Chartering in Greece

[pmartin127]

I was just about to suggest Sail Ionian but Tranona beat me to it. As you will see they have a very large fleet and have a well deserved reputation for reliable yachts
and a very knowledgeable team of engineers headed up by Chip (Chris) Di and Neil's son. They are based in Nidri on Levkas which gives access to a wide range of
islands to visit. We've been going out to the Ionian chartering since 2006 (with Sail Ionian) and for the last 10 years with our own boat (ex- Sail Ionain) and every
time we always find somewhere new that we've never visited before. Dare I suggest that there's more to see in the inland sea than Corfu which does have large
tracts of eastern shoreline given over to bars and more bars that attract the less savoury members of society.

 

[finestgreen]

Does anyone have an opinion on Seafarer Sailing Holidays ?

 

[DownWest]

Skipmac. I know somebody who has a new Benateau 51 in management in Greek waters, has a fixed cockpit cover. I could ask him about it, as in who handles it and where, plus how much sun protection it has.

Edit: just sent him a note.

 

[mjcoon]

Does anyone have an opinion on Seafarer Sailing Holidays ?

Been sailing with them for years. Even flew out on one trip in the next plane seat to their CEO who was on his way to check up on operations.
They are more reliable than this line on their web site might suggest: "Copyright © 2023 Seafarer Crusing & Sailing Holidays. All Rights Reserved"

 

[DownWest]

Seems he has his Sense 51 with Navigare Greece Yacht Charter & Sailing Vacations | Navigare Yachting (navigare-yachting.com) Who also have cats...

He came back 'tout de suite' with the comment that the boat was aimed at the cat market, but with one hull. Lots of shade. Several 'hull windows' too.

 

[Daverw]

we would recommend sail Ionian used them twice and very professional with new boats, again last week sept / 1st week oct preferred

 

[sails_02]

chartered last year June South Ionian flying in via PVK airport 20min taxi from Lefkada, easy London flights

anchored only for 7 days, got smashed by the microburst storm but otherwise perfect destination for easy sailing as the storm was an anomaly!

used this team who were great Yacht Charter Lefkas | Ionion Sails Greece

 

[tat27]

We are chartering with Sail Ionian 2nd week of October, we have used them before and would 100% recommend them.
We have also used Nisos on Lefkas who are a similar UK owned and managed company, with excellent support & reliability. When we went with Nisos in Sep 2 years I was surprised at how busy the Ionian was - they had one boat left for charter, Sail Ionain had only a couple.
I have used Kiriacoulis once from Corfu and never again - "our" boat was not fitted out well (2 mugs on a 40 footer & anchor winch broke after 2 days - raising that manually was character building)

 

[shan]

Personally and historically I mainly sail monohulls. Reason I'm looking at a cat is for the sun protection. Wife is at high risk for skin cancer and must stay out of the midday sun. The problem with 99% of monohulls is out of the sun means below, cut off from the outside world. A Bimini top helps but still way too much reflected sun from the water unless there's side curtains, big pilothouse or a deck salon layout. Cats have a big salon with big windows so she can still enjoy the locale without the burn.

We chartered a cat in Greece through Helm. We have used them a few times and they have been very good.

 

[skipmac]

We chartered a cat in Greece through Helm. We have used them a few times and they have been very good.

Thanks, Good info but have run into a glitch. Email from one of the charter companies I contacted informs me that to charter in Greece one must have a certification like ICC, ASA 104, or a couple of others I don't recall. No matter that one might have 40 years boating experience, 30,000 blue water miles, owned boats up to 65'. No paper, no charter. Initial investigation it would set me back over $2000 US to get the ASA 104. ^#%&%#%!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[finestgreen]

Thanks, Good info but have run into a glitch. Email from one of the charter companies I contacted informs me that to charter in Greece one must have a certification like ICC, ASA 104, or a couple of others I don't recall. No matter that one might have 40 years boating experience, 30,000 blue water miles, owned boats up to 65'. No paper, no charter. Initial investigation it would set me back over $2000 US to get the ASA 104. ^#%&%#%!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should be able to do just a one-day ICC assessment for a relatively small amount

 

[st599]

You should be able to do just a one-day ICC assessment for a relatively small amount

USA isn't a signatory to the ICC resolution and can't issue them.

 

[finestgreen]

USA isn't a signatory to the ICC resolution and can't issue them.

I believe the RYA can issue to US citizens. Eg


ICC - International Certificate of Competence

 

[Obi]

Having done a six month stint as a Sunsail bareboat skipper in the Ionian here is my tuppence:

Sept - the weather has begun to turn and the Ionian can get fierce at anytime, but frequency increases during Sept. Possibly once a fortnight there is a big blow. There are plenty of websites to help track air movement and talking to other skippers in each port is always worth doing.

July/August can be extremely warm. We regularly saw 45'. Aircon helps, but annoys the neighbours due to noise.

Anchoring is common place. You will need to be aware of your safe bolt holes should a storm come in and not all bolt holes are safe from all wind directions.

Yachts frequently have problems it is not necessarily a sign of poor maintenance, it is just a fact of life on board. I was there for 6 months, up to two boats a week, I probably sailed 20+ different yachts. I had a couple of issues, but every week, most days the fleet had at least one problem to sort out, the rib would despatched with two staff and spares and was usually sent out immediately once spares were obtained. Sure, if someone else has a problem the same day you might be waiting for that to get fixed, but they do also have a second boat that sometimes gets sent out. Sunsail carried a lot of spares themselves, and the other businesses around their Lefkas base are aware that Sunsail operate 100+ yachts in the area and so they also carry spares (makes business sense to do so). So, in short a problem on a Sunsail boat is more often than not sorted out within the same day, if not half a day. I am certain that some yachts must have waited longer at times, but I have even seen customers get a whole yacht swapped out for an upgrade for things that were not easily fixable. It was the Sunsail staff that unloaded and reloaded the new yacht saving customers the trauma of having to carry a bag 10 feet.

The Sunsail cats are superb and generally kept in excellent condition. Very roomy, very well kitted out, generators/aircon.big fridge/freezer, USB/stereo, plenty of power outlets. Each cabin is ensuite and double. The bigger the cat the more roomy but they are all impressive in terms of accommodation and equipment.

I have seen other large charter companies where the staff just do not care. At Frikes I had to go and find the lead crew of another flotilla company to tell them the swell was pushing their boats into each other and against the quay, fenders and lines were not doing their job. I offered to sort it out for them, they agreed to let me clamber over their yachts and sort it out for them so thry could stay in the bar. This company's name begins with "N" and their entire fleet was a fleet of sheds that I would not want to holiday on. Sunsail would not do that, and I repeatedly saw the Sunsail crews dive into the main channel in Fiskardo to untangle anchors that had nothing to do with them, they were just helping out. other sailors.

EDIT: 100 boats a week means a few hundred customers every week. Some of them were appalled and extremely angry when the yacht they chartered had an issue and thought that it was a disgrace. I disagree, "a boat with a problem" is a fact of life for a fleet of 100, it is how they address it and how quickly they address it that counts. Checklists were submitted by customers to skippers at the end of the holiday debrief session. If something is reported it is fixed that weekend, if it is not reported then it might take the following weeks customer to identify it, at which point, see what I wrote above/

 

[Obi]

Just to add another choice. this sailionian.com/yacht-charter-prices/ has a Nautec available mid Sept. another family owned and run company. Neil and Di have been doing this for 25 years or so, both in Levkas and the Grenadines in the winter. boats are privately owned under a management scheme so are kept in good condition and usually less than 5 years old (this boat is 2021).

Levkas is southern Ionian with a good choice of going either north or south. Not so easy to access as the local airport is mostly charter flights from N Europe and UK, but reasonable taxi/minibus ride from Athens which they will arrange for you. Or if you want the authentic Greek experience take the airport bus to the downtown terminal and then the regular bus to Levkas, Spectacular scenery including the huge bridge across the Gulf of Patras. Takes about 4 hours with a short comfort break.

One of my house mates in Lefkas town was a skipper for Sail Ionian. She had more knowledge of the Ionian than most of the other skippers I met in that area, and she had only good things to say about Sail Ionian and the team.

 

[38mess]

There is an article in Saturday's daily mail about chartering in Greece. Sunsail charter 8 berth cats, it does sound amazing.

 

[shan]

Thanks, Good info but have run into a glitch. Email from one of the charter companies I contacted informs me that to charter in Greece one must have a certification like ICC, ASA 104, or a couple of others I don't recall. No matter that one might have 40 years boating experience, 30,000 blue water miles, owned boats up to 65'. No paper, no charter. Initial investigation it would set me back over $2000 US to get the ASA 104. ^#%&%#%!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not yet come across a Charter Company that will charter without certification. We have chartered in Thailand, Greece, Turkey and Croatia.

 

[Davy_S]

I lived in the Ionian for 11 years, they have certainly tightened up as regards an ICC for bareboat charter, the only other way is to go on a flotilla , there have been so many silly mistakes caused by inexperienced bareboat charterers, it had to happen.

 

[38mess]

I lived in the Ionian for 11 years, they have certainly tightened up as regards an ICC for bareboat charter, the only other way is to go on a flotilla , there have been so many silly mistakes caused by inexperienced bareboat charterers, it had to happen.

I can relate to this. We hired a bav 49 in September as novices, it was a really tired and worn out boat.

We had engine problems the first day out and we couldn't get anyone on the phone from the 'charter company' we fixed the engine ourselves. The second day just off Corfu we were hit by a horrendous storm which although we could see coming over the mainland we couldn't outrun it. We managed to get the sails in.

We were met with big waves, lightning, hail and rain, wind over 50 knots. It lasted for about half an hour then cleared to sunshine and flat calm conditions.
We should have read up on this as apparently storms like this are common in the autumn. We just battened everything down and sat it out, we had enough searoom for about an hour.
It was pretty scary.
We were checking the weather all week after this.
We were totally unprepared although I work in the boating industry

 

[Davy_S]

It can be strange in September, you can be sat in a Taverna, very warm, in the distance you can see electrical storms, lightning flashing everywhere, it may not come anywhere near you, but when it does, it is usually over quite quickly, its years ago now, but a Sunsail yacht smashed into my boat, which was moored up, Sunsail were the scum of the earth, they avoided/denied damage and told me to take them to court, i should have done, i had witnesses, i wish i had now!