesel and about the same on tolls.

[_monkey]

I can't help with med specifics, but we trailer to a lake near Bordeaux. The lake Police ask for insurance, boat reg and ICC plus they have a list of safety items - all of which they never check, simply pocketing the seasonal boat license fee!

UK Police at the tunnel showed interest last year - they wanted boat reg and passport details. I assume they suspected people smuggling back into the UK.

In terms of the journey, we are usually in a rush and travel on autoroutes so we have a toll tag - great feeling passing the queuing French motorists who flew by a few mins earlier. Viamichelin is good for route planning and forecasting the toll costs.

I'd also think about your stop-overs; book them if peak times and check trailer access/parking. Avoid driving on Saturdays!

We've been using the tunnel for the last ten years, but we're trying the ferry this year - Portsmouth / Saint-Malo overnight - to reduce the monotony of driving on the Autoroute.

I'd like to visit the bay of Roses in Spain, looks lovely - I'd consider getting the Bibao/Santander ferry to reduce the driving time. Corsica, Portugal or Morbihan all look amazing...