SeeMySea - Exchange your boat for holidays

The Giraudel family, exchanging a house for a boat.

Christophe is 45, he lives in Sainte marie de Ré on Ré Island together with his wife Corinne and their 2 children. He created a saltpan on the island and he has been exploiting it for the past 10 years.

In terms of sailing, Christophe is quite experienced: before he dropped his bag on land, he had spent a great deal of his professional life at sea. During 20 years, he crisscrossed oceans delivering boats and doing charter, first as a crew member and soon as a skipper. Under his belt, he 's got a circumnavigation and several crossings of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As a permanent skipper of a yacht for charter, he has scoured the Carabbic together with Corinne. He has also been involved in boat building supervising and technical preparation of new yachts.

Christophe and his tribe have been living on dry land for the past 10 years but the appeal of the open seas is ikling again and they are planning to return to sea for a whole school term. The problem is they are not prepared to buy a sailing boat, for the time being.

They discussed their plans with a friend who suggested they had a look at Seemysea. What if swapping was a solution?

Here is Christophe's proposal:

"We are looking for a 40' sailing boat, with 3 cabins, for the duration of a scholar term, ideally from September 2010 to September 2011.

We have noticed that a great deal of sailing boats go out to sea very seldom, not at all for some, and there must be one out there which could answer our wishes.

Used boat market is very slack at the moment and some owners finding it hard to sell might appreciate a 12 months respite without port, insurance and maintenance bills, at the occasion of an exchange.

Our swap proposal might also be of interest to families who live on boats and wish to spend some time on land.

So far, our ad on Seemysea has generated a single contact request from a family that had never thought that a home - boat exchange was possible and they are keen, so the potential is there.

We've got enough competence and experience to convince any owner to entrust us with his boat. The counterpart is our comfortable house, located in a pleasant and quiet area, with a sight on the sea and the vineyard. Ré Island is a popular resort and a great place to live. The vicinity of La Rochelle is the cherry on the cake."

He also says:

"To us, swapping seems the simplest and most equitable solution (...). It goes without saying that an experience like the one we are considering is likely going to create durable ties between both parties."

A glimpse at the Ré island

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2 swaps in 2009, who says better?

Georges-Eric is 45 years, he is Belgian and lives in Brussels. He
works with European institutions in the field of computing. An avid
sailor since the age of 15, he has long practiced as a crew of friend
owners or to sailing classes.

After assuming the role of skipper by chartering boats, he eventually
bought his in 2004. It is a Bavaria 34 based in the estuary of the
Scheldt in Holland.
He shares his passion with others through the site NAVISTOP
which connects skippers with crew. Club of which he had enjoyed the
formula when he was a crewmate.
In 2009, Georges-Eric has made 2 boat swaps which led him to sail along the Cote d'Azur and in the Bay of San Francisco.

His sailing zone:

"The boat and the sailing area: the Scheldt estuary in Holland, are
perfect for sailing on a season which runs from April to November. The
area is at 1:30 from where I live, the waters are windy but with little or no
swell. Navigations are varied and active: between buoys, sand
banks, locks, barges and dozens of other boats who enjoy the same
environment, it will not s 'asleep at the wheel.
Holland is a country with a long maritime tradition and recreational sailing is
highly developed. Do you know of other countries where traffic is
interrupted on highways to let sailboats pass?
At longer holidays I took my boat in the Solent English, on the
coast of Cornwall, Brittany and the Baltic Sea. More information on
these trips on my blog, http://getk.skynetblog.be/, which will be
updated shortly with my 2009 activities. "

SeeMySea:

"I discovered the site during my winter navigation on the
web. I found the idea interesting and the saite well organized and I
registered in the first 300 members."

His vision of the exchange:

"I found the idea excellent. Although I have since my starting
point many cruising possibilities, I find myself still at a time to take
the same route.
The Baltic is a good example: I enjoyed browsing there and found
the way to it, through the Kiel Canal, interesting. However it
takes 2 weeks to make the trip forth & back, thus greatly reducing the time available to
explore the region itself. While other areas such as Copenhagen, St Malo and Marseilles are
less than a day's drive to discover.

Having had the opportunity to handle more vessels from 30 up to 49
feet so far, I do not have much apprehension to take control of someone else's boat. My only concern is to make sure the boat is in
order, both in terms of hardware standpoint insurance. Similarly,
having many different crewmates and being used to leaving them the helm, I do not
have many fears to leave my boat to others. Once each party is
convinced that one can manipulate his own boat and properly maintain it, the trust is established quickly.

The hardest part is probably to find another boat for an exchange.
Indeed, literally as figuratively, there is some reluctance to go
further north than northen France! But if all those from North want to go South
and those from South do not want to go North, it quickly limit my scope for swapping boats "

Exchanges:

"I had the opportunity in 2009 to make t fabulous exchanges. First with a very nice sailor from Marseille, which allowed me to (re) discover the
Cote d'Azur. Unfortunately, conditions were less favorable to him and
he did not keep a good souvenir of his trip in Holland.
Then with an American couple living in San Francisco. They were
eager to visit Holland for She was born there and wanted to show
her native country to her husband. Excellent experience for us (go
to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge ... not bad) but also for them who
discovered beneath a beautiful Indian summer sun, all the pleasures of
navigation in Holland.

In both cases, the experience of the boat and navigation tips
exchanged during the preparatory phase & the delivery proved
to be invaluable. For this it is also worth considering, especially among
highly remote areas, asynchronous exchanges. This allows everyone to
meet each other prior to entrust his vessel, to brief each other effectively on
local tips and not be far if serious problem.

I look forward to repeat the experiment in 2010 and discover, through SeeMySea, new areas of navigation. "

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A New-Zealand / Brittany meeting

Based on the far west of Brittany, Jean-Noel has swaped his boat with Brian from New Zealand.
We are pleased to share their experience:

"When I read about SeeMySea in the newspaper, I immediately joined the idea.
Sailing in Southern Brittany, then in Northern Brittany, Cornwall, Scilly, Channel Islands, I wanted to discover other areas of navigation. We had the project with my wife, to go back to New Zealand where my son lives.
Having planned to stay 2 months, we've thought of doing a boat exchange for 3 weeks with the opportunity for my son to join us a few days.
There was an offer for a boat based in Opua in the "Bay of Islands", in the northern country.
I offered an exchange with our Bavaria 32 based in Port la Forêt.

Agreement was reached after a few emails, and in early February 2009 we arrived in Opua where Brian and Joan welcomed us warmly.
After a night on board, then a day taken in hand, they have left the boat for 3 weeks.

Their boat, Windemere II, is a very well equipped ferro-cement 12 meters.
We explored the surroundings of the Bay of Islands, and the Cavalli Islands (a diving area where has been immersed the Rainbow Warrior), Whangaroa Bay a little further north, where a flotilla is based
We were on anchor everywhere except at Opua, where the owner of the boat had a mooring buoy.
There’s a lot of wind-protected anchorages around the islands.

Our stay was spent in the best way, encountering no worry at all.
This was the month of August, Brian and Joan have taken possession of our boat in the same conditions.

They’ve been delighted with their navigation in the area of Concarneau, the Glénan Sainte Marine...
We were fully satisfied with this experience, “bravo and thank you SeeMySea” without whom this wouldn’t have happened.
Jean-Noel Lefeuvre

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Holland-San Francisco exchange

We wanted to tell your members about a wonderful experience we had with an exchange from Belgium, their boat situated in Holland, ours in San Francisco. Georges-Eric came to San Francisco Bay first and sailed around the Bay, then ventured on the Pacific taking a tour down the coast to Monterey/Carmel. We also did two races in the Bay on Georges' insistance (they'd never raced before) and it was great fun. When our turn came, the next month, we had a most wonderful time in Holland doing the standing mast tour. We're looking forward to doing a local exchange next month, and more are planned in the future.

HollandAmerica

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An american in Morlaix

Waiting for the water lock to open

Following the request of a boat owner from Maine -USA- through SeeMySea, I welcomed Maurice Gegerre for a day outing and to improve my English.
The problem with Morlaix is the water locks (3 of them, that morning) so we had to make arrangements for a rendez-vous on the port of Morlaix in order to leave his car at the port of Diben where he was due to disembark at the end of the outing.
Once we have cleared the water locks, I entrust Maurice with the steering wheel en route to the Morlaix bay on the river meanders, according to strict navigating alignments. Once we reach the bay, we raise the sails and silence retakes its rightful place. Maurice is elated and passing in front of the Taureau castle seems to impress him, even more when the depth sounder plays yo-yo: "there are many rocks under the keel...watch out, Maurice".
At the Stolvesen buoy we decide to go to Trebeurden. The wind is weak, I raise the gennaker and our surface speed reaches 5 knots with a bottom speed of 9 to 10 knots.
A snack and Trebeurden is getting close. We lower the gennaker and after tacking in the fore harbor, it is close-hauled. Very soon, we must tack, rock tips are visible here and there and it breaks. Maurice, a little bit wary, asks me if it is safe ahead... it must surely be impressive. Then he describes the Chesapeake Bay, where he goes sailing in shallow waters and where there are no rocks... an inland sea!
After a few tacks, at speeds reaching 7 knots with Maurice at the helm, we haul the sails down and I stop alongside a trawler. Maurice congratulates me on my boat (Sun Fizz) and tells my girlfriend she can steer better than both of us ...and the automatic pilot!
We had the opportunity to meet a very nice person in love with the sea and boats. I thought I was going to practice my English but it turned out that Maurice speaks French... so we spoke Frenglish. I hope I made him feel like telling others about the beauty of Brittany, in spite of the mediocre weather of this summer 2008.
We are invited on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean...for a day sailing.
Warm and salty regards, Maurice.
Marc GUYOMARD.

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Jean-Jacques, first swapper, gives his vision of boat exchange

Jean-Jacques is, with his co-swapper Jean-Luc, the first SeeMySea member to tak the plunge & exchange boats for vacations.

"We had been thinking of "taking down" our sailing boat from Brittany to the Mediterranean, for some time, but it was not that simple to do it ourselves because of the time it takes and the difficulty of finding a mooring place as well as the cost involved.

We have been "home swappers" for a long time, we even thought of creating a website like yours and we grabbed the opportunity!
As soon as we have located the same sailing boat as ours on seemysea we have sent a e-mail to its owner and he called us a few days later. We quickly agreed on a differed exchange (...)

The first concern of owners obviously, considering the way they feel for their boat, is the possibility of damage... but if you have a suitable insurance, and we have double checked on that, there is no problem. You just have to leave a deposit covering the deductible with the other owner.
Exchanging has got a certain moral value, why only think of the risk, what kind of risk by the way? ... small damages, maybe, but with a bit of intelligence, plenty of trust in humankind and, of course, a good insurance policy, the only risk resides in the pleasure of discovering a new sailing area and meeting other passionate 'sea farers'".

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Jean-Marc Blancho, pioneer member

source: Benoit Chauveau

When we spoke to him about our SeeMySea project in December 2007, at the Paris Boat Show, Jean-Marc Blancho immediately adhered to the idea. He became the first SeeMySea member, even before one could register on-line.

This swift support coming from a recognized professional of the boating industry, at a time when SeeMySea was confronting first-hand reactions from the boating world, injected a great amount of energy into us.

He is the manager of Mille Sabords, the biggest second hand boat fair in Europe, he also manages a sailing school and he can be proud of his nautical CV. Circumnavigation of the Atlantic ocean, boat deliveries in the Mediterranean on top of numerous
outings off the coasts of Brittany, his home. He is a well known figure on the Rhuys peninsula, a superb nook in the Morbihandistrict -south Brittany, France- this area is bordered by exceptional sailing grounds: Quiberon Bay and the Gulf of Morbihan.

What Jean-Marc finds very attractive in the concept of boat swapping is the opportunity for encounters and the possibility of good surprises as well as the prospect of discovering new sailing grounds with a trump card in hand: the tips provided by the locals.

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Virtual "Route du Rhum" - SeeMySea in the race!

Circumvent the Azores from the north or south?

New design for SeeMySea!

A more efficient version

Testimonials

The Giraudel family, exchanging a house for a boat.

2 swaps in 2009, who says better?

A New-Zealand / Brittany meeting

Holland-San Francisco exchange

An american in Morlaix

Jean-Jacques, first swapper, gives his vision of boat exchange

Jean-Marc Blancho, pioneer member