YCC Cruises
YCC CruisesThe current rules for organisation of the YCC cruises are detailed in the YCC cruise rules document.
Every YCC member taking part in a YCC organized cruise, has to agree to those rules and to collaborate with the Cruise Organizers and other participants in every of the described points.
The destination of 2024 was Split in Croatia
The cruise took place from August 31 to September 7 in Marina Kaštela, near Split. A record of 67 YCC members participated and 9 boats were rented!
In 2023 YCC has rented 6 boats in Olbia which allowed 12 skippers and co-skippers together with 31 crew members to participate in this adventure.
YCC Sailors explored the Sardegna NW coast and sailed up to Corsica (Bonifacio), crossing the famous Bonifacio strait.
The destination of 2022 Cruise was the Balearic islands.
YCC has rented 6 boats which allowed 12 skippers and co-skippers together with 33 crew members to participate in this adventure. Two friend boats also joined the fun.
Sailors explored the Mallorca coast and some even ventured to Ibiza.
The destination for YCC Cruise 2020 was the Eolian islands in Sicily. The cruise dates were: 05 September – 12 September 2020
Figure 1: Itinerary YCC Cruise 2020
The Eolians are a group of attractive islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 20 - 40 nautical miles north of Sicily. We will set sails from the marina of Portorosa, on the Sicilian north coast. From there we will discover some of the 7 volcanic islands.
Figure 2: Stromboli Vulcano
Figure 3: Filicudi, close to Grotta del Bue Marino
In 2019 the YCC organized a cruise from the west coast of Sicily, Italy which took place from August 31 to September 7. The departure was the marina of Trapani to discover the Isole Egadi or Aegadian Archipelago:
Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo, just 5 nautical miles off the coast of Trapani are the 3 main islands of the Aegadian Archiplago which also includes other minor islands. The whole archipelago is the biggest protected marine area in Europe, with plenty of rare flora species both on the island and underwater.
In 2018, the Jeûne Genevois Cruise took place from 1st to 8th September, in a part of Greece that does not suffer from mass tourism. The Northern Sporades 70 nm north of Athens, is an archipelago with the beautiful islands of Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos, Peristera, Krya Panagia, and Giotra. Their coasts are protected from the Meltemi wind and offer many quiet coves for anchoring
In early September the weather is normally a confortable 25°C and the sea temperature around 23°C, just right for swimming and sailing. The islands are part of the National Marine Park and are home to the Mediterranean monk seal among many other animal and plant species of interest.
The 2017 Cruise took place in Canary Islands from September 23 to Semptember 30 with 18 members on 3 boats.
The cruise allowed the crew to visit 3 islands of the archipelago: La Palma, La Gomera and Tenerife. These islands are not overrun by tourists, have good trade winds most of the time and have interesting geography.
In 2016, the YCC discussed several sailing destinations and finally decided to go to the Ionian Islands in Greece. Two weeks were proposed: from 3rd to 10th September and from 10th to 17th September. 26 members took part on 5 boats.
In 2015, the YCC planed to organize a cruise between the Azores Islands. The cruise started from the marina of Horta, on the island of Faial. The crews sailed one week between the islands and came back to Horta.
More details at this link.
The destination of our YCC cruise this year was Mallorca/Majorca
Saturday 7th September Five of us took the flight from Geneva to Palma; the 6th person, Dennis was already in Palma, waiting for us. A reserved minibus took us to Porto Colom were we took over the Alcor, our chartered two-year old Sun Odyssey, 44i.
Sunday 8th September We discovered some problems with the anchor winch and decided to leave Porto Colom for the day, and carry out some anchor manoeuvres by hand in one of this nice bays, swim and snorkel a bit and come back to Porto Colom in the evening, to get the electric winch repaired next Monday morning. Monday 9th September Early at 8h o'clock, two specialists came to solve the winch problem and 15 minutes later we were ready to quit Porto Colom again, destination Cabrera, a the protected island a few miles south-east of Mallorca.
Tuesday 10th September: After a quiet night, attached to a buoy which was reserved for us the day before, we left Cabrera, direction NNE. We sailed along the east cost of Mallorca just as it became time to find shelter for the night. We decided to spend the night at Porto Christo where we should have the likelihood of finding a restaurant for a good Paella!
Wednesday 11th September After breakfast in the morning, we left Porto Christo at about 10:00, destination Alcudia. As we reached open water, a strong Mistral hit us, with 2-metre high waves and a wind of 5 to 6 Bf. Some of us had to fight with seasickness but as soon as we arrived in the marina of Alcudia, everybody was fine again. In our crew we had not only excellent sailors; we also had excellent .chefs de cuisine.: this evening Marcel prepared us a vegetarian moussaka and with the help of everybody, we had very good dinner.
Thursday 12th September After breakfast with scrambled eggs, English Style, made by Dennis, we left Alcudia in the late morning to begin our way back homewards. We had two days to get back to our final destination and we decided to sail maximum miles this day and be relaxed the next and last day. This evening we found a good place for the night, well protected from the wind. After anchor manoeuvres and anchor schlock (Ed.: come on the next cruise and you will find out!), Dan tried to provide us with a sea-food dinner: But he was not very successful... So, our cooks had to work again and in a short time they prepared a nice dinner.
Friday 13th September Today, our last day, the first few hours we had no wind and we were obliged to use the motor. Since this was not very exciting, a few of us found a way to make it more exciting:
At lunch time we stopped in a small bay, a very nice place for swimming and relaxing. But the time crept on and we had to complete the last 10 miles back to Porto Colom where we did arrive on time. We had a nice week , a lot of fun, six different nationalities was never a problem, with a very good atmosphere throughout. I would like to say thank you to our crew member for this sailing week; it would be a great pleasure to sail again with them.
More info, please contact Manfred Willenbrock
The 2012 YCC cruise has taken place during the week from Saturday 8th to Saturday 15th September, sialing to the Pontine islands near Naples, Italy. Many thanks to our skipper Manfred Willenbrock and see you in 2013! Follow the link to read the YCC 2012 cruise report.
Many thanks to our skippers Manfred Willenbrock and Detlef Swoboda and see you in 2012.
See also: 2011 YCC cruise report (courtesy of Joy Stephens) and 2011 YCC cruise report Melia (courtesy of Deflet Swoboda).
2009 saw the third edition of the YCC 'do it yourself cruise'. This type of
sailing outing organisation is intended to motivate participants at all stages,
that is from choosing the destination, to chartering the boats, arranging
flights, ordering charts and cruise material, etc. Moreover lessons are
organized for the cruising beginners on: navigation, signals, chart reading, and
a full lesson was devoted this year to tides and currents.
The cruising season started off already in the cold month of February with a
'winter evening on cruises and sea sailing' that was attended by about 50
members. There we learned, among other subjects, about the challenges of sailing
in cold waters and how to get RYA qualifications.
Probably inspired by those presentations the YCC cruise has indeed headed north
this year: following 2 years of warm waters sailing, that is the 2007 Corsica
outing and 2008 to Croatia, in 2009 participants agreed to Skipper Rob's
suggestions of 'stepping up' to an outing on the Atlantic.
The port of departure was chosen to be La Trinite'-sur-Mer, and we agreed on
sailing during the first week of June. Two boats (a Grand Soleil 37 and a Sun
Fast 37) were chartered, with 5 crew of board each. The idea being from the
beginning to provide training to everybody, from the more experienced to the
newbie's. And an excellent training it was for everybody, tide and current
calculations, in some occasion night sailing, and the usual YCC challenge of
acquiring fresh fish from local fishermen!
Finally after a week of sailing in exceptionally mild conditions we sailed about
250 nm around the bay of Quiberon, Belle Ille, Houat, and a mandatory visit to
the 'sailing Mecca', Iles de Glenans.
The YCC has organized organized, together with sailing friends from Warsaw University of Technology Physics Faculty, a one-off cruise on a Tall Ship, the three-masted barquentine STS (Sail Training Ship) Pogoria. The cruise has taken place from June 21st till July 4th, leaving from Lisbon and arriving in Ruen. Our arrival will coincide with the start of Armada, a gathering of the world's biggest tall ships: Amerigo Vespucci, Mir, etc.
Photos by: Sebastian Lopienski
Target group: All YCC members
Poster: YCC 2008 Cruise Brochure (English and French)
Reservation Page: For last-minute reservations please contact Tomasz or Sebastian
Latest news: PogoriaCruise2008-infoFeb.pdf
More info: Tomasz.Ladzinski@cern.ch
Last updated on February 2024 by MB and JGC