Canadian Yachting October 2019 - 68

Chartering around the World

FLOTILLAS are very popular for individuals who are competent but would
like to sail in the company of others or
with a leader to build confidence,
especially in a new destination.
SKIPPERED charters are a great way
to sail without being responsible for
the boat. This may be ideal for individuals who have had some training
but would like to leave the ultimate
responsibility of the boat in the hands
of a professional captain. The skippered charter may also include a
cook, then your dream sailing / boating vacation can be quite relaxing
and, depending on the skipper, you
may also be able to participate in
handling the boat. Some captains are
also willing to instruct.
INSTRUCTIONAL charters are how I
got started. There is a myriad of
organizations across North America
who offer instructional sailing and
powerboating that can take a relatively new boater (Basic Course and 10
or more-day sails) and introduce
them to chartering and coastal cruising. In addition, the instructor is fully
insured and is responsible for the
operation of the boat and the safety
of the crew. More on this under How
Do I Qualify to Charter?

4

RACING charters allow winter bound
North American racing sailors the
opportunity to compete on retired,
but very desirable racing sailboats.
One company, Sail Race Crew offer
racing sailboats from a Beneteau 445
to a Volvo Ocean 70 and a Mini Maxi
72. J-World (jworldschool.com), on
the US west coast also offers a variety
of racing options and boats.
LUXURY CHARTERS have gained
popularity. It is difficult to sail in any of
the popular chartering destinations -
Bahamas, BVIs, Grenadines, Belize,
Greece, Croatia - you name it - without encountering a luxury yacht. If you
have the budget, the sky is the limit -
such as the yacht Twizzler (previous
page) that was anchored beside us at
Yost Van Dyke a couple of years ago.

Types of Boats
The type of boat you choose will depend
on where your boating passion and experience lay - sail (mono or multi hull) or
power (mono or multi hull as well).
Looking at Canadian owned Conch
Charters, their BVI location offers 9
mono hulls from 32 to 54 feet, 13 catamarans from 40 to 50 feet and a 47-foot
power cat. In the Moorings fleet (over
400 vessels worldwide) there are 11 dif-

Canadian Yachting CHARTER Handbook

ferent sized catamarans from 37.5 feet to
58 feet, 15 different sized mono hulls
from 35.2 to 52.3 feet, 7 different power
cats from 41.3 to 51 feet and 7 different
power and sail skippered catamarans
from 45 to 57.7 feet.
The greatest change in the make up of
charter fleets over the last decade or so, is
the surge of catamarans, pushing past the
number of mono hulls offered. You only
have to look at the extra space and the
more stable platform to understand their
popularity in charter locations.

Price of Charter
One significant factor affecting the cost
of a charter is the age of the charter fleet.
A "first-tier" company puts brand new
boats in its fleet, keeps them in charter
for 3.5 to 5 years, and then takes them
out of the fleet.
A "second-tier" company takes these
used (but well-maintained) boats into its
fleet. A second-tier company may also
bring new boats into their fleet.
Looking at one popular boat - a mono
hull 40-foot Beneteau - will have a charter price differential of over $2,000 US
from a second-tier company with a 5-year
old boat at $4399 to a less than 1-year old
boat at a first-tier charter company for
$6524. For some, that may be the difference between getting south or not.

OCTOBER 2019
http://www.jworldschool.com
Canadian Yachting October 2019

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