Flotilla hols in Greece

[sky7liner]

I'm planning on doing a flotilla holiday in Greece towards the end of Sept. I have DS but this will be my first time in charge of a boat. It'll just be my partner and me. Does anybody have any recommendations? Sailingholidays.com looks pretty good but has anybody been with them?

 

[ridgy]

We did 2 weeks with SH in September last year.
Had a great time, would be my first choice if I went again. Book with confidence.

 

[Jamesuk]

Hi,

Sunsail Club Vounaki - I would suggest to Charter a Sunsail 32i : easy to handle for just two of you and a nice spacious boat with all the gear that you will need.

There should be some absolute bargains in September after the kids are back at school. Maybe even do a two week charter but as your new to it I would recommend a week at Club Vounaki to relax and unwind and get used to sailing in the area. For more info look at the websites below.

http://www.sunsail.co.uk/flotillas
http://www.sunsail.co.uk/clubs

ps you may want to know - I currently work at Sunsail Club Vounaki

The couples that come for two weeks (a week at Club then week on flotilla) enjoy it more! Something to consider, especially if the partner is "new" to sailing it helps break them in gently.

A couple I had on the 3 day Flotilla course a few weeks ago (while staying at the club in the first week) had a force 6 and heavy rain on two of the days then glorious sunshine on the 3rd. The following week they went on to do there Flotilla week and they felt completely prepared and sailed with PERFECT conditions. The husband had just done his Day Skipper in the UK over Easter.

If you like I can email him and have him get in contact with you for advice on a possible trip. They are planning to come back in September if they find a bargain for a 1-2 week Flotilla.

Enjoy!

James

 

[RichardS]

We had a very enjoyable time in Vounaki a few years ago. It was great for the kids but I even managed to persuade my wife to spend some time dinghy sailing with me. Even if you capsize the water's warm!

However, it is all inclusive and because the food was not that great we used to walk into the nearby town but that does increase the cost.

We took a 30 footer out for the day although we flotilla'd for the first time out of the old Sunsail base nearby in Sivota about 15 years ago and it is a great area to sail in and very safe with no tides and very few shoals. The only problem we had was with the rats which ran up the shore lines on Meganisi in the night - but that's another story!

Have a great time wherever you go.

Richard

 

[Achillesheel]

We have used Sailing Hols several times, their boats are well looked after, the lead crews know their stuff and work very hard, and the shore crew are also very efficient and friendly.

We are doing their Faraway Islands flot in September, can't wait.

 

[CharlesSwallow]

I'm planning on doing a flotilla holiday in Greece towards the end of Sept. I have DS but this will be my first time in charge of a boat. It'll just be my partner and me. Does anybody have any recommendations? Sailingholidays.com looks pretty good but has anybody been with them?

We have had our current boat in Greece since 2001 and if I were you I would go with your expressed feelings and sign up with Sailing Holidays. We started this greek madness in 1978 with them - then called "Flotilla Sailing Club" in a Jaguar 27 and they still have them but they also have some quite new boats of all sizes right up to 50ft.

With a day skipper you will probably be the most qualified skipper in the flot! We see them (kids from NZ & Oz mainly) treating their often seriously inexperienced "charges" to crash courses in boatmanship. Don't worry, if you havn't moored back or forward against an anchor before, you'll soon get the hang of it. The initial briefing and the daily breakfast meetings will prepare you well for the comparitively short passages they undertake <20miles per day on average, often much less. The social side is excellent and they'll help you moor up at night (often to the annoyance of us own-boaters but don't worry!)

Sun(scum) sail are very restrictive in what they will allow you to do and are generally a much more "sanitized" outfit based more on style than enjoyment. Nielson has a very much older fleet (don't confuse with SH as they are also owned by another Mr Nielson) and the day-glo orange sails are a bit off-putting by the way they tend to "brand" you as a "flotist"

Do it; you'll have a great time. The two of you will easily handle one of their 34footers especially on the "nursery slopes" of the Ionian. (if you can't, the lead boat crew will make it look as if you can!)

Chas

 

[Ahab&Bligh]

Would also recommend sailing hols, good crews, lots of fun.

 

[Perry]

Would also recommend sailing hols, good crews, lots of fun.

Ditto, you won't go wrong with SH

 

[Pasarell]

Flotilla in Greece

Going against the flow here! I've never been with SH but we did go with Nautilus to the Ionian last year and couldn't fault them. They use boats from a local company called Odysseus, mainly Bavarias and Jeanneaus but we had a Greek built boat, Odysseus 32 that was older, and quite a lot cheaper. All were refitted in 2004 ish with new rigs, in mast furling, new engines, plumbing, electrics etc. Loads of space for 2 and really easy to handle. Made the Jaguars from SH look very small and a bit dated.

 

[gregmlucas]

Yet another vote for Sailing Holidays

Their fleet may be older than some but is very well maintained and, because of the age and size of some of the boats, they can offer a range of options from value to relative luxury.

I did a southern ionian flotilla with SH in June 2006 (I think). Like you I was a newly qualified DS, my wife had never even been on a yacht before and was very nervous. It was just the two of us on a 32" Beneteau.

We had a fantastic time, by the end of the week my wife was saying that it had been the most relaxing holiday she had ever had and was raring to book the next one. Unlike most holidays, we remained relaxed and on GMT (Greek Maybe Time) for weeks after we got back.

The success of this trip was due to a combination of three factors:

• The sailing area is great, lots of short sails and (at that time) no big seas or strong winds. Just watch out for the Meganisi wasps.
  
• A simple piece of advice I was given in light of this being my wife's first time afloat. You, with the DS cert, will be the expert on board. If your wife/partner has little or no experience, help her learn to be able to helm a straight course at the earliest opportunity (wheel steering helped). That way if anything else needs doing or there is a problem, you have a helm you can rely on and you, as the expert, can deal with everything else. This was also helpful as it gave my wife some sense of being in control - in fact I didn't get a look in on the helm for the first three days! We saw so many rows on other boats, between other couples where the male half seemed to think that in order to be in charge, he had to be at the helm which then left him shouting at his better half in frustration because she didn't know how to tie a bowline, have the strength or technique to work a winch or know what a lazy sheet was. We didn't have a cross word for the whole trip.
  
• The third factor was, in no small part, the team at Sailing Holidays. At the time we went, a close family member had been in and out of intensive care. We advised the SH team in the UK that we might need to get back in a hurry, they passed this on to the on-site team and when we got there we were assured that in an emergency, they would do what ever was necessary to get us back to the UK ASAP. We didn't need to go back early but it was great knowing that the support would be there if needed. That's what I call personal service. The lead skipper, engineer and hosty were brilliant. They really knew their jobs, gave short but helpful morning briefings and were always there to see every boat leave safely and tie up again safely in the evening. As a just qualified DS with just the one novice crew, the briefings and support leaving and arriving each day really took the pressure off me so we both had a great holiday.

One other good thing with SH flotillas is that whilst there are some organised evenings, there is no pressure to take part and there are other evenings where you are left entirely to your own devices. For us the was the best possible combination of social activity and freedom.

As an aside, almost as soon as we got back, my wife booked a 2 week flotilla in the BVIs with ScumSail. We had a very different experience, to the extent that we ended up leaving the flotilla early and spending the rest of the fortnight at a resort in Antigua. I can't comment on SS in Greece but we will never use them again anywhere.

This post ended up somewhat longer than I hade expected but I hope it helps.

Good sailing!

. . Greg

 

[jhr]

I wouldn't worry too much about your relative inexperience. For the first few days, they'll be holding your hand (telling you where to go, helping you moor up etc) and after a few days of that you'll be fine. Most flotillas give you a couple of days' free sailing towards the end of the week, which may give you cause for concern before you go, but which you will relish when you come to do it.

I haven't sailed in the Ionian, but I gather conditions are gentle (perhaps too gentle, sometimes?) so it's an easy baptism.

 

[jimbaerselman]

There really is nothing to choose between the companies offering flotilla holidays (choose flotilla, rather than bareboat). It is a highly competitive field. Many of the supervisory staff served initially with one or other company, then moved on to another to take a more senior position.

Neilson and Sailing Holidays Ltd have had the same senior management in place since the early 1980's, and as a result have very polished (completely different!) staff training systems - and very polished customer handling. Many of the small independent charter companies have been set up by their ex-staff. Sunsail management have had less continuity.

All three companies have a large number of satisfied clients, many of whom believe that the company they sailed with is "the best". A bit like "which anchor" arguments, this is the "it worked for me" statement. Few of those who advocate one or other company have sailed with any of the others, but will happily still criticise the other based on hearsay.

It's interesting to see how much each company has to advertise to gain replacement clients. Go on, have a look through the mags, then ask "why?"

 

[andymcp]

Another emphatic vote for SH. We had sailed as crew for years before we took charge of our first proper yacht with them as a couple. Departure day saw us in the cockpit against the quay wall with three flotillas heading off that morning. All 3 did their initial briefings in earshot of us, and we knew we'd made the right choice. Very relaxed, very supportive of you giving a go (Barrie, the boss of the outfit, put it beautifully when we met him over a beer - if you are willing to give it a go, they are willing to let you).

Lead crews are simply outstanding. For me, that was the deal clincher for repeat booking with them when we then took the kids the following summer aged between 1 and 9. They also look out for you wherever you are going - with the flotilla or without - and often had quietly made sure a spot was waiting for us when we went solo for a night or two (they'd called the taverna owner on Spartahori and made sure he kept a space free).

I only sailed with Sunsail for a day once with a friend, and never with Neilson. We did however - on more than one occasion - end up having to help Sunsail boats into harbours on blowy evenings when their lead crews were nowhere to be seen. That put me off them as an option for life - if I was a first-timer left trying to moor up in Kalamos with poor holding and a violent shifting wind, I'd want the security of a lead crew keeping me right - after all that's what the flotilla is advertised as! With kids on board, the additional hands on shore were a must in tricky evening winds while we found our feet.

Their boats are immaculately kept, and they really do mean it when they say they'll fix anything no matter how trivial as soon as possible after you report it. While we were with them on our first flotilla of Jags, they spotted an issue with the forestays on one boat one evening, which was starting to snap the steel wire threads at the mast after being badly rigged. 3 hours later they'd checked all 13 boats, taken the forestays off 4 where they suspected the same issue might arise, and had one of their shore crew RIBs on its way with replacements. By the time we made it back from the bar they'd finished the job and kept up with their routine oil change schedule. Brilliant service.

Pick up the phone and have a chat to Barrie - it's great just getting the reassurance from the boss who holidays on his own boats every year that they're delighted to have you, and more than happy to let you relax while they keep a gentle eye on you from an unobtrusive distance.

 

[telford_mike]

I did my DS Practical in Devon, and 2 weeks later went on a Sunsail flotilla in the Ionian, based in Vounaki. It got me hooked on cruising. Since then I've been twice more with Sunsail, and I'm looking forward to going again next week.

In contrast to some of the comments above, I have never had a problem with Sunsail. Boats, lead crews and itineraries have all been spot-on.

My experiences don't match the negative comments above, though I don't doubt that those unfortunate accounts are genuine.

I guess that as the biggest operator Sunsail are likely to have the biggest share of issues.

It's a bit fashionable to knock Sunsail on here for some reason, but If you see a deal that you like the look of, I wouldn't discount them. Personally, they're still my first choice.

*ducks and runs for cover!*

 

[samwise]

We have tried Sailing Holidays, Nielson and Sunsail and SH would get our vote -- chiefly because they are so laid back and flexible. " No worries" is the watchword. But that informality does not mean a lack of professionalism.

We did a very late flot in the Ionian with them and many places were closing up, but our skipper arranged for a taverna to open specially for us. On another trip, when we were weatherbound in Levkas, the hostie organised an "adventure excursion" to a nearby castle in order to keep the kids in the party occupied. On our four trips we have always found that they will deliver beyond expectation, which does it for me.

 

[sky7liner]

Flotilla Hols

Many thanks for all the helpful comments. I shall now book and spend the next few months (especially on those weekends when I'm wandering around the Solent on a friend's boat) looking forward to a week's warm sailing.

 

[nmeyrick]

I have sailed with both Sunsail in Turkey (Fethiye) and Sailing Holidays in the Ionian.

I have no complaints with Sunsail - the boats were clean and well maintained, and our lead crew looked after us superbly. I would say though that the difference was in the feel of the holidays; Sunsail felt more like a package holiday on a boat, whereas the SH trip was far more of a family affair. There was also more freedom with SH to take off and do what you wanted whereas Sunsail didn't really seem set up for this.

The other recommendation I would make is to book one of the Jags if you do go with SH. My missus and I were in a similar situation to you and thought long and hard, and in the end paid a couple of hundred quid extra for a slightly larger, newer boat. When I saw the Jags any concerns I had were overturned, they are very well looked after, looked like great fun to sail and most have been converted to have a huge forecabin. The only down side is the lack of much saloon, but we never used ours anyway as we always ate in the cockpit

Have a great time!

 

[Adrian]

Another vote for SH, i think ive done all their folts, never had a bad experience, very well organised with out being "in your face". Doing Corfu this year. Barrie Neilson was on our Flot a couple of years ago (he does one with his family every year) and was a great laugh. They had 10 new boats that year, designed to Barrie's spec, his brief was "build the biggest dunny (sp) you can get in, then build the rest of the boat around it" (he's from NZ) his idea being the only time you go below on a flot holiday is to use the shower/toilet, the saloon is hardly ever used. The result is amazing with heads the size of boats 50% bigger. This was not lost on SWMBO who wont look even at a boat with a smaller dunny!

Oh and don't worry about sailing experience, its quite low down on the list of requirements for a flot holiday, ive been on flots where crews have hardly any experience other than a bit of inland dinghy sailing. If you've got DS you'll have no problem at all.

 

[jordanbasset]

Having sailed with both Sailing holidays and Neilson did not find much difference between the two companies. Had a great time with each of them. Lead crews were very good on both and excellent company, if did not have our own boat now would happily go with either one again.

 

[Whiskey Bravo]

Nautilus have always done very well for us, especially when Excel airlines went bust, they had us on another flight before the re-booking madness really began, very efficient.

We started with Neilson many years ago and have been very happy, occasionally still use them for bareboat charters for the odd week when they advertise bargains.

Wouldn't touch Scumsail with a bargepole, have often encountered them and some of their lead crews are appalling, eg. we were mooring in a small harbour, halfway through they encouaged their boats to force their way past us, despite our anchor already in the water [no lazy lines]. When challenged they couldn't even be bothered to stop sipping form the ever-present beer bottle. Very unprofessional. Also many of the boats seem to have the sail cover nailed to the boom as they motor everywhere, even on excellent sailing days.

Seen lots of Sailing Holidays, but never used them, some of their flots are massive and their fleet is growing ever larger. They sometimes seem to get their arrangements wrong and end up with 2/3 flots in same harbour, very crowded. They also seem more expensive than the others, apart from the dreaded Scumsail.

Enjoy whatever you choose, you'll have a great time. We're off to Croatia tomorrow, bareboat from Dubrovnik with Nautilus.