Boat delivery Spain to St Tropez. (Posted 6th June)

Steve and I arrived at Gatwick on 31st May 2026, catching the early flight to Barcelona. From there it was a 2 1/2 hour coach trip to Steve’s home Marina, Sant Carles, La Rapita, Spain. The coach dropped us in town, about a 20 minute walk form the marina. (I had preferred to get a cab all the way from the airport to the marina, as I did last year, but it was difficult to argue the case to do so, as the cab fair is about 200 euros and the coach only 5 euros. And both are more or less the same journey time.

We had heavy luggage so we decided to stop at a bar, a short walk from the coach stop. After ordering drinks we asked if they could arrange a cab. Somehow, we ended up getting a lift to the marina in a local builders van, who was also in the bar, for 20 euros. All very odd and strange, but something to talk about over dinner.

We immeadiatley set about preparing the boat, which ran into 3 days. In particular fitting a 3rd Aplha 9 navigation unit to the mast and replacing a defective one under the manufactures guarantee. After a little faffing about, all were up and working. I also repaired the rear lazzerette (under deck storage area) locker, resealed the mast which had been leaking and the cockpit instrument fascia seal. I serviced the starboard winch, which was stiffer than it should be and found a spring that had been fitted incorrectly. I assume from someones previous servicing efforts. We also set about removing anything not required from the boat to Steve’s marina lockup that he shares with a local electrical contractor. And then loading the race sails from the lock up to the boat. Its a good idea and improves boat speed and performance to minimise the weight on the boat when racing. As does a clean hull, which Steve employed a local diver to scrub prior to us leaving.

Finally I cleaned and polished the cabin top, on and off, over a couple of days and stocked up on supplies for 3 days at sea.

We set off at 0430 on the 4th for the 240nm passage to St Tropez. We arrived at Port Olimpic Barcelona, our first stop after 96nm arriving at about 1730. This was a pleasant sail, with reasonable winds mostly from the beam and or rear quarter, blowing us along nicely. I noted good boat speeds at about 8-10 knots, although we used the engine when the when dropped for about 3 hours. We wanted to arrive at about 17.00 as the weather prediction showed a storm coming in early evening (See weather photo below). I recollect when we were at dinner, Steve being Steve wanted to check the boat mooring and got soaked doing so. I, as it turned out, wisely stayed at the restaurant nice and dry with my glass of rose.

I made a mental future note that the showers etc at this marina were quite poor and that it is a good 20 minutes + walk into Barcelona.

We set off for our next stop at 11.00 the next day as it was only a 45nm hop up the coast, arriving at Sant Feliu De Guixols Marina, which has great and modern facilities and made a note to return when my boat is in the Med. The weather was sun and cloud and actually and surprisingly at times quite chilly. We had some good sailing and at one point unofficially and for a bit of fun joined some club yachts racing, but eventually pulled away due to time constraints.

We departed the next morning at 10.30 for an overnight trip to Bormes marina, France and again had some really good sailing. But as always the wind in the Mediterranean can get very light so we used the motor quite a bit too. We saw dolphins again to our stern and then later again dancing at the bow, which I never tire of seeing. I also saw a flock of flamingos fly over and overnight Steve saw a passing conning tower of a submarine.

We decided to stay at Bormes for a couple days. We sailed one day, anchoring up in a lovely little bay. After a quick snorkel and checking the underside of the boat swam the 400 - 500mtrs to shore. As I walked up to the beach, I realised it was a nudest beach which was a big surprise. Anyway luckily, no one objected and I was grateful the restaurant within a few meters off the beach had all its diners clothed.

When we arrive back on the boat, we chilled for a bit and noticed a large power boat anchored up, drifting past us towards the beach. (Called dragging its anchor). By time we phoned the restaurant (who did not answer) to notify them, we noticed the owner being rowed out on the restaurant row boat, to sort it all out. He ended up moving and anchoring much closer to the resturant.

After a couple days we sailed to our Race marina Marines de Cogolin, St Tropez where we would be based for the regatta. All in all a great trip and it is such lovely scenery as you sail the last 20nm into St Tropez.