Flottila Ionian - other companies?

[ruthhobson]

Hi

First of all thanks for the advice about the weather, it helped to make up our minds and go for it! But now I have phoned up to book and they are fully booked... boats available on Monday afternoon gone on Thursday morning ...argh!! (That was Sailing Holidays).

I still like the idea of the Ionian and wondered if anyone could recommend any alternative companies running a flotilla. Apart from the obvious big company who I would rather avoid (for my own reasons). There would only be 2 of us so we are looking at smaller boats and hope to do some independant sailing during the flotilla.

Thanks again for your earlier advice.

Ruth

 

[rogerroger]

I'm having the same problem - my girlfriend is a teacher so we can only go in the holidays. Sailing Holidays Ltd are very popular and I was told to book before Christmas for summer in the Ionian.

Cosmos called me - they had a yacht for a week ! Great. But not a single flight available.

Maybe you should look at a different sailing area rather than company as they all seem to be booked up. We're going to look at sailing around Athens / Spetses area.



Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[ruthhobson]

I think you might be right Sailing Holidays do have spaces on some of their Croatian trips - the Kornati Cruise (29ft Gib Sea). But I was looking forward to going to Greece and have a few Metaxas!!

Looks like tonight I'll get out all the brochures open the wine and start again!

Ruth

 

[sailbadthesinner]

I spoke to a firm that specialises in yugoslavai and croatia at the boat show in Jan
They were good.
If you can bare to barboat go late sail.com you can get a boat from Levkas to corfu for a week in september 29ft and less than £500 flights should be a doddle.
If you go out of athens it is even easier for flights
i have used late sail twice and had to goos cheap charters
( i donot work for them just a satisfied customer)
Neilsen are also doing flots now as are Island Sailing
for bareboat also try Kyriakoulis yachting, who i think have been taken over

basically if you dare to bare there is loads of choice all over
greece is my fave cos if you do a bareboat from athens doing effectively a boat delivery say from Athens to Paros you can fly into athens cheaply and sail to end destination ferry back to athens and fly out.
the price will be less with a different end and start point


Wants woman with boat
Send photo of boat

 

[sailbadthesinner]

roger i have posted this to ruth but thought you might be interested too

I spoke to a firm that specialises in yugoslavai and croatia at the boat show in Jan
They were good. cannot rememver name do web search
If you can bare to barboat go late sail.com you can get a boat from Levkas to corfu for a week in september 29ft and less than £500 flights should be a doddle.
If you go out of athens it is even easier for flights
i have used late sail twice and had to goos cheap charters
( i donot work for them just a satisfied customer)
Neilsen are also doing flots now as are Island Sailing
for bareboat also try Kyriakoulis yachting, who i think have been taken over

basically if you dare to bare there is loads of choice all over
greece is my fave cos if you do a bareboat from athens doing effectively a boat delivery say from Athens to Paros you can fly into athens cheaply and sail to end destination ferry back to athens and fly out.
the price will be less with a different end and start point

Wants woman with boat
Send photo of boat

 

[jimi]

Last year in the Ionian saw lots of Neilsen boats, most of the an ideal size for a couple.

 

[ruthhobson]

Thanks for the bareboat suggestion - but I think we need 2 weeks experience before bareboating.

We got the yachting bug on a 2 week bareboat trip to the BVI's and this year we did a learn to sail holiday (he got day skipper and I did comp crew- 1 skipper is enough on any boat!!).In the BVIs I saw a lot of stressed out women hanging off the bow with a boat hook being yelled at by their other half who was charging in in at full speed. I said I never wanted a holiday like that - I wanted calm.

So this is our first solo trip, it is a compromise to gain experience before we go off on our own ...next year!!. (I will post where we are going so you can stay clear).

Ruth

 

[hquinn]

We used Sunsail two years ago in the Ionion (there were only two of us)- great - and we only booked 3 days before we went. It can be worth hanging on for cancellations. Latesail.com also has some bargains.

 

[hlb]

Re: Here You Go.

Templecraft (0044) 1273 812333
www.templecraft.com

No one can force me to come here-----------
----- I'm a Volunteer!!!

Haydn

 

[taf]

I had a week with Setsail in the Saronic gulf (north of Poros) at the end of May.

They are smaller and more laid back than Sunsail, but very friendly. I'd definitely use them again, and by this stage of the season, they should be better at squeezing lots of yachts in Aigina (the only difficulty we had during the week !)

 

[poter]

Re: Flottila Ionian - Why???

Hi Ruth,

as you want to do the Greek islands why just look at the Ionian?
There are plenty of other areas the Saronic Gulf, the Sporades, the Cyclades or the Dodecanese.
Sailing out of Rhodes in the Dodecanese is easy and the flights are reasonably cheap and frequent.
Certainly the most popular area is the Ionian but it is almost like the Solent in some parts and if you want to have some peacfull cruising days then the southern Islands are much better IMHO.
When are you going? If you look at say middle to end September I am sure you should get a berth.
Another thought why not bareboat & take a skipper for say 2 or 3 days to give you some confidence.

There a lots of bareboat charters and you should be able to easily get say a 32'
Have a look at http://www.cosmosyachting.com/ for some ideas.

best of luck.

poter

 

[ruthhobson]

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions - we got sorted out this morning for the Southern Ionian.

We are using a firm called Activity Holidays, very helpful on the phone. Also unlike some of the other firms I have spoken to were more interested in finding out what experience/qualifications we had before checking availabilty (with emphasis on practical, which I found reassuring). They also do a Manchester flight!!

A friend of a friend recommended them, I believe Nautilus uses them and we know people who have used Nautilus to book trips to BVIs and Croatia which were all OK.
They have a brochure online www.activity-holidays.co.uk.

So thanks again (and I have printed out all your suggestions ready for next time).

Cheers
Ruth

 

[phanakapan]

Good to hear youre sorted out- I was just about to tell you about Activity Holidays who we used last year (thru Nautilus). We found them excellent- not brand new boats but who cares, and the level of help offered was exactly what we needed, no more and no less.We had a short session on bows to and stern to mooring/berthing, and talked over any problems at the end of each day. Th e whole thing was very laid back, very freindly staff. Apart from turning up at the designated place at the end of the day, it was very close to bare-boating, but other yachts did travel in a group-its up to you. We're going again in August-apart from anything else they are very much cheaper than Sunsail. Enjoy.