Where to go on your skippered charter
Skippered charters are available all around the world but many Brits head for the eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey and Croatia). There’s great sailing, and lots to see. It also generally works out cheaper than Italy, France and Spain because the moorings are often free or fees are relatively small.
You’ll need to consider:
- Getting there – some destinations have a limited flight service, especially if you want to fly from a regional airport.
- Sailing conditions – if you’ve never sailed before I’d suggest starting with an easy area
- Facilities ashore – do you want bustling tourist towns or do you prefer quiet bays where shopping and showering options ashore may be non existent (all yachts have showers on board)!
You’ll find lots of information to help choose your skippered charter destination in the Sailing Areas sections of the website but if you’re short on reading time, give me a call as I can usually narrow it down quite quickly.
Skippers usually have superb knowledge of the local area. Unless you’re sailing with a flotilla, the route is down to you but you can just give the skipper an idea of the length of sails you want, and the sort of places you’re interested in, then leave the rest to him.
If you know where you want to go, the skipper will be happy to take you as long as it’s practical. However, in my experience, charterers tend to overestimate how long they will want to sail each day, and the speed the yacht can do. For a small yacht, plan based on a speed of no more than 5 knots, for a larger yacht no more than 7 or 8 knots.
Remember that you’ll probably want to stop for a swim stop when possible. And you’ll want to get to your destination in reasonable time to allow some time to explore. All of which means many charterers find 4 or 5 hours sailing a day is enough.
Remember too that your skipper is only human. The clients who expected me to sail them around all day then reposition the yacht overnight got short shrift when they complained to my management that I wasn’t prepared to sail 24 hours a day!
For more information, see the pages on Skippered Yacht Charter, Choosing a Skippered Yacht and Skippered Charter FAQ’s.