Not any boat suits the needs of a group of people taking a sailing charter. Things to consider before picking the yacht are the sailing area, the number of persons in the party, the number of cabins, the desired level of comfort & space, yacht’s equipment like power generator and air-conditioning (A/C), cooking and galley equipment, the draft of the yacht, and of course or boat size, style & design. Other factors to consider are the age of the yacht, the price (for sure), skipper and crew experience, if you need to hire a local skipper along, etc.
Here you can see a few tips and examples that might help you out:
Choose the boat that fits the sailing area you are planning to sail to.
Bigger boat=more comfort and reliability at rough seas. For example, if the plan is sailing the Cyclades islands, then the bigger boat you can afford the better. Since the Cyclades and the Aegean sea can get windy, in a choppy sea the length and the displacement of the yacht is important for your safety and comfort. Another guiding example would be to pick a sailing boat (mono-hull) with a bigger protected area from the Aegean spray (this is usually the area protected by the spray-hood. No need to pay much of your attention on this if the plan is sailing in the Ionian sea or the Sporades islands where the winds are more calm.
Choose the good yacht type for the number of people in your party, to the comfort and volume of space desired.
(which also defines the yacht size).
First information to check is the maximum (or so called licensed) number of people onboard. It is critical it refers to the people that will be sleeping onboard and includes hired skipper or crew.
Then it is the number of cabins to check. Most charter yachts in Greece and all other sailing destinations come with double guest cabins (double-bedded or with 2 single up-down beds). So when you browse different yachts, “cabins” goes for double guest cabins. Single cabins are usually mentioned separately.
In some yachts, one or two persons can be allowed to sleep at the saloon / dinette, when the table is convertible to a bed.
For example, if a party of eight people is sailing in Greece book a smaller and cheaper sailboat 35-feet long with 3 double cabins, 1 toilet, 2 persons at the saloon, then they have to cross-check that he boat can officially hold 8 people and that the saloon table can sleep 2. Still, they have to be aware that they will lack space and comfort.
Recommended size of boat for 8 people is a +42-feet long mono-hull or a 40ft catamaran, providing good space outside and inside the boat, adequate room for luggage storing, a “private” place for all guests onboard to relax, sleep or get dressed (not so good to do so in the common areas at the saloon).
A hired skipper will occupy one of the yacht’s cabins, a single bedded cabin in the forepeak if any AND will have to have access to one of the yacht’s toilets.
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| Guest sleeping at the salon settee. Comfort and relaxation is in doubt |
Couples and singles to check there are cabins with double beds or single beds as needed.
A good idea is to always pick the boat that comes with one more cabin than necessary and as many toilets you can afford. An additional cabin can always serve as a storage room for all that extra gear & empty luggage or as an additional quarter. Regarding the number of toilets / head compartments, it is recommendable to preview one toilet shared by 4 people at maximum.
Of course there are people who care less about comfort and space, wanting to have an adventurous holiday, enjoy the sea, sun and live nature near the water. Those ones might disregard the above advice, and younger crews will be excited to sleep on deck in the open air while on a sailing charter in Greece, Croatia, Italy or France, moreover during the warm Mediterranean nights between June and September. An unforgettable experience and nearly no inconvenience.
Privacy?
Typically, in a charter sailing yacht, the adjacent cabins are only separated by a thin ply-wood bulkhead, which obviously creates a privacy issue. Every crew member in your party has surely a different tolerance level for comfort or discomfort and privacy.
Living together in a small area is not easy and a minimum of “tolerance” between the guests onboard is necessary. A crew/party at their early 20’s don’t have the same expectations with a group at their 50’s. It is essential that everyone knows beforehand where he is getting to, and select the right size of yacht with the number of cabins that will create less or no problems.
Afraid of being sea-sickness?
Talking about comfort we have to mention the seasickness issue, something that affects every sailor in one form or another.
Bear in mind that the bigger yacht you charter the less sea sickness your crew will have.
And there are a few more things you can do about it though:
Stay outside on deck, stay as high as possible and exposed yourself to fresh air – it’s less likely you will feel the effects of seasickness.
Try looking to the horizon, it works!
Lay off caffeine, alcohol, and big meals before the trip. Drink lots of water instead. Take the helm.
Add some distractions, music, for example. Or eat something. Dry crackers may calm a queasy stomach. Suck on a lozenge, something with ginger in it just how the ancient Chinese used to combat sea-sickness.
Try special medication, actually pills that soothe the nerves in your inner ear or suppress the brain’s vomiting response (should take them before the symptoms arrive), or opt for scopolamine patches to put behind your ear.
Catamaran or mono-hull?
Catamaran or mono-hull is a question that comes up when picking a boat and when privacy is high in your priority list. Click here to check more information from EASY SAILING related to catamaran charters in Greece, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Bahamas, Tahiti, Thailand.
Sailing skills of the crew.
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Handling a 38 ft. sailboat experienced crew members is not a big problem. However, a 50-footer is a totally different story because everything is much bigger and therefore more difficult to control. It is not more difficult technically, but the forces are much higher and any mistake you make will result in a damage which on its turn may cost you money. Be sure you will not shove off your heavy and bulky 50-footer when going into another yacht and that the gel coat and other damages made to the two boats will be charged to your security deposit. on the other hand, all yachts for charter in Greece above 50 feet have lately installed lots of equipment (electric winches, roller furling sails, lazy jacks, lines led to the cockpit, powerful bow thrusters, GPS-Plotters, ultimate technologies in electronics and autopilots, etc.) that make yacht’s handling a piece of cake.
Therefore assess yours and your crew’s skills and make your choice accordingly.
If you wish your charter yacht to be equipped with a generator 220v and air-conditioning system you should be looking at boats 50 feet long or more and secure existence of that special equipment.
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If your aim is bareboat sailing in Greece in stylish GRP (plastic) yachts, then we believe you should opt for the latest models of Jeanneau boatyard the Sun Odyssey 53i DS, the Elan 514 Impression and given you want something big, to go for the flagship of the EASY SAILING fleet the Beneteau 57. The new Beneteau 57 is also equipped with many other extras.
One of them is the deep freezer which is an important feature for some people and rarely found on other yacht types for charter in Greece.
In the event you have in mind to rent a boat in Greece and combine water sports, Jet Ski or scuba diving, you must be prepared to find such amenities only in bigger yachts (of 60 or more feet – mostly in the fully crewed yacht charters). No water sports facilities or jet ski or scuba diving equipment are possible in bareboat charters in the Greek islands, though windsurf or kayak can be arranged at an extra fee (if/where available). In order, you choose the boat you really want is better you know beforehand that scuba diving equipment can be hired in many islands by scuba diving authorized centers on the spot, and that jet ski and water sports are also available in lots of so- called organized beaches in numerous Greek islands.
Choose a boat from the fleet of Sunsail if the case you wish to charter a bigger bareboat with fewer cabins (for example just 2 cabins in a 42+ feet boat), as all charter companies in Greece prefer to offer sailboats with the maximum possible number of cabins the manufacturer can provide to each model.
After all, choosing /selecting the right boats for charter in Greece is not only a matter of layout study and size estimation. It is also the fun of preparation and anticipation itself. Your boat selection depends on the number of people in your party, your budget, your and your crew’s sailing skills, and your comfort level tolerance.
The two famous Greek islands in the Aegean sea and worldwide are Mykonos & Santorini.
We thing useful to pass on more information and details to those sailors and holiday-ers who would wish to sail the two Greek islands in the Cyclades area or sail just to Santorini island within just one week charter.
We, at Easy Sailing, try to accommodate all our clients wishes, while at the same time it is necessary we reveal the essential information for a realistic planning of each sailing trip. Booking a fully crewed yacht charter makes it often possible to pay a visit to Mykonos or Santorini or if the weather is good to both the islands. This is also possible for any charter duration of 2 weeks or more. But, booking a bareboat charter for just 1 week, with or without skipper/crew, may not have the same result.
Why? Read the details HERE
Most bareboat fleet operators have a tight schedule of strictly weekly charters, usually Saturday to Saturday back-to-back in the main season, and people mostly plan just one week sailing holidays. The big majority of the charter yachts for charter in Greece are based in Athens area (Alimos or Lavrion), thus it all comes to a 1-week charter starting and ending in Athens.
Myconos / Mykonos is East of Athens at 90 Nautical miles and Santorini is Southeast of Athens at 130 Nautical miles where the distance between Mykonos and Santorini is approximately 75 miles.
Given that a sailing yacht makes 5-8 knots (~miles) per hour, lots of hours of sailing/motoring have to be previewed for a sailing trip Athens-Mykonos-Santorini-Athens just to cover the distance.
First of all it is important to mention that in the Aegean Sea and in the Cyclades area, in particular, there are often winds blowing from the N with force 25-40 miles per hour. Fog, rain, currents and heavy storms are very rare, though winds are sometimes an issue.
For experienced sailors, winds can be a routine or a challenge of pleasure but for occasional sailors no. Sailing downwind is considered easier (not always true), while sailing long distances upwind is slower, more difficult and uncomfortable.
Calculating the distance Athens-Mykonos-Santorini-Athens it averages 42 hours of NON-STOP sailing. This will be with no time spent on relaxing, eating, swimming, snorkeling, hoping, exploring, shopping, resting or sleeping. For a one-week charter, and starting out of Athens or Lavrion charter base, it would be wise to plan to see only Mykonos island. The distance Athens-Santorini island-Athens could also be done within one week, but will include too long passages every day and will surely create fatigue. The plan’s success will also rely heavily on favorable weather conditions. After all, even if Santorini island is reached on day 4 of a weekly bareboat charter, there will be a long sailing upwind for 130 miles … or 22+ hours of non-stop sailing to sail back to Athens. Because of the distance between Athens and Santorini island and the frequent windy conditions (especially during July and August), we do not recommend sailing from Athens or Lavrion to Santorini, but just to Mykonos island at farthest (here is a suggested itinerary).
And what is the solution for those who wish to sail to Mykonos and Santorini within one-week charter? Budget and holiday duration permitting, a sailing yacht charter for two weeks is the solution.
No sailing charters are offered directly from/to Mykonos or Santorini islands? Santorini is all volcanic with deep waters and there is no marina on the island. A small fishing shelter is situated on the South coast of the island, but it is too small and mostly occupied by local day-trip and fishing boats.
Very few charter boats are based at Mykonos island. The bigger and smaller charter companies are not keen to organize a charter base in Mykonos, and those who tried so, have now stopped or minimized their number of charter boats. The conditions in Mykonos do not permit (not even to a long time yachting professionals) to provide a satisfactory level of service to the yacht charter customers. Not without a reason: Sailboats are banned from the old little public port since many years and the new marina 4km north of Mykonos town is very crowded in the summer, yacht berths are not guaranteed or pre-bookable, the facilities are rather poor, no toilets or showers are close, blown soil messes the yachts, safety during windy days is in doubt and the technical support is not ensured.
Easy Sailing does not offer and does not recommend chartering yachts out of Mykonos or Santorini islands. We know it is a pity, moreover because there are lately quite a few flights directly from many European cities …
Another possibility would be to start a bareboat sailing week from the small charter base in Paros island which is located in the middle of the Cyclades islands. Here is a suggested itinerary for one-week sailing charter starting from Paros and visiting Mykonos and Santorini. But there are some difficulties here too:
First people have to get to and from Paros.
As most people arrive by plane at Athens international airport, they will have to catch a taxi from Athens airport to go to Piraeus port or Rafina port, then take a ferry to Paros island, after checking connections and timetables which might not be matching well. Same applies for their return. There is also a domestic flight Athens to Paros with smaller planes, which requires booking well in advance and is not usually cheap.
Another idea would be to fly from Europe directly to Mykonos or Santorini airports and take a ferry to Paros (quite frequent connection from May to October).
Second (and most determinant) is that the little public port of Paros island can serve a small number of charter boats. No surprise to hear there is no availability of charter yachts in Paros island since the sailing boats based there are very limited. If no sailing yachts can be offered out of Paros, the next option for a sailing charter week in the Cyclades islands would be to book a suitable boat from Athens (Alimos Marina or Lavrion port).
Another tip we would like to give is that all smaller charter yachts up to 37 feet long are less good for a comfortable yacht holiday in the Kyklades islands. Once winds get stronger, small boats will have a hard time with the short waves of the Aegean sea or during maneuvering in the small public ports. For this area, a larger sailing yacht gives more comfort and speed, a greater sense of safety, it is more stable and in general better to sail.
EASY SAILING may transfer a yacht to Paros yacht charter base (for skippered charters we could do deliveries to other islands too), though the time needed for the transfer of the yacht from Athens to the island and back will be part of the paid charter time and an extra one-way fee will apply.
Booking for two weeks sailing vacation
If you would consider/afford sailing holidays for 2 weeks (or for a minimum of 10-11 days if charter fleets allow so) then there is absolutely NO problem – just prepare your crew for the possibility of a bit “rough” seas for a while and set sails (!). Here is a suggested itinerary for 2 weeks bareboat sailing from/to Athens.
We feel your holiday time is valuable…. and thought to share the above information with you.week charter
