Chartering

[richardknight]

Quite a few charter companies have their own web sites these days which helps in making comparisons. Now....for all of you who have chartered a yacht at some point what sort of information do you look for/try to get hold of in order to make your decision?

Are big companies better than small, new boats better than old, etc.....

Thanks,

Richard

 

[rogerroger]

1. type of boat - one to suit what you want to do
2. Price - some are really expensive.
3. Location - can you get there? can your friends find it
4. Personal service - good customer service is essential.

I used to charter with Peculiar Yachts - good boats, good location (Haslar) and good personal service e.g would hold bookings without deposit, would negotiate a price if required and most of all didn't spend hours going through the inventory.

I once charterd on the Hamble and spent 2 hours on a Friday night after having driven down from London going through everything literally done to the last tea spoon while my crew were in the pub!

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[webcraft]

There's an article at http://www.bluemoment.com/chartering.html which might provide you with some information.

- Nick

 

[Guest]

Roger is right in that you often get what you pay for in terms of service and quality of craft - some are "teaspoon counters" who will even try to charge for a blown bulb, but then you have the right to complain about the slightest problem. Alternatively, some have craft that are 10-15 years old that you would expect to have a few small problems that, if you have some common sense, you live with and get a decent sail for less money. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

try a few, ask other skippers you moor up to and see why they use the companies they do, and when you find one who suits your attitude to yachting, stick with them.


HOWEVER, I definately disagree about Peculiar Yachts of Haslar, the location is good and the boats ok but..............

IMHO, you can do better for the same money or cheaper.

 

[steve_cronin]

My boat...

... is available through Kiriacoulis Med.

She is a Bavaria 42 (new in April 2001) with four double cabins.

This season we are moving her to the Ionian as we havn't covered that area in detail for about eight years. She will be based in Gouvia Marina, Corfu.

To get to the point:

Why did we choose Kiriacoulis as our management company?

Well, it's down to quality. Quality of charterers obtained, quality of staff employed (except one drunken cleaner!) and quality of maintenance.

Accidents will happen but I have never heard of anyone having a bad word to say for that company (unlike another I could mention but threat of litigation might prevent me from doing so)

Give Katrin the bookings manager a ring on 00301988618791. She speaks good english and they own and/or manage boats between 31 & 55ft all over the world (ex UK). Those in the "Prestige" fleet are all less than 3years old.

This is not an ad. as I get my income regardless of who charters what.

Steve Cronin

 

[rogerroger]

Yes, we all have different experiences with companies I suppose. Friends of mine were very unimpressed with a boat from Peculiar they chartered for a 4 day cross channel trip that had a faulty VHF, no hand held compass and a host of other problems.

You can find a lot cheaper if you find a "private" charter, an individual with one boat for example who has less over heads. But then pop up the other end of Portsmouth harbour to the well known large fleet of Sunfast 36s and check out those charter prices! Outrageous!

Would be interested in your views of Peculiar - PM me if you'd rather not state here...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[rogerroger]

Re: My boat...

have they got a web site ?

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[NDG]

I have done quite a bit of chartering on the S coast over the last 5 years, before finally buying my own boat recently. I would advise the following:

Steer clear of sailing schools who charter their boats out privately to maximise cash flow. Understandable aims, but more often than not the boats are shot to pieces by v intensive use. I have had experiences of one nameless school who chartered boats to me on which a Jackstay parted (yes actually parted, luckily no one was in the process of going overboard at the time!), diesel has soaked the aft cabin floor, an engine has failed, sails have been stuck up in luff grooves and refused to come down etc etc the list goes on.

Find yourself a private charterer who might own or manage one or two boats and stick with him. Even if the boats are old, they will be well maintained, and you can usually negotiate a discount if he knows you from an earlier charter - people like this value your business (and they won't count teaspoons either!). I can recommend two or three people I have used if you want - e-mail me on ng@hepherdixon.co.uk

Nick

 

[tcm]

Fairview in Hamble aren't teaspoony, BOSS at hamble point were, tho five years ago, even on second charter.

Sunsail (in carib and ionian) aren't at all teaspoony. Advantage of bigger outfits is that (for the charterer) they've usually got more than one, so I have been upgraded cos the ordered boat was no good. Likewise if it's bust halfway thru, better chance of swap if you aren't far away. This also happened when dinghy went flat. But can appreciate that a less than personal touch wil be used for the owner - they're all "sunsail boats".

However, under no circumstance whatever would I ever let my boat be chartered bareboat, and (since others put their links in) mine is on
http://www.diana23.com

 

[vyv_cox]

Sorry, Won't be enquiring, I really can't stand purple leather seating. ;~)

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: My boat...

Yes

http://www.kiriacoulis.com/

but also see my private message to you

Steve Cronin

 

[richardknight]

Thanks for everyone's reply.....interesting stuff which all makes sense. I was particularly interested as a sanity check for some work I've been doing working with a bunch of charter companies and sailing schools primarily around the UK of late in getting a new Charter/Training/Holiday Cruise web site off the ground.

It's still early days but we're getting there. If you're able to take a look I'd appreciate any views you have either via the bulletin board or direct to me. Rather than emblazoning this message with the url you can find it in my profile if you're interested.

Thanks.

 

[rogerroger]

your web site...

Richard

Had a very quick look at the web site and have a few initial comments

1. Use of "Franklin Gothic Book" font - I don't have it on my PC nor my Mac, so I get the default Times NR font which doesn't look very good. Specify one of the generic web fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Verdana etc, or specify these are secondary fonts that will be selected if users don't have Franklin Gothic Book.

tag would be <font face="Franklin Gothic Book", "Arial", "Helvetic">text</font>

or use CSS - this will give you far greater control.


2. I guess you might have no choice, but something that really infuriates me is "POA" under cost. The whole point of a web site is to give this kind of info so if you've then got to pick up the phone then the site has failed. At least provide an approximate price or a range with a caveat that the exact price is on application

3. the site design is OK, pleasing on the eye and simple. But I think there's too much text on the home page - for me this is an instant turn off - "Am I really expected to read this" is my first reaction - I'd move the graphics up and the text down.

4. Global nav - uses have no idea what the 3 icons in the top right corner are for until they click on them - make it a bit of guess work.

best of luck!!

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk