Contemplating first bareboat

D

down...2 greens

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 Jan 2013
Messages
106
Visit site
Dear forumites,

I'm relatively inexperienced at this yachting lark (although I've collected a few bits of RYA-stamped paper) but have thoroughly enjoyed myself messing around on boats. Having done 5 Med flotilla holidays and a few courses over the last few years I'm now thinking about pushing myself a bit further with a week's bareboat charter in September (somewhere fairly straightforward, maybe the South Ionian). It would be just myself and my wife, who is quite keen and has enjoyed the flotilla sailing, but would still consider herself very much a beginner.

I think it could be a great way to learn more, but I'd want the week to be relaxing as well. In particular, I'm wondering about the practicalities of mooring up without the crutch of a lead crew to find me a nice space and take the lines! (In fact, given that some of the quay walls etc can be quite awkward, with rusty old chains/rings instead of nice cleats to lasso, I'm even wondering how parking is negotiated at all without someone on shore...)

So, what do you reckon? Should we go for it, or is it just a recipe for unnecessary stress that would be better avoided by sticking with a flotilla? Any thoughts/hints/tips/advice gratefully received!
 
I'd take some friends along the first time so you're not putting your wife under too much pressure to accomplish what you're asking her to do. It's a big step up from both crewing for someone else.

Crew mess up sometimes, inexperienced crew even more so - as a skipper you've got to deal with it calmly. Handy if you just have someone else that you know can perform crewing tasks without micro-management.

Best if they're just a little less experienced than you - you don't want someone put in the position of being a know-it-all whether that's their natural inclination or not.

Don't take people who are likely to be a liability as it will just eat up your attention to manage them.

Remember when doing anything, e.g. boat handling, make sure you have an escape route. If it's going wrong, abort, then get somewhere where you can talk to your crew calmly and talk through the situation and what you want them to do. A quiet break like that can ease the stress.

Generally go for it - you have to do it sometime.

Make sure you & your crew are organised for the handover. Most charter companies are not above trying to land you with the bill for something that they initially missed when checking in the boat the last time. So you do need to go over the boat thoroughly and note everything you spot. A camera phone can help. If you can find a way to check underwater do it.
 
September is much quieter as all the mass tourists have gone, so less pressure on berthing space. Find out the flotilla intineraries and avoid clashing with them - the charter company will know about that. Try to avoid mooring in a cross wind - sometimes anchoring off and waiting for the wind to die down in the evening is a good idea.

Go with somebody like Sail Ionian who will give you a bit of tuition to boost your confidence before letting you loose. You will find confidence grows quickly if you don't put yourself and crew under pressure, so as suggested aborting is better than pressing on hoping you will be able to put right a mistake or misjudgement.
 
how about combining both? Take a bareboat, but ask if you can tag on to a flotilla for comfort. That way you are responsible for yourself and yours but help is not far away if you need it. That's I did last year - two week holiday, bareboat both weeks but the first week we tagged along with a flotilla until I got the gist of how things were done in the area and the second week we went off alone.
 
We did exactly the same as you. RYA courses, flotilla (once) then bareboat in the Ionian. We never looked back.

There is almost always someone on shore that strolls up to help with lines. However, one doesn't like to rely on that so a trick we were taught by a gruff German we chartered a boat from revolutionised our parking experience. It's not RYA approved but what you do is line up, reverse toward your parking spot and drop the anchor as normal. You then have the boat slightly in reverse and control her speed backwards by letting anchor chain out gently. Assuming the anchor holds, when you get close enough to the shore to get off, stop letting out chain but leave a touch of reverse on and the boat just 'hangs' on the anchor chain. The person operating the anchor can then go back to the stern, step off and tie up at leisure.

Then you sit back, enjoy your cold beer and watch everyone else coming in.
 
Hypocacculus said:
There is almost always someone on shore that strolls up to help with lines. However, one doesn't like to rely on that so a trick we were taught by a gruff German we chartered a boat from revolutionised our parking experience. It's not RYA approved but what you do is line up, reverse toward your parking spot and drop the anchor as normal. You then have the boat slightly in reverse and control her speed backwards by letting anchor chain out gently. Assuming the anchor holds, when you get close enough to the shore to get off, stop letting out chain but leave a touch of reverse on and the boat just 'hangs' on the anchor chain. The person operating the anchor can then go back to the stern, step off and tie up at leisure.

Then you sit back, enjoy your cold beer and watch everyone else coming in.
Click to expand...

You will soon get the trick of distinguishing between the town drunk who staggers up to "help" hoping for the gift of a beer to ensure he does not sober up; and the harbour master who will help professionally (and fairly patiently!) and then take a mooring fee off you. Even better is the skipper from the adjacent yacht on the quay who will assist for the benefit of reduced bumping against his boat and spilling his G&T!

I can't say I have used the taut anchor-line technique to slow the boat down, though it is often me on the foredeck. Unless there seems to be some problem aft causing us to be proceeding a bit too fast. On the other hand if there is a cross-wind and I made us lose way and steerage and hence be blown off course towards an adjacent boat I think I could expect a bit of remonstration!

If you can recruit a well-matched couple to make up a foursome it might make for less pressure, but it is a risk. Many years ago there was, on a flotilla, a foursome that I understood had been friends for many years but built up so much friction that neither couple stayed on the boat overnight but went off to different hotels!

Mike.
 
mjcoon said:
I can't say I have used the taut anchor-line technique to slow the boat down, though it is often me on the foredeck. Unless there seems to be some problem aft causing us to be proceeding a bit too fast. On the other hand if there is a cross-wind and I made us lose way and steerage and hence be blown off course towards an adjacent boat I think I could expect a bit of remonstration!

Mike.
Click to expand...

Fair comment, and we were pretty dubious about it until we tried it, but having a bit of pressure on the anchor chain helps stop your bow being blown off. However, the Ionian is a very gentle place to start sailing because it tends to suffer from a lack of wind so a good place to build up confidence parking on your own.

I also agree with your comments re taking friends. Be very, very careful who you choose, especially if they are land lubbers. My inclination would be to go as a couple and maybe with a laid back, trusted friend who has preferably lived with you at some time, seen you both at your absolute worst and is not fussy about toilets.
 
We did a bareboat charter for a week in the Sporades (42 and 37 foot Bavarias from Skiathos). It wasn't relaxing at all unfortunately. We were on a bit of a budget so went with a charter company that was quite a bit cheaper than the big companies (Sunsail, etc). Big mistake in my opinion. The boats were very badly maintained which you could probably get away with on a flotilla as you could badger the lead boat engineer but when you're on your own in unknown waters it was a bit scary. It basically ruined my holiday as the level of responsibility went way beyond what was expected (complete lack of trust in the equipment). This was compounded by bad weather and big swell at the top of the island chain...

I keep meaning to post about our experience but a summary of the issues we had is listed below (extract from a letter we sent to the company - no reply). So my advice is to pay a bit (or a lot) more for a decent company with a good reputation.

Here comes the rant! :)

----------------------------------------------------------

Arrived to find gas odour. On reporting it to the handover representative, it was dismissed as being 'air freshener we use when cleaning the boat'. We then found the source of gas smell to be in saloon cupboard where isolation valve is located. Further complaints finally resulted in engineer confirming that there was a leak at this valve and it was fixed. Resulted in delayed departure.

Incorrect butane regulator installed at bottle. This resulted in over-pressure at cooker producing very large burner flame, flaring and flame-out. Very dangerous to use as flexible gas hose was routed directly behind hob. We had to improvise a heat shield but tried to avoid using cooker.

When we enquired about the location of gas, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors we were told there were none (but 'there probably should be').

No fire blankets or mounted extinguishers.

Electric windlass failed on first use (effectively wasted most of a day waiting in port for engineer to resolve by replacing motor).

Inflatable dinghy had a bad air leak in one tube.

VHF Radio had damaged handset cord and subsequent radio checks indicated a possible transmission problem.

GPS not connected to VHF for DSC distress calling.

Poorly labelled breaker panel (text worn off). Handover representative did run through all the switch functions but many found to be incorrect.

Missing retaining pin from aft port-side guardrail at pushpit. This would have inevitably failed possibly resulting in man-overboard. Temporarily repaired by us using cable tie.

Forward heads back-filling (no anti-syphon loop fitted?).

Broken clutch on genoa halyard.

Failing clutch on mainsail furling line (slipping).

Multiple leaking hatches.

Significant diesel leak in engine room bilge

Incorrectly specified anchor and chain for size of vessel (far too light)
 
Last edited:
Tranona said:
September is much quieter as all the mass tourists have gone, so less pressure on berthing space. Find out the flotilla intineraries and avoid clashing with them - the charter company will know about that. Try to avoid mooring in a cross wind - sometimes anchoring off and waiting for the wind to die down in the evening is a good idea.

Go with somebody like Sail Ionian who will give you a bit of tuition to boost your confidence before letting you loose. You will find confidence grows quickly if you don't put yourself and crew under pressure, so as suggested aborting is better than pressing on hoping you will be able to put right a mistake or misjudgement.
Click to expand...

Singlehanded, mooring to a quay is fairly challenging, I've found anchoring off, as Tranona suggests, infinitely more relaxing and using the dinghy no problem.
 
With your experience of 5 flotillas I do not think a bare boat charter in the Southern Ionian will present you with any problems. People will and do help with mooring. The advantage of being on your own is that you pick the harbour/anchorage and when to go in and moor up. I think you will have a great time.
 
Last edited:
Go for it. Two suggestions from me:

1). Get a smallish boat (30-33 foot) and decline any free "upgrades" - much lighter to handle and can generally adjust any mooring issues manually

2). Get Navionics on your phone and a waterproof case - great for pre-passage planning and as a fallback if the boat's equipment does not include a decent plotter (many don't or are pretty rubbish)
 
Thanks for all the input folks. The idea of taking along another pair of hands had also occurred to us, but none of the likely candidates is available on the dates we're free. I really like the idea of being able to dip in and out of a flotilla, (armed with Navionics) so I'll certainly explore that option. And the 'hanging on the anchor' trick is one I've seen done before but never had the need to attempt for myself (though I do wonder about it in a crosswind!).

Anyway, your advice is a great start. If anyone has any other thoughts or tips please do keep them coming!
 
My first thought - having done both charters and bareboating in Greece, both the Ionian and elsewhere - was "why tie to a town quay at all?" We got metaphorically rather tired of the "rip-off the yachties" mentality of the restaurant owners and literally tired because almost every small port seems to have its disco which goes at full volume until the small hours, making sleep impossible for everyone (how or why the locals stand it, I don't know...). So we sailed all day, looked for nice small isolated anchorages (of which there are many), dropped the hook, cooked for ourselves, swam, read, slept in peace and comfort and woke in the mornings to glorious surroundings. When we needed provisions, we went into the port in the morning, shopped quickly and got away while the port-captain was having his siesta.

Once you get over the nervous feeling of not trusting the anchor, this to me is what cruising is about. We monitored the weather, which on our two weeks was usually good and didn't stay out if high winds or swell were forecast. But you can usually find somewhere sheltered to be, anyway.

Hanging on the anchor in close proximity to a wall isn't, IMHO, a stress-free situation, even when you've got the ropes on. Hanging on the same anchor, well dug-in at a lovely spot, is!
 
I've never done flotilla sailing but found my first bareboat trips quite a big step up. My first was a weekend in the Solent followed soon after by two weeks in Croatia. Big steps but definitely worth it. Afterwards I felt empowered to charter with friends pretty much at the drop of a hat knowing I would be able to handle the trip. Then went on to buy a boat last summer.
I definitely agree though, go with a reputable company, one where the company has a presence out there rather than just a UK only operation acting as a broker for a bunch of local companies. We went with Nautilus who are a broker. The booking process was great but once out there we were very much on our own with the locals.


Go for it. Plan an itinerary that means you don't get tired or feel under pressure, and know that you will have a few mishaps but they'll all be minor in the grand scheem of things - then you'll have a great time!
 
When we started chartering we did one flotilla in the South Ionian then a bareboat also in the SI. Then we chartered bareboat in Croatia then bareboat in most of the Greece and Turkey areas, Malta, Corsica and Sardinia, Balearics, the Caribbean from Puerto Rico to Grenada, Bahamas and Seychelles. We chartered two or three time a year for over 20 years, it was cheaper than owning a boat in the UK and we had no limited sailing season.

Start bareboat chartering a few times in the relatively benign areas the Ionian and BVI's. Then move on to places like Malta and the Balearics, then move up the scale to Antigua and Guadeloupe,we often went back to places we really liked. Always check the winds in the area where you are thinking of going. For example you can get the Christmas winds in the Caribbean which blow from mid December to mid February generally around 30 knots. The Seychelles has two monsoon seasons and in the Greek islands the Meltemi is the strongest in August and the Ferries stop running.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top