True freedom begins ten miles from the shore.
A.Perez-Reverte
Today we want to tell you about such a wonderful and very special kind of vacation as a vacation on a yacht. Usually, when planning a vacation, people don't even think in this direction: after all, we associate seiling with something elite, insanely expensive and inaccessible to mere mortals. And in vain, because thousands of people annually discover the possibility of renting yachts ...
It was an imitation of the classic beginning of an article about yacht charter, there are dozens, hundreds of them on the Internet. But here's what's interesting: with such an abundance of open information and suggestions, starting to delve into the topic, you will very soon realize that it is difficult for a beginner to navigate here. How to understand what is really behind the delicious words and photos? How to estimate the real costs? And anyway, what are these omg terms everywhere? As a result, you will either have to risk a tidy sum and rely on the reputation of the agency, or give up this venture. If you do not have friends, relatives or acquaintances directly related to yachting, all these articles will be a dark forest for you, an alien world. How to enter this world, where to start, what to focus on — that's what we'll talk about today.
First you need to decide: what exactly do you expect from seiling, because it is incredibly multifaceted. Here you are on board, what's next? You can go sailing all the way romantically, you can see the sights that come across on the course, you can swim, dive, dingy, fish, dance on deck, listen to music, watch movies, bury a treasure on a distant island, in general, have fun, whatever you want. And you can study the structure of the yacht and the basics of management, help the skipper, delve into marine life, practice physical activity. You may want to learn how to sail a yacht yourself: there is nothing unreal in this, my dad, for example, received a skipper's license in England a few years ago, being already at a fairly advanced age (see the photo above). You can do nothing at all, sleep in your cabin, lie on the deck all day and SMS. Yes, within the coastline, mobile phones, as a rule, work quite properly, unless you have swum into some wilderness.
Next, decide who your fellow travelers will be:
A group of friends plans their vacation in advance, chooses a country, discounts on renting a yacht, a skipper (alternatively, looking for their own person), related expenses. Arrives at the selected port, loads on a yacht and travels under sail.
A variant of a business holiday at the sea. Team building in an informal setting, a prestigious award for the most distinguished employees, corporate events. In this case, the organization of the process lies on the shoulders of your company. Or you can arrange it yourself with a group of colleagues.
The family rents a small yacht with two or three cabins through an agency and goes on a quiet voyage under the guidance of the captain. Let's add, a wealthy family, such an option is unlikely to turn out to be budget-friendly if you do not act through acquaintances.
A person who has decided to spend a vacation on a yacht searches the Internet for a company and joins it. Here, the costs are equally divided among all participants, and this is a significant saving. In addition, such companies often already have their own skipper, so you don't have to pay for his services separately.
@photo
The next question is about prices. The price consists of several points:
— actually yacht rental: for €1800-2000, you can rent a modern sailing boat with 6 beds for a week. The standard charter is designed for this period, as a rule, from Friday to Saturday. Don't forget that one place will be taken by the skipper.
— round-trip tickets, airport transfer
— security deposit: the amount that you leave as collateral and which will be returned to you if the yacht comes to port unharmed. The amount depends on the type of yacht, as well as on the professional level of the skipper (how much the owner of the boat can trust him), usually starts from € 1000. Of course, I want to talk about "whole and unharmed" separately, but this topic is for a big article, and we are just starting a conversation.
— captain's services: a hired skipper will cost you €100-150 euros per day, and he will also eat at your expense. If desired, you can hire other crew members, for example, a cook or an assistant stewardess.
— additional expenses: since the yacht will become a full-fledged home for you during the charter, there will be no expenses for overnight accommodation and accommodation. Nevertheless, you will need to eat (that is, buy food while parking and cook your own food in the onboard kitchen) and feed the skipper — this is one time. You will need to pay for diesel fuel (if we are talking about a sailing yacht, its consumption will be minimal, no more than € 100 per week) and parking, if you want to spend the night in the marina, and not anchored off shore — that's two. The average price of such parking is approximately equal to the cost of a hotel room and, accordingly, depends on the level of "advancement" of the marina. And finally, cleaning the yacht before delivery at the end of the trip also costs money.
The general rule is simple: the more people plan a joint vacation on a yacht, the cheaper it will cost each of them. But the pitfalls are serious. A yacht is a closed space, and any conflict, any incompatibility of people on it can poison your whole trip in the bud. But if in two days you want to send all these people on board and the yacht itself to the same place, then no one will return the money you spent.
Next — decide on the country. Prices in Turkey and on the Cote d'Azur will be very different, not only for the yachts themselves, but also for life, plus take into account the visa regime in some countries. Explore local attractions and popular routes. There are many places in the world where you can not get by car or fly by plane, but under sail — please.
And now, when you have at least roughly decided what to expect from the seiling, what amounts to count on, you can begin to carefully climb the Network in search of specifics.
With this article, we would like to open a series of posts about seiling, in which expert opinions, examples and stories from personal experience will be present. It is impossible to embrace such a gigantic topic in one publication, and therefore we will conclude it with a small survey:
What prevents you from trying a yacht vacation?
