LA DOLCE VITA
An enforced move to Italy leads to serious savings for Harry Metcalfe
’d like to report our second
season chartering Bateau9
went a whole lot better than
the fi rst. Well, on the plus side
we took 60% more bookings
than we did in 2017, but on
the minus side, things weren’t going so well
on the staffi ng front. Three stewardesses left
in quick succession and the charter company
refused to make any more bookings unless it
stopped happening, which meant I needed to
make some big changes. It was not an easy task,
especially in high season and with the cereal
harvest in full swing at home on the farm.
With so much up in the air, I decided it was
a good opportunity to review the whole idea
of chartering Bateau9, or whether to sell up
and walk away myself. After several
discussions with the charter agent (the
excellent Infi nite Yachts based in Golf Juan), it
was decided not to recruit a replacement
captain straight away but to book a freelance
captain as needed for the last few charter
bookings in the diary and then move Bateau9
to San Remo in Italy for the winter. The result
was a massive saving in running costs
compared to staying put in Antibes.
Infi nite Yachts organised the move to Marina
degli Aregai, just a few kilometres up the road
from San Remo, where Bateau9 joined fi ve
other Infi nite Yacht-managed boats for the
winter months. An experienced Italian captain
was employed to look after the six boats and
my contribution towards his costs was €600/
month, the berth cost for the six-month stay
in the Marina was €5,600, including power and
water. All told, the savings over keeping the
boat in Antibes for the winter (with a full-time
captain) were considerable, especially as
Antibes is particularly sneaky when it comes to
the sizing of its berths, making 18m boats pay
extra by only offering 17.99m or 20.99m berths
to rent. At 18.77m overall, Bateau9 required the
20.99m berth, which costs an extra €10,100/
year, or €1,271/month over a 17.99m berth.
Add in Antibes’ ‘imaginative’ electricity and
water costs and winter berthing for six months
in San Remo with a part-time captain, ratherthan Antibes with a full-time captain, saved a
remarkable €26,800 in running costs (less the
extra fuel used to get there and back again
for the start of the charter season).
There was another nice surprise when the
quote came in to lift Bateau9 out of the water
at its new winter home for its annual antifoul
and anode check. In 2018, this was done in
Cannes and the fi nal bill came to €8,900, so it
was almost a shock when the quote for doing
the identical job in San Remo was €4,252. The
charge for the antifoul alone was 40% less in
Italy, lifting charges were 50% of what they were
in Cannes and spending three days chocked up
on the hard standing was included free of
charge. There’s good reason why the French
Riviera is also known as the Côte d’Azure.
With over €30,000 in running costs saved
over the winter, it seemed only right to splash
out on a few improvements for the 2019 season,
so I had a bespoke folding table top made for
the fl ybridge (€2,650) as the original was too
small for my liking. Next, I had a neat little stereo
fi tted (€1,054 inc. fi tting, plus four new
speakers), which you can stream to from your
phone. Previously, if you wanted to listen to
music on board, the generator needed to be
running, as it was 240V based, not 12V.
Finally, I replaced all the sunbed cushions
(€1,317) on the fl ybridge as basking in
15 years of Mediterranean sun had degraded
them to the point where they were looking
decidedly scruffy.
With a four-day charter booking already in
the bag for May, the 2019 charter season is
off to a fl ying start. Fingers crossed it carries on
that way. Harry MetcalfeOUR BOATSI
L E F T Moving Bateau 9 from Antibes to
San Remo saved Harry €26,800
I N S E T Harry’s boat was one of six
looked after by an experienced Italian
captain over the winter monthsCareless charter guests
caused this damageNew fl ybridge table
caters for more guestsThe fl ybridge cushions
were replaced this yearBluetooth stereo makes
music streaming easier