Furling or Battened Main on a charter boat

[lpdsn]

Many Thanks for everyone's comments, I decided to go with the battened sail with the smaller company.

But, they are saying they need the deposit as a bank transfer to a Greek bank, and not a credit card, which is now putting me off, firstly there is no comeback with a bank transfer and secondly I will be up for considerable fee's.
Whereas, the booking agent for the Furling boat will take c/cards. what a bloomin palava.

I have to admit I learnt to be wary of deposits when I used to charter. I never had an issue in the end but one that had taken a cheque held on to the money for about two months. It was a bit of a nuisance chasing as I was working in Eastern Europe at the time. He claimed he'd forgotten to refund it but my gut feel from the conversation with him was that he'd done it deliberately. CCs are a lot cleaner and simpler way of doing it.

You could of course start a separate thread and ask if anyone has had a deposit issue with that particular company.

 

[KellysEye]

I'd go with the battened sail I was one of the people whose furling sail jammed in Antigua Sailing Week.

 

[Tranona]

I'd go with the battened sail I was one of the people whose furling sail jammed in Antigua Sailing Week.

Don't think your incompetence or what happened in Antigua has any connection with chartering a boat in the Ionian. Most of the charter boats there have furling mainsails and have done for years. So not a big deal.

 

[houldsworth]

Pete
If you are looking at Bobs Yachts in Gouvia I can vouch for his boats being in good condition.
I have my yacht berthed in Gouvia and pass his on way to showers so see them regularly.
Charles
ps. no connection with Bob apart from chatting to him and his staff

 

[ashtead]

Many Thanks for everyone's comments, I decided to go with the battened sail with the smaller company.

But, they are saying they need the deposit as a bank transfer to a Greek bank, and not a credit card, which is now putting me off, firstly there is no comeback with a bank transfer and secondly I will be up for considerable fee's.
Whereas, the booking agent for the Furling boat will take c/cards. what a bloomin palava.

To my mind making a customer deposit into a Greek bank seems an unattractive solution (what security exists around deposit though in event of bank or company insolvency in terms of ring fencing in Greece if any?)however maybe this is the way the local market operates . If the other company will take a CC then unless the one you have selected is a bargain maybe some more research is required into available charters. I have always chartered via UK agents and not had any issues at this end but the quality of large Med chart operators staff is sometimes suspect around gear failure etc and fees ( some staff seemed to have been trained at hire car firms ) so I would try to steer clear of any which don't give security for deposit personally on basis there are many operators about ?

 

[NormanS]

I'd go with the battened sail I was one of the people whose furling sail jammed in Antigua Sailing Week.

I reckon that if you can cope with a furling Genoa, you should be able to cope with a furling main.

 

[Norman_E]

I reckon that if you can cope with a furling Genoa, you should be able to cope with a furling main.

They are not quite the same animal. The worst you can do with a furling genoa is get a loose and untidy roll with the UV strip not fully covering the rolled sail. There is not a lot of spare space inside the mast and rolling the in mast mainsail without enough tension maintained on the outhaul to ensure a reasonably tight furl can easily cause a problem. I have seen a couple of cases where a charter company I am familiar with has had to send their rib out to help charterers who had managed to get the sail stuck part way in.

 

[NormanS]

They are not quite the same animal. The worst you can do with a furling genoa is get a loose and untidy roll with the UV strip not fully covering the rolled sail. There is not a lot of spare space inside the mast and rolling the in mast mainsail without enough tension maintained on the outhaul to ensure a reasonably tight furl can easily cause a problem. I have seen a couple of cases where a charter company I am familiar with has had to send their rib out to help charterers who had managed to get the sail stuck part way in.

I have in mast furling.