A Beginner's Guide to Yachtcharter

Basically, the crew may assume nowadays that yachts offered for charter have a proven and easy to operate set of sails, an appropriately powered engine and a good standard of equipment. This applies exactly to the models of the large French shipyards such as Beneteau, Jeanneau or Dufour and to the German Bavaria Yachts or Hanse Yachts from Greifswald. But at boot Düsseldorf you can see quite a few other quality brands available on the charter market like Elan, Delphia, Salona or Lagoon catamarans, to name a few.

However, the crew must decide on their views whether to attach more importance to excellent sailing characteristics or rather higher living comfort below deck. Are you prepared to share a wet room with 8 people or do you want more than one head? Does the food on board - and thus the preparation in the galley - play an important role in your holiday or do you usually eat ashore? If you sail in warmer destinations, the on-board life will take place almost exclusively in the cockpit, in northern areas a spacious and cosy salon is invaluable. Questions you should answer before you make your booking!

When sailing with inexperienced crew who are still strugling to get to terms with all the equipment and tools on board, a reefing systems for the foresail and mainsail will not just be helpful but also an important safety aspect. A well-trained crew, on the other hand, might enjoy the sailhandling and trimming possibilities of a normal set of sails with different sail sizes. Or, do you sail with family members, with close friends or with fleeting acquaintances only connected by their desirefor sailing? These are all points that the person in charge of the organisation has to take into account rather than just look at the price tag of a yacht on offer.

Some charterers occupy every berth of their chartered yacht - not only the official berths in the cabins but often also additional berths as in the saloon. Most certainly not a wise decision, because the personal space of movement on board - which is naturally limited anyway - is of prime importance for the success of a charter holiday. Increasingly, this is also taken into account by charter sailors in their planning, indeed more and more often charterers will leave one of the berths empty to have more space available.

A charter yacht is not a cruise liner, and even on a 51 foot yacht the individual has no more storage space than on a 10 meter ship. But even with almost identical interior layouts, there are serious differences between different yacht models. The space under the seat cushions may, for example, be almost completely filled with the yachts operating systems - pumps, filters, heaters, current monitors etc. - or it may be available as storage space. Take a good look if your choosen yacht meets your needs.