Bareboat charters?

[Kelpie]

Newbie questions here: I'm toying with hiring a sailing boat in the Med/Adriatic for SWMBO and myself, maybe a week long cruise. At the moment it's only a very vague idea because of a number of uncertainties:
- do I need to provide any evidence of sailing ability, e.g. RYA courses or similar?
- what is a realistic price for a charter from a company that I can trust?
- is the Adriatic the place to be or should I look elsewhere?

 

[Tranona]

If you are bare boating it is necessary with most companies in the Ionian and all in Croatia to have some evidence of competence. Most common is the ICC, issued by the RYA - see their site for details. Most of the operators have UK agents and that is probably the best place to start to find out what is available where, and prices. Go to the charter section on this site for details of agents.

Croatia has gained a reputaion for high prices and some operators have scaled back their activities there. For a first visit you might consider a flotilla with somebody like Sailing Holidays as they give a greater degree of help if required for first timers.

 

[Moonchild]

Most bareboat companies will require proof of qualifications and experience, this is for insurance reasons.
There are several online resources for finding yacht charters, such as yachtcharterguide.com.
As to price, shop around there are lots of offers out there, smaller companies can be more cost effective than larger ones, watch out for the added extras such as linen.
Where you go depends on what time of the year you plan to visit.

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

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Most bareboat companies will require proof of qualifications and experience, this is for insurance reasons.

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This hasn't been my experience at all and I've been chartering boats since I was a teenager. All over the UK and abroad.

The last Charter I did required one of us to have 'chartered a similar boat in the last three years'. No proof of this was required. The one before I think was "two years experience of similar boats" again no proof of this was required.

Two exceptions come to mind. Sunsail (spit) require qualifications (but not for their race series) and Fairview require no qulifications but ask for a 'sailing CV'. In Scotland and the Med nobody's ever asked me for any proof of experience or qualifications at all.

Chartering is more of a cutthroat biz than ever before. You wouldn't make much money out of a charter business if you saved a few pennies by buying cheap insurance that meant you had to turn away a load of customers who didn't meet the strict criteria. (and if a firm's trying to save cash on insurance, what else are they skimping on?)

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As to price, shop around

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100% agree. Play them off against each other and never pay full price. Off season the prices collapse, even peak season
there's some leeway, they hate boats left in the Marina. A good trick is to find out if they've got no availability of a smaller boat. Then call up and ask for the smaller boat you know they can't provide. They will often come back with a bargain price on the larger boat you really wanted in the first place IYSWIM.

 

[benlui]

PM me if you want to know more about charter in Croatia I have just booked a yacht out of Zadar with direct flights from London Std at very low costs. I have all the reaserch done so if you want it pm me.