Skippered charter etiquette in Greece

[hoped4]

We have aranged a skippered charter in Greece in October and wanted to know what the normal practice was for a number of things. This is a private arrangement not through a company but through an individual. We are paying 130 Euros a day for the skipper. Should we be paying for skippers food 3 meals a day? Meals on board? Evening drinks on board? Should we be taking the skipper out to eat in restaurants? What about a tip at the end? Anything else to consider? One of the crew is concerned about this and it would be good to know what the usual form might be. Any advice gratefully received.

 

[steve_cronin]

I would be VERY careful if I were you on "casual" arrangements in Greece. The authorities take a dim view of unauthorised charters and if the boat isn't properly registered and equipped YOU could end up being arrested by the Hellenic Coastguard and frogmarched off to their cells.

to give you some idea of how professionals run such operations, look at this site for example and read the terms Bayan Blue

Insurance, liability, fire extinguishers, VHF radios & their power supplies, lifejackets, liferaft etc., etc. and a plethora of documentation are required.

If the operation IS bona fide then such items as skipper's victuals 7 domestic arrangements should already have been made clear.

Steve Cronin

 

[ostria]

I believe you will find that most of your (or your crew's) concerns are gonna be answered by everyday life onboard.
Typically you don't have to pay for your skipper's meals but from my experience
1. when u have breakfast/lunch/dinner/drink onboard it's nice to offer some food/a drink to the skipper as well
2. when going out to restaurants you don't have to invite the skipper all the times but it's nice to do so once or twice (and pay for his meal /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )
3. tipping is always in accordance with your satisfaction from the service offered by the skipper.

In general most professional skippers will try to be as unobtrusive as possible, but after all making him/her feel part of the company at certain times might help everyone have better time aboard /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ostria]

[ QUOTE ]
I would be VERY careful if I were you on "casual" arrangements in Greece. The authorities take a dim view of unauthorised charters and if the boat isn't properly registered and equipped YOU could end up being arrested by the Hellenic Coastguard and frogmarched off to their cells.

[/ QUOTE ]

As long as i charter both motor and sailing boats in greece (as a matter of fact i'm the owner - not the agent) and i would add that NO boat can sail away (at least legally) without being properly registered and equipped as a charter boat. Coast guard checks paperwork (which includes certifications for all required equipment) on every charter departure.

Now if the arrangements are so "casual" that no contract is signed, you appear to be "a friend of the owner" on a pleasure boat and not a charterer on a charter boat and so on, in that case steve's got a point !!!

 

[hoped4]

Thank you both for your info. This is through a registered charterer and the paperwork is in place. So this is legitimate. What I am after is the normal practice on board. I'm sure as Ostria has suggested, things will slip into place once settled on board. What you have suggested is very useful. Any more feedback welcome.

 

[powerskipper]

When I am on board for a charter, everyone tends to be fed together, whether made by crew or clients, the evening meal is invitation or separate ways, as quite often peeps want some time to them selves. Talk to the skipper and crew in the morning what the plans for the day will be and say then what you wish to do.

 

[tcm]

Re: Skippered charter etiquette

Normal MYBA western med terms for a charter boat are that you get the boat and home berth and skipper(+crew if there is additioanl crew) for the charter. EVERYTHING else is on top. This is how it is for most if not all boats on "skippered charter" in the med.

Essentially, it's like bareboat charter, but with another member of your group that you have to take care of bodily (ie he has to eat and drink and sleep) but not emotionally (so you don't have to have him at your table at mealtimes or laugh at his jokes but you do have to pay for or otherwise provide food for him/her).

So, you buy food (hopefully the skipper will have done a bit of a "big shop" at supermarket beforehand in which case you pay) and the skipper/crew eats some of it during cruise.

If you go to a restaurant then usually the skipper stays behind. Or if you invite him, you pay. Usually he would be left behind so if i said to charter skipper "we will be eating lunch at that restaurant over there" he'll say rightyho, and NOT ooh goody I like their steaks, cos by default he ain't coming. He stays behind on board and eats some more of that food you paid for.

The skipper is also allowed drinks too. But tah tmeans water and soft drinks and a very occassioanl cheapy beer, NOT oho this red bordeaux looks decent stuff mmm slurp.

You go to another marina then you pay the marina fees (even tho the home berth is free).

If you give ther skipper some time off (usually in the evening if you chatting in cockpit he'll say (or should say) praps "i'll go ashore for an hour or so now") then whilst he's ashore you don't pay for his drinking/eating, cos he's not with you and not on board.

There *should* be a set of accounts, so you set up the skipper with some money in advance (an Advance Provisioning Allowance or APA) and indication of what you want and he buys it and acounts for that expenditure.

Brits especially aren't good at charter cos we're so damn nice and polite. They don't always tell the crew or skipper what they do or don't want.

But it's your charter so the skipper doesn't get to regale/bore you with his stories of derring do all evening unless you want to hear them.

The skipper should have some decent ideas of where to go for a nice trip 1-2 weeks whatever, but you can change any agenda. You can say you want to daysail and return to home berth every night. You can ask to anchor out which is often nicer, conditions permitting, or skipper should offer as appropriate.

A key time is the first hour you arive on the boat. If you have special requirements, questions, hopes,l demands then you should layem on the table right then, not try and erm "i wonder if we could have a word" 3 days later. The approx time you get up, the time you go to bed, how much of the sailing you intend to do (hardly any, almost all of it, sunbathing only or what) and so forth.

But the question arises - why has none of this been thrashed out already, before and during the time you booked the charter? Usually, they want to know full info of kids/adults, food preferences, teetotal or alcoholics, gourmets or sandwich scoffers, sailing ambitions local area or giant adventure and so on. And they also usually make it damn clear what you do/don't pay for. Hence Steve C above quite rightly assumed it was a bit unofficial and so far seems a bit disorgainsed? A real live charter skipper would run a mile rather than "wing it" and hope things would somehow get worked out once you arrived on board.

 

[Melody]

Like others who have posted, I am surprised that this has not been made clear to you. It is normal practice for you to be expected to pay for the skipper's meals, although as has been pointed out, you do not have to eat with him/her.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that many tavernas will make special offers to skippers who bring their clients there to eat. If he/she is a good skipper they will know the places where the food is good quality and value. The taverna owner will often not charge for the skipper's meal, or will throw in some free wine etc. so you get a good deal.

More unscrupulous skippers have tavernas who give them a backhander to bring clients in and the clients get charged the full whack. No way of knowing which you have except by looking at the price and quality of the places he takes you to. I'd suggest you ask him for suggestions for where to eat and see if you are pleased with them.

Most Greek skippers I know have Greek coffee and a couple of cigarettes for breakfast so that meal isn't a problem. However, you may get one of the few British or Dutch skippers working here and they will appreciate your inviting them to eat with you in the morning and at midday. They may prefer to have time off at night.

If you have signed a multiple copy charter agreement and have subnitted your passport details for inclusion on the crew list you can be pretty sure your charter is legititmate.

Tipping - if the service is good, yes do it, it's a short season and getting to the end so extra cash will be very welcome. Do not feel under any obligation to tip if you are not satisfied.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Ive noticed that the best charter skippers usually stay near the boat in the evenings and dont drink ,or only have a small beer, lot of boats and crew get into trouble when the wind gets up at night . cheers Bobt