Sailing in Tuscany

[marcello]

The Italian coast along the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas is quite rugged and provides the backdrop for a beautiful sailing area. With low-cost flights from most internation airports it is easily reached, even for a weekend trip.
Sailing charter teams can provide bareboat or skippered charter in most of the ports of the Tuscan coast.

Anytime is ok for sailing here, although July/August it gets quite hot, a bit crowded and more expensive. Ports are open all year round and temperatures in Tuscany and the islands are usually quite a bit warmer than northern Europe, so anytime of the year could be considered.

Favorite months are April, May, June, Sept and October. It’s warm but not too hot, not crowded so it’s possible to find isolated anchorages and maybe more importantly, flights are more affordable.

Best destinations are the beautiful islands of the Tuscan Archipelago. From marina of Punta Ala Marina, Elba can be easily reached in a few hours and is perfect for a weekend sail, visiting many picturesque.

The islands, all very unique, are with easy sailing distances. Even Corsica and Sardinia, with their pristine beaches and emeralds seas, can be reached in a week long sail.

According to legend, the islands of the Tuscan Archipelago - Elba, Capraia, Gorgona, Montecristo, Giglio, Pianosa, Giannutri - were created when Venus of the Tyrrhenian Sea emerged to embrace the sunset. As she did, six pearls fell from her necklace into the sea creating each of the unique islandsports and coves.

These are the distances from Punta Ala, one of the better organized marina and once base of the Luna Rossa America’s Cup challenger:
Porto Azzurro (14 nm)
Portoferraio (20 nm)
Capraia- (41 nm)
Giglio Porto (28 nm)
Giannutri (37 nm)
Macinaggio - Corse(58 nm)

[Charlie]

Hi Marcelo:

Thanks for sharing this information on Tuscany I am headed there soon. We will be in Bocca di Magra and sail around La Spezia and then on to Elba and back. I have a question for you in regards to boat inspections in Italy. I understand that a boat in Italy must be inspected every five years. Can you explain to me what the process is how long it takes and how much it costs? I have tried the Italian web sites but they are not translated into English.

Ciao

[marcello]

Hi Charlie,
I have read some italian websites for you and this is what I understood:

Boats with the CE (European Certification for the navigation) has to do the first audit after 8 years and then every 5 years.

Here are some certification institution:
- R.I.N.A. : www.rina.org Tel. 010-53851
- Istituto Giordano: www.certificazionenautica.it Tel. 0541-343030
- D.N.V.: www.dnv.it Tel. 039-6899905
- A.N.C.C.P.: www.anccp.it Tel. 02-2104071
- Udicer/Nautitest: www.udicer.it Tel. 041-5161880
- Quality & Security: www.qualitysecurity.it Tel. 089-2583295


RINA is the most commonly used by boat owners.
You can try to write to them in english.
Maybe they will answer even if they don't have an english website.

According to some info found on a local sailing forum, it's enough that you call them to take an appointment.
Then they will send an officer to the port where you want to do the audit.
The boat must be out of water.
The cost of the audit is about 300 Euros.

Then they write a document where they declare if your boat is compliant or not, and in case what you have to fix to achieve compliance.

[Roaring Girl]

Charlie - as a non-Italian boat you should not have to comply with thier inspection regime, though you should have some form of skipper's licence, your boat certificate, and proof of insurance in Italian.

We too have loved sailing Tuscany and the Tuscan islands and in partiuclar Elba, W Corsica and the Maddalenas are stars of the Tyrrenhian sea. la Spezia (la Grazie is the anchorage) is also great but otehrwise the spectacular coast from Genoa towards Pisa tends to be not easy for anchoring and hence can be expensive.