How to choose the right chater boat for your holidays

How to choose the right charter boat for your holidays

Choosing that boat is not easy -for a number of reasons. On the one hand you are paying out good, hard earned money and you must weigh that against getting what you need and want in return. It is your pleasure and enjoyment and that of your family and friends that must be the deciding factor, not simply the exchange of money against a contract with a yacht owner/agent. They have no idea of your needs. Consideration has to be given to the following factors:

number of people in the crew
make-up of that crew
type of holiday
flotilla or independent sailing
the climate in your chosen holiday area

Number of people in the crew
Obviously, crew numbers will dictate size parameters directly allied to the comfort levels you are prepared to pay for. This leads us to the other decision i.e. do you use the saloon for sleeping purposes -or not? It is generally accepted that the saloon should not be used for that purpose. If you decide to employ a skipper, then his accommodation has to be included. Some larger boats (above 47 feet) have specific accommodation, separate from the rest of the boat, for the skipper.

Make-up of that crew
The crew make-up will ultimately decide the cabin configuration. You have to consider how many couples, how many individuals and lastly how many children and their ages, you have. It is simply not practical, or desirable to expect individuals who are not, shall we say, family members to share the confinement of a typical yacht double cabin.

Naturally the existence of over and under bunk cabins eases the single person situation. Here again the size of the boat will very often dictate whether bunk cabins exist, but care has to be taken to ensure that they are not simply too small to accommodate two adults, as opposed to children.

Type of holiday

No doubt, all the hours of discussion with family and friends will short out what short of holiday you are going to take. Are you going to leisurely cruise from one idyllic place to another, enjoying the scenery, the culture, the history and of course the food, or are you going to indulge in some frenetic, hard sailing, stretching the boat to it's limits? The former will dictate a roomy, comfortable, well furnished vessel whereas the later will require a more racy machine of the old cruiser/racer type.

Flotilla or independent sailing
If flotilla sailing is the decision taken by the group your choices will be limited by the type of vessel offered by the companies you are considering. Independent, bareboat sailing, offers a multitude of choice and actually broadens your choice amongst a greater selection of yacht owners/agencies.

The climate in your chosen holiday area
Too little importance is placed on the needs to consider the local climatic conditions to be experienced in your chosen holiday area. For example, if you intent to sail in the Baltic sea you will face totally different requirements to those in the Caribbean or Southeast Asia. For the colder climates the boat's inventory, bedding, heaters and layout are of primary importance. In the hot climates, open spaces, protection from the sun, ventilation etc. are vitally important.

As with many decisions, in a multiplicity of situations there is nothing like experience or personal recommendation before making that decision. Talk to friends, who have sailed in different locations and who have changed their crew make-up over the years. Their advice will be invaluable

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