Seeking rental advice

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Newsomite

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(apologies if this is the wrong forum)

I recently turned 30, and had the thought of hiring a boat in UK waters for the day/eve (preferably a saltwater one). I've emailed a couple of rental companies asking about prices, but it struck me that an enthusiasts' forum might be a much better source of unbiased advice...

So I have a few questions, for anyone willing to entertain them:

1) Is hiring for an eve/day feasible? Everywhere I've looked at so far offers boats for a weekend, week, or longer.

2) What should I hope to pay? I don't earn a lot, so while I'm willing to splash out a bit for this one, it's going to have to be a bottom-end job.

3) It's just possible I could find a qualified crew, and all the sites seem to assume they'll have to provide one. Is there any likelihood of saving money by hiring a non-crewed boat?

4) Plea for general advice - I have no idea what I'm getting myself into here, so any cautions about pitfalls or nods at opportunities would be fantastic, eg notoriously bad/good companies, ways to reduce the cost that I wouldn't have thought of, ways it might go up that I wouldn't have thought of, advice on operating 14-pound carronades just in case, etc.

Thanks to all!

Sasha
 
Newsomite

Apart fom your age (30), you don't really say anything about yourself or your sailing capabilities. Reading between the lines, I would guess that you are pretty much a beginner? If not, please excuse my grandma's eggsucking comments below.

1.The correct term for hiring a yacht or sailing boat is chartering, not renting.(Dunno why, but sailing mostly uses its own language). If the yacht come with a skipper it is described as a"skippered charter"; if you have it entirely to yourself and your mates it is a "bareboat charter".
2. Plenty of companies offer yachts for charter, either skippered or bareboat.
3.Skippered charters will of course add the cost of the skipper onto the boat cost. Most skippers will cost over £100 per day.
4.All companies offering yachts on bareboat charter will want evidence of the charterer's experience and qualifications. Beginners will probably be shown the door.
5. The charter company will have the same paperwork and cleaning up to do whether the duration of the charter is one hour or one week. For economic reasons most bareboat charters are at least a weekend.

After all this cold water, a couple of suggestions to help you out on the water:
1. Look for an existing boat owner and join as crew. Many owners are always looking for fit agile crew.
2.Assuming you don't know any such owners, go down to your local sailing club, ask around.
3. Post some more details here about yourself, location, timings etc. There are loads of geriatric boatowners on this forum, some of whom are really nice people who might be able to take you out for a sail.
 
You're probably looking at a skippered charter (where you get a skipper as well as the boat) you & your family or mates still have to crew.

If you're an experienced skipper yourself you can do a bareboat charter.

I'd be very surprised if most charter companies won't be flexible about the period of the charter. Ring a few and ask. I've done odd-length charters before, but obviously the companies can't put all the options on their websites.

Also beware that there might be a bit of a price difference as some skippered charters are targeted at the corporate entertainment market so charge more. Ring a few different companies till you get an idea of the variation.

I could recommend Hamble Point Yacht Charter on the Solent www.yacht-charter.co.uk
Even if you don't go with them you'll get a good idea of the price of a bareboat charter. Add circa £150p.d. for a skipper.

You normally wouldn't have to look for your own skipper, the charter company will do that. Makes life easier for you as you won't be liable if he messes up.
 
Rather than hiring / chartering might be better to start by going on a course - cheaper, includes skipper / instructor and meet others in the same boat (literally)

You don't give location, but if you share this then may get suggested places to go for course or charter
 
If you just want to pootle about for a evening or a day, you don't really need a yacht and all the domestic stuff it contains. Renting something like a Wayfarer dinghy in sheltered waters (Chichester or Poole if you're south coast) would be a great way to get salty. Dinghy sailing schools will often do a deal if looks like you know what you're doing.
 
Newsomite said:
(apologies if this is the wrong forum)

I recently turned 30, and had the thought of hiring a boat in UK waters for the day/eve (preferably a saltwater one). I've emailed a couple of rental companies asking about prices, but it struck me that an enthusiasts' forum might be a much better source of unbiased advice...

So I have a few questions, for anyone willing to entertain them:

1) Is hiring for an eve/day feasible? Everywhere I've looked at so far offers boats for a weekend, week, or longer.

2) What should I hope to pay? I don't earn a lot, so while I'm willing to splash out a bit for this one, it's going to have to be a bottom-end job.

3) It's just possible I could find a qualified crew, and all the sites seem to assume they'll have to provide one. Is there any likelihood of saving money by hiring a non-crewed boat?

4) Plea for general advice - I have no idea what I'm getting myself into here, so any cautions about pitfalls or nods at opportunities would be fantastic, eg notoriously bad/good companies, ways to reduce the cost that I wouldn't have thought of, ways it might go up that I wouldn't have thought of, advice on operating 14-pound carronades just in case, etc.

Thanks to all!

Sasha
Click to expand...

Assuming you know what you're doing on a boat this guy does budget Yacht Charter:
http://www.sigma33yachtcharters.co.uk/



If you don't, you have 3 obvious ways to get afloat in a big boat:

Inland waters - Rivers/Canals/Norfolk Broads.
Skippered Charter - pricey.
Crew for someone else 'till you get the hang of it - ask here or join a club.

I would help to know where in the UK you are.

Best of luck - hope you have a great time.
 
Twister_Ken said:
If you just want to pootle about for a evening or a day, you don't really need a yacht and all the domestic stuff it contains. Renting something like a Wayfarer dinghy in sheltered waters (Chichester or Poole if you're south coast) would be a great way to get salty. Dinghy sailing schools will often do a deal if looks like you know what you're doing.
Click to expand...

Wise words. Fraction of the price, multiple of the fun.

Wish I'd suggested it.
 
Thanks all. I am a complete beginner, though there's an outside chance one of the people I'd be inviting would be qualified, hence curiosity about that option.

innesker said:
1. Look for an existing boat owner and join as crew. Many owners are always looking for fit agile crew.
2.Assuming you don't know any such owners, go down to your local sailing club, ask around.
Click to expand...

If I lived near the sea I'd be doing this, but I'm about as landlocked as it's possible to get in the UK (Oxford). I think there's a local group that goes sailing on lakes, but it's still more travel time than I can afford :\

3. Post some more details here about yourself, location, timings etc. There are loads of geriatric boatowners on this forum, some of whom are really nice people who might be able to take you out for a sail.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of something in mid-March, not necessarily in Oxford (but ideally somewhere that people in Ox and London can easily reach), presumably on a weekend. It would be a gathering of friends rather than just something for me - not too many probably, but conceivably up to 30 (more likely around half that).

dt4134 said:
I could recommend Hamble Point Yacht Charter on the Solent www.yacht-charter.co.uk
Even if you don't go with them you'll get a good idea of the price of a bareboat charter. Add circa £150p.d. for a skipper.
Click to expand...

Ta, that kind of advice is very useful - Google gives millions of relevant-looking hits, so it's hard to know how to choose between them.

dunedin said:
Rather than hiring / chartering might be better to start by going on a course - cheaper, includes skipper / instructor and meet others in the same boat (literally)
Click to expand...

I'd love to do this one day, but presumably it would take more than a month and a bit to qualify for anything immediately useful?

Twister_Ken said:
Renting something like a Wayfarer dinghy in sheltered waters (Chichester or Poole if you're south coast) would be a great way to get salty. Dinghy sailing schools will often do a deal if looks like you know what you're doing.
Click to expand...

Definitely don't know what I'm doing, sadly (unless one of the people coming does). Would you still recommend this? How many people would be able to fit on a dinghy? If so, and if there's enough room, can you recommend any specific charter companies?

S
 
Ah - it's starting to sound like you want to have a party on a boat, not to go sailing?

In that case most of the advice given so far will be irrelevant. This forum won't have any specialist knowledge on what you want to do, though it might be that someone happens to know of a party-boat that can be chartered. There's one in Southampton I sometimes see hovering around the mouth of the Itchen, although I don't know any more about it.

Pete
 
prv said:
Ah - it's starting to sound like you want to have a party on a boat, not to go sailing?
Click to expand...

Is there an in between? I would quite like to go sailing, and I don't really expect 30 people. What would the maximum number for a sailing trip be?

Twister_Ken said:
Sorted

Straight belt down the A34 from Oxford.

Join one of the scheduled cruises.
Click to expand...

Ta, I'll look into that! Do you know if there's anything similar closer to London? Most of my friends don't have cars, so it will be difficult for people to get there and back in a day, and they probably won't want an overnight stay if the boat doesn't do overnight cruises.
 
Last edited:
prv said:
Ah - it's starting to sound like you want to have a party on a boat, not to go sailing?
Click to expand...

Newsomite said:
Is there an in between?
Click to expand...

How about one of those "experience day" type setups? Usually a day out on a large ex-racing boat, because they're designed to have lots of people in the cockpit and can give some exciting sailing in a short period. Those who want to can get involved but aren't expected to have any prior experience; there's a skipper and I think usually a crew person or two on the bigger ones. You'd have to check with the individual companies, but I'd have thought they could cater for a dozen or so.

Not gonna be cheap though.

Pete
 
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