A question for those who charter

[Sans Bateau]

So you get a bunch of friends get together to charter a boat for the weekend, its been arranged for ages and everyone is looking forward to it. The plan is to get down to the boat on Friday night, get everything stowed have a beer and some supper ashore. Then take the first of the ebb out of the Hamble on Sat morning, down past Hurst and off to Poole, an easy passage in the 37 ft boat you have all chipped in to charter.

You are watching the weather as the weekend approaches, although its August its not good, a deep low in the Atlantic is not skidding off up over Ireland as was first forecast, it is coming further South threatening gales and heavy rain for much of the weekend. (sound familiar)

So what do you do, you've paid your money, do you just sit on the boat in Port Hamble, grit your teeth and dash across to Cowes and make the most of it or do you gung ho and still head for Poole?

Just curious really, I sympathise with your situation, as I own my own boat I can cancel arrangements and wait 'till better weather, but with a charter, your committed, are you?

 

[jimi]

37 ft boat to Poole in baddish weather should'nt really be a problem, I'd pop out the North Channel at Hurst, see how bad it was and either carry on or go back and dot around the Solent

 

[TiggerToo]

As someone who offer Tigger for charter...

Although we take booking deposits that are forfeited in case of no shows, in practice common sense often prevails and if the situation really is dire (Huurricane Hannah Hurrying to Haslar), then we might well consider a re-booking, i.e. keeping the deposit for another date.

Mind you, as Tigger is chartered from Plymouth and Falmouth, there is usually plenty of "inland" water to sail on in all but the grottiest of weathers and our charterers (so far) seem to have been happy enough to potter around the sheltered waters. The pleasure of sailing can extend to this too..

 

[Sans Bateau]

Probably so, but would you want to sail a boat you were not familar in realy merde conditions? And its a bit of a sod spending all that money to get rained on and blown all over the place.

 

[jimi]

well I'd rather wreck someone else's boat than my own ;-)

 

[ebbtide]

Any reputable firm should have a clause about severe conditions and give a credit against another charter; a concerned owner would do likewise.

As for "being blown all over the place", surely that's part of the sport - and will do wonders for your experience!

 

[dt4134]

I'd check out the reefing arrangements thoroughly, get the storm jib up on deck and get rid of the furling headsail before leaving the marina.

A F8 within the Solent shouldn't be too stressful for a properly prepared boat with the right amount of canvas up and the sails properly trimmed. You can leave the decision about going further to Poole, for example, until you get nearer to Hurst. By then you'll have a good idea what the wind is like, what the crew feel like and you can take into account the expected tidal conditions and sea state in the channel & outside.

When arranging charters I'd always ensure there was a competent first mate that I'd sailed with before. It makes life easier, especially as you don't know the boat and may not know some of the crew that well.

Manouvering an unknown boat around a marina in strong winds is a great learning experience. When you have your own boat everything is pretty predictable whereas with a charter boat you have to adapt quickly to its quirks.

 

[Sailfree]

[ QUOTE ]
Any reputable firm should have a clause about severe conditions and give a credit against another charter; a concerned owner would do likewise.



[/ QUOTE ]

For Solent based charter companies my understanding is as follows:-

In the summer most will not give a credit as even in a F8 there are so many places in the Solent to go to.

In the Winter they will give a credit for another weekend if its above a F6.

In special circumstances they will take a booking subject to weather conditions - I once had a booking for a wedding in Dieppe subject to conditions being OK for the wedding party to sail there for the simple reason they could not rearrange the wedding date in France and if bad weather would go by ferry.

Solent to Poole in bad conditions is really iffy as a couple of Policemen found out to their cost when they lost their lives on the shingles bank on the return journey.

One of the earliest lessons I discovered while resting on the Brambles Bank is that there are no short trips on a boat - each had to be treated as a voyage.

 

[lw395]

A decent 37 footer should cope, depends more on the crew.
Another thought.... get to Hurst as the tide turns, not much later so the wind over tide hasn't built up.
A few shorter dashes around the solent might be more fun?
Agree with sailfree's last point, everything needs to be adequately planned, with likely changes of plan considered!

 

[Kedge]

We don't bother with weekend charters for this reason - charter for a week or two and go to the Med or Caribbean for (more) predictable weather !

 

[Sailfree]

Great idea we cancelled our reservation for 2 weeks in July on my own charter boat in the Solent and went to Croatia.

Friend that managed to get to Brittany had 4 wonderful weeks in July.

In July in Croatia we were port bound for 3 separate nights due to strong winds and no one vacating any port! On one occassion we just had to get back and went in 36kts on the nose and a number of the flottila were inexperienced sailors!

After considering the total cost v weather we have now decided to chance heading south over a 3 week period in 2009 on our own boat!!

Unfortunately I now read global warming as climate uncertainty almost wherever you choose. I do love French Food though!

 

[samwestwood]

Most charter companies will not left the boats out if the forcast is over a 6 or 7.
However it depends on the comp what happens some will refund some will offer other days and others will keep you money/deposit.

P.S. Always read the small print

 

[peterb]

Running Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster courses, I frequently have to look at logbooks to find out previous experience. I reckon that the 'Maximum wind force' given by people who charter averages 1 or 2 higher than that given by people who own, and the incidence of fog is noticeably higher, too.

I notice that people on this forum are frequently scathing about charterers. When I took my Yachtmaster, out of 8 people (on two boats) 4 passed, 4 failed. When I took my Yachtmaster Instructor assessment, 3 passed and 5 failed. Just coincidence that all the successful candidates (on both courses) chartered, and all the failures owned their own boats?

I suspect that in the early stages of learning owners take more care of their own boats than do inexperienced charterers, and that frequently owners have a better background in crewing, etc., than do charterers. But as experience builds up charterers tend to get a wider knowledge of different boats ans different sailing areas, and tend to go out into worse weather ('I've paid my money, I'm going to sail' rather than 'It'll be better next weekend').

What was that about cats and pigeons? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Steve_R]

It is yet another judgement call and that's why boats have skippers.
I've cancelled a couple of charters because the forecast was iffy and most of the crew was inexperienced.
I've also gone around the solent when the forecast looked downright miserable but we had a strong crew. (resulted in one short heavy weather day and a fantastic Sunday in an usually empty Solent)

In my experience, charterers have always been happy to defer without question to another day if the weather looks boat breaking poor.

 

[kingfisher]

It would certainly depend on your crew. With an experienced crew, it would be possible, if the heavy weather gear is there (reef, life-lines,...). With novices, forget it. it will be wholy unpleasant for the crew, even dangerous.

 

[Kedge]

Well, it can happen like that.

But in approx 15 years of chartering - on average 3 weeks per year (300+ days) I reckon we have been stuck in port due to weather for less than 10 days - and 3 of those were in Ireland !.

Its probably more common to have the opposite weather - no wind! - but at least you can take a dip.

So whilst you can be unlucky - my experience tells me the numbers work in the long term.

Kedge