Great Escapes

Unless you are especially hardy, Northern Europe, is not the best place to sail between November and March. So where to go? Here are Sailing Today’s top five winter escapes

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It’s a cruel fact that UK-based sailors can have a pretty lean time of things over the winter months. Some love the hardship of a bracing thrash in crisp winter gales, but let’s be honest, it’s not for all of us. Even the magnificent playground that is the Mediterranean turns rather savage over the winter, even if you are cowering in one of its most southern environs. All this means that November to March are, for most of us, all about either dreaming of far-flung destinations or actually getting on an aeroplane and chartering in them.

Before we get to the meat of this article, a few caveats: this is a sort of ‘greatest hits’ rundown of winter-sun destinations, but we have steered clear of both the Caribbean – covered in the November issue – and the Pacific – which we will look at in depth in the January issue. So this narrows the field somewhat. The assumption of the article is that you don’t have your boat out there already, so it’s a guide largely for charterers.

Thailand

The Andaman Sea has been on the radar for sailors for many years now and offers some truly spectacular cruising. The focus for the charter trade is Phuket, which, these days, is all a bit much – but it doesn’t take more than an hour to leave this tourist black spot to the rudder and take in a selection of stunning islands. Thailand is unquestionably a year-round destination but winter is better as this is the season of the Northeast Monsoon, which is drier and cooler than the summer months when the Southwest Monsoon can bring a lot of rain.

Sailing experience: Middling – breezes are generally Force 3-4 during the Northeast Monsoon, but there are tides and currents to contend with and navigation is not always straightforward.