A Beginner's Guide to Yachtcharter

Bareboating means to rent a sailing yacht unaccompanied, without skipper or crew. Just the bare boat. As skipper you are responsible for the ship and the crew. With bareboating you have the individual freedom to explore your destination at your own pace. For bareboat charter it is vital that you have sufficient experience in sailing and manoeuvring yachts comparable to the yacht you have chartered. Sometimes there is an option that an experienced skipper of the charter company will accompany you for a day and give instructions about the local area and boat handling.

As a designated skipper, be your own greatest critic. Do you want this position anyway? Are you ready to be the person responsible for everything on board, from navigation, provisioning, operation of the on-board toilet, all manoeuvre instructions even to the choice of restaurant for the evening meal? If you have legitimate concerns, consider participating in a charter flotilla! The entire ship management is still in your hands, but cruise planning, navigation, safe anchorage and also the evening "calendar of events" are usually taken over by the flotilla captain.

A flotilla consists of a group of yachts (usually five to a maximum of ten), all on the same route. During the day you sail independently, but you can always get help from the "mothership" if required. So the boats in a flotilla have the same port (or bay!) of departure and arrival and meet again in the evenings after a great day sailing. Flotilla sailing could also be seen as a kind of "sailing-apart-together". Although joining in with common activities is not obligatory, the crews of the different yachts often get together in the evening. While eating and drinking together, the experiences give a lot to talk about ("have you seen so many dolphins?.....).

To participate in a charter flotilla, at least one person on board must have sufficient sailing experience, ideally with a cabin yacht. Flotilla sailing combines the safety of a group with the freedom of your own yacht. In short, it is a popular and stress-free way to explore foreign waters. The flotilla leader is your nautical companion and contact person.

You do not have an appropriate boating licence or do not yet feel up to taking sole responsibility for the big trip? That does not at all mean that you have to do without the boating holidays of your dreams. Just take a professional skipper on board! You will sail under the guidance of an expert and learn a lot on the way. Under the guidance of an expert, you can travel to the most diverse destinations and discover the most beautiful places. The "hired" skipper takes responsibility for all difficulties with the ship, navigation and authorities. Some high-quality and larger yachts are, in fact, offered only with skipper by the charter companies. Crewed yacht charter is probably the most exclusive type of charter. The typical risks of a charter ship are largely eliminated here, as the yachts are usually managed by a professional captain and crew.

With cabin charter for individual bookers you take part in an organized charter cruise and only charter a cabin or a berth on board the charter yacht. Usually you will not know the other crew of the cruise in advance. Thus, this way of chartering will bring together different people, often with little or no boating experience of their own, on the small space of a yacht. The typical cabin charter guest is usually a beginner in boating who would like to gain experience in a group of like-minded people under the management of an experienced skipper. Other collect mileage on such cruises required for boating licences in order to be able to charter on their own later on. Cabin charter providers can be large charter companies that use their free yacht resources with professional skippers and individual bookers. However, private owners of larger sailing yachts sometimes also offer cabin charter, mostly to finance the costs of their own voyage by charter guests.

So-called fun regattas are enjoying increasing popularity. The mix of charter holidays and defused regatta sailing continues to grow, in Germany charter trips are now offered to more than 30 Fun Cups all over the world. The offers range from short regatta trainings on the first day of the charter trip to long distance races over thousands of miles. Mostly organized by individual charter bases, a fleet of ships sails several day trips under competition-like conditions but there is also the classic racing on triangular Olympic courses.