Med Charter, any hints or tips thanks Options

[andyxs]

Hi i have never chartered a boat before, have done alot of cruising/sailing and racing with mates in the uk but we are thinking of chartering a yacht or two (6 to 10 ppl) in the Med for a week As their are unsurprisingly quite a few more interested parties when you mention the med instead of norh wales.
current thoughts are Palma and surrounding areas (not a dead cert) in early june (a dead cert) as we are all free around then and it is just before the summer rush
can anyone tell us what to expect to pay, what/who/where to avoid and any good experiences people have had.
i know nothing about med chartering so any info is greatly appreciated
thanks
Andy

[freakIRL]

Andy...the Med is a big place.

If you want to charter in ESP, FRA or ITA, each skipper will need to hold a Certificate of Competence to satisfy the charter agent/national government. I have chartered two boats (group of 10 sailors) in Palma, Mallorca, each skipper needed to provide proof of competance: RYA Yachtmaster for me, ISA International Certificate of Competance for skipper of the other boat. Google Mallorca Charters. Bavarias.

If you go to Greece or Turkey with Sunsail or any of the others: you need nothing but a smile and a credit card.

Have a look at latesail.com for comparative prices.

Have been to the Greek Ionian Sea twice and really enjoyed the area. Have been to Turkish coast Marmaris, Gocek, English Harbour twice, ditto, lovely sailing areas.

Sailed Croatia once, didn't like it.

Sunsail, Mark Warner, and others sometimes have less expensive early season deliveries from winter base to summer base, but you need to surf to find them.

[andyxs]

Many thanks that was exactly the kind of reply i was after, gota love SA sometimes i think its guna be sunsail greece or turkey as i would strugle to get the yacht masters in time, have the miles just not got the time for the theory etc.
many thanks freak IRL (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Kevlar16]

Many thanks that was exactly the kind of reply i was after, gota love SA sometimes i think its guna be sunsail greece or turkey as i would strugle to get the yacht masters in time, have the miles just not got the time for the theory etc.
many thanks freak IRL (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Try Greece on the Aegean side and sail in the Saronic and Argrolic gulfs. Use 2 boats one with a captain/guide and the other do bare boat, actually you can do both bare boat and take a captain on one as your guide. That will enable you to get some experience sailing and manouvering a yacht in froeign ports etc.
The captain will be able to keep you from hitting anything and will know the best bays and places to visit.
Having 2 boats also gives you that competative edge every day.....some one to sail against sort of thing,
Lots of brokers to choose from but try and stay with a UK company, or at least english run company... that way you can easyily communicate what you want and need and avoid confusion that may arise with Greek run companies.
Good luck and have FUN

[U20guy2]

Croatia early July - fantastic there is a reason all the Italians flock there in August. Avoid August - the Italians are there and the wind is zip - but July its fantastic! The locals are great -and the prices are really good given their local currency Kuna - it was sort of like Mexico regarding prices for us back in 06. Simple but great dinners on veranda's overlooking the bay and our boat for $50.

Locals by far were fantastic very friendly and proud of their country I'd go back in a heart beat. We flew into Dubrovnik - had a brandnew first charter ever Bendy 323 via Sunsail. Great trip!

Though the Bendy 323 refreshed my lack of interest in owning one. Short rudder total crap when we had wind from abeam was in great shape no issues - just sucks to sail one.

We were envious of the Elan charter boats. They looked sharp - seemed to sail really nice and the larger Elan's had some really nice interior layouts for charter etc.

[gun_fordeckie]

Spent a few weeks in turkey at the end of July, just starting to get too hot. Cant say enough about how beautiful it was. Took a boat from marmaris and sailed south through the gocek pennisula. F*king beautiful sailing, clear water, great food. Every island has a small marina and restaurant on it. People are very friendly, but you cant sail to Greece from Turkey - well you can but the paperwork and overheads are not worth it. After a very long time the Turks and Greeks still dont like each other very much.