Barcelona – Winter Storage in Badalona (2014)

Varadero de Sant Carles de la Rapita

Sent by James Wallace of SV Paz

15 July, 2013

I wintered my 12m sailboat on the hard in Sant Carles de la Rapita, Spain 2012-13, at Varadero de Sant Carles de la Rapita. This was an excellent experience.

Sant Carles is about 100 miles south of Barcelona with easy connection by train and taxi. The boatyard is small and very friendly. The town is quiet but has several excellent restaurants and a lovely beach right next to the boatyard.

The manager, Juan Samos, speaks English well and loves boats of all sorts. He took excellent care of my sailboat and oversaw general maintenance as well as replacement of cutlass bearing, electrical work, etc. The boatyard is full-service.

Prices are excellent at about US $2800 for haul/ launch and 9 months hardstanding. Prices for repairs, bottom paint and waxing are the best I’ve seen in the Mediterranean or Caribbean.

Highly recommended.

Varadero de Sant Carles de la Rapita:

Contact person is Juan Samo at savi.varador@gmail.com.

Web address: www.barcoslarapita.es

Varadero Alicante

Sent by Phil Wright of SV Enchantee

12 July 2013

Catamaran haul out is difficult to find in the Med.  We have just completed a haul out and bottom paint at Varadero Alicante and provide a short report:

Varadero Alicante: 38º 19´56N 00º 30´20W

Contact: info@varaderoalicante.com

Facilities: Travel lift can handle up to 105 tonnes and a max beam of around 9 metres.  They reportedly lift Lagoon 50s. We are 7.64 metres.

The yard is friendly and helpful.  In general, the whole process was professional.  The bottom paint prep and application was very good.

One needs to be very careful with the travel lift.   It has very wide spreaders to attach the webbing straps for lifting and has multiple attachment points on them to cater for multiple belts.  We only need one belt on each, front and back. The spreaders were not well controlled with only two people operating the lift and as a result, despite our best efforts fending off, we sustained some minor damage on both daggerboards.  The other downside, the yard is very dusty and the boat was very dirty when we left. Proximity to Alicante is fine by bike or taxi.  Pricing was as expected.

Overall, I would go there again if needed but would be very cautious about lift and relaunch.  Marina Salinas in Torrevieja looks more professional but unfortunately cannot handle our beam.

Consorci Port de Mataro (Barcelona)

Sent by Rob Dubin of SV Ventana

6 October 2011

Barcelona, while a wonderful place to winter, is very limited in reasonably priced on the hard yacht storage and also somewhat limited in hauling facilities. Fortunately, there is now a fantastic alternative only 15 miles north – the marina and yard at Mataro.

Our haul out was professional and painless. Christina the yard manager speaks perfect English and is unbelievably helpful. She arranged a mechanic for us who was superb and reasonable. When we inquired where the store was she drove us there in her car. She sold us paint at a much better price than we could get elsewhere, and then provided paint rollers and even loaned tools when she saw we needed them.

The yard does excellent work or you can do your own and live aboard. Showers were clean and there are plenty of restaurants nearby. Best of all, unlike almost all of Spain where on the hard storage is more expensive than a marina, the rates at Mataro are very reasonable. We cannot recommend them highly enough.

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