Flotilla company recommendation please

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John the kiwi

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As part of a European holiday my wife and i are considering a flotilla holiday for a week in the Greek islands in mid May.
I have my own boat and Dayskipper and Boatmaster quals and could get my ICC at a push but since this part of the world is new to me in all respects I thought that a flotilla experience would be a good way of dipping my toes in the water so to speak.

Any recommendations of companies to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks
John
 
There are just so many - and very few duds. However, the biggest in the flotilla scene are Sailing Holidays who operate mostly in the northern Ionian with a base in Corfu. Normally sell inclusive packages with flights from UK. You will have no problem with them over qualifications. However, if you want to go bare boat it is sensible to have an ICC as it avoids any bother with the Port police when getting your permit.

May is a brilliant time to go - but avoid the last week which is the UK school holiday week. You can tell by the hike in prices for both boats and flights!. A flotilla is good if you want the social experience, but cruising there is really easy. Usually 20-40 miles a day with plenty of choices of small towns with quays for overnight stops and lunch time anchorages. Everybody speaks English, but the experience is definitely Greek! Corfu is the best starting point if you are flying in from elsewhere as there are plenty of flights both direct or from Athens.

See if you can get hold of a copy of Rod Heikell's Ionian pilot which will give you a good idea of what you can expect. Sailing holidays show the routes they take for flotillas which mostly take in the popular sites.

If you want to go bareboat the smaller UK run operators are Sail Ionian and Nisos Charters on Levkas and Bobs Yachts, Pinnacle Yachts on Corfu.
 
We bareboated with Nisos last year in the Ionian, and found them excellent - very friendly and helpful - definitely would go again with them. But I am sure there are many.

I think Greek law requires you to have an ICC or equivalent before you can charter - I was definitely asked for mine, but I guess it depends on the company how strict they are.
 
We have our own boat in uk but missed the weather and so did a sunsail flotilla last October. We are experienced enough to go bareboating, we know the Ionian like the back of our hand but paid for a flotilla. Why? The way I see it it's a bit more of a break.

I see it as a bit like valet parking : stay out til 5, knowing there is a slot on the quay. There's a table booked for dinner and even your decision about where to go is done for you. I'm sure lots of people would hate this but I think this is a halfway house between sailing our boat for a week and a beach holiday.

We've been in May too - the shoulder seasons are a nice time to go: stuff is open but not so scorchio that you don't want to explore.
 
We have done flotillas and bareboat in the Ionian and love it as a destination. There is no shortage of quiet spots to anchor for a break and the overnights have their own charm. Fiskardo, for example, is lovely especially anchored with a line ashore on the opposite side of the bay from the town quay. We have used Seafarer on a couple of occasions and been very pleased, nice people to deal with. They also do flotillas from Lefkas and Kefalonia so a bit more choice of destinations. We too avoid the school holidays.
 
You do need a ICC in Greece. Sunsail has the most flotilllas in the Greek islands go to www.latesail.com Choose the area you want then keep an eye on prices and book three months ahead that's when you will get the best price for airline tickets. Sunsail used to do flight and charter packages with airport pick up but I can't find it now. https://www.sunsail.co.uk/sailing-holidays/flotillas
 
Another vote for Sailing Holidays, we have used them several times. Clean, well maintained boats, and very competent lead crews. Also plenty of routes to choose from. On the flotilla we did last September, there was a boat with 4 Americans. They had flown to the UK and then come on the same chartered flight as the rest of us, but they went home independently after spending a few days in Athens. Sailing Hols were happy to arrange this for them.
 
John the kiwi said:
As part of a European holiday my wife and i are considering a flotilla holiday for a week in the Greek islands in mid May.
I have my own boat and Dayskipper and Boatmaster quals and could get my ICC at a push but since this part of the world is new to me in all respects I thought that a flotilla experience would be a good way of dipping my toes in the water so to speak.

Any recommendations of companies to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks
John
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Barry Neilson owner of Sailing Holidays is from New Zealand. His daughter Amy run the office i believe.
 
Have been with Sailing Holidays 2 or 3 times - a good company I would be happy to use again -well organised but not too 'corporate'.

The support and briefings provided will take the stress out of the unfamiliarity, but are not intrusive. You can join in the organised social side of things as much or as little as you want. If the flotilla leader gets the impression you know what you're doing, they may well agree to you going off on your own, or with another boat, for a number of days.
 
I choose not to recommend or promote Sailing Holidays to my friends anymore.

It has just become so difficult to book boat and date of choice. For example I like to do the 3 week deliveries from Corfu to Epidavros at the beginning of the season (May). I was having a belter of a time during the 2015 delivery that I messaged the London office to book for 2016 - they initially told me they had nothing left! They emailed me the next day to say they had a new 45 footer available - well keen as I am - that is just not cost effective for two people so I let that go - but booked a 33 footer for 2017! So booking 2 years ahead - that's why I don't promote them anymore - they are 'victims' of their own success.
 
jordanbasset said:
Do not think you would go wrong with Sailing Holidays, Sunsail or Neilson, I would go on price and convenience for you
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Complete agreement. I've worked in this field since 1980 (!). These 3 companies have been in close competition since then. Each has sufficient boats and staff to offer highly polished and reliable services. Over the last 15 years I've chartered often with any one of them, depending who has the boats available when I want.

My personal assessment is that Sunsail aim a bit up-market, with some rigidity in the way they conduct flotillas. Neilson have award winning staff training schemes, giving a bias towards bringing novices into sailing. And Barry's Sailing Holidays are very informal - with great engineering care taken to ensure their yachts are easy to handle and maintain.

It's rare to see any of these promoted by "Latesail". They usually sell out.
 
I totally agree with jordanbasset. Sailingholidays Sunsail and Nielsen would be my top three. Sailing holidays is probably the most laid back and possibly cheaper, some of the boats being a bit older, but you will have a lot of fun with them. Sunsail and Nielsen are more "premium", the boats are more recent but they are perhaps not so laid back and flexible.
Beware the Sunsail "Kefalonia" flotilla, if you read the itinerary you only spend one day midweek there. We were annoyed by this, but managed to negotiate some time away from the flotilla to actually visit some other ports in Kefalonia. Flotilla sailing is a bit "sailing by numbers" but the social side does go a long way to make up for this.
 
+1 for Sailing Holidays if you're fancying a flotilla holiday. They always put on a good, social show.

If you're looking at bareboat, we went with Nisos this past summer and certainly couldn't complain. Reasonably priced and a decent boat. We had a fault with the anchor windlass which they came and fixed within the hour.
 
philwebb said:
I totally agree with jordanbasset. Sailingholidays Sunsail and Nielsen would be my top three. Sailing holidays is probably the most laid back and possibly cheaper, some of the boats being a bit older, but you will have a lot of fun with them. Sunsail and Nielsen are more "premium", the boats are more recent but they are perhaps not so laid back and flexible.
Beware the Sunsail "Kefalonia" flotilla, if you read the itinerary you only spend one day midweek there. We were annoyed by this, but managed to negotiate some time away from the flotilla to actually visit some other ports in Kefalonia. Flotilla sailing is a bit "sailing by numbers" but the social side does go a long way to make up for this.
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In my experience The Moorings offer better spec boats than Sunsail, at a price of course, but seem to be specialising in cats these days I think.

Our first ever charter was with Sunsail from Sivota (they're now in Levkas I think) and we had no qualifications and had only ever sailed a dinghy we decided that a flotilla holiday would be a good way of learning about big boats. On the third morning the Flotilla Skipper came over to us and asked us if we wanted to go off and meet up for the end of flotilla dinner on the final night in Vassiliki. I was a bit slow on the uptake and asked whether he meant "go off" with all the other flotilla boats but without him.

He laughed and explained that he would stay with the other boats and that we two (we were two couples on holiday with a boat each) would go off without everyone else. And so we did. Fiskardo, Vathi, Frikes, Kioni etc were lovely. :)

Both couples eventually bought our own boats but very sadly my old friend died young five years ago. Enjoy the lovely moments whilst you can.

Richard
 
My son worked for Neilson and then Sailing Holidays. He thinks that both are good for flots with different pros and cons. Depending on how much help/guidance/parking you need any of the above quoted are good, and as stated, go by your budget. If you are happy to bareboat there are a great number of Companies from one/two boats right up to the big boys.

We kept a boat there for seven great years. As said above get a copy of God Rods pilot for a flavour of the area. It is a great place to holiday and have a good time so just go for it...
 
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