Luxury
Mega Yachts
Luxury Motor Sailors
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Article written by Eldin Basic
(BA Hons)
Yachting is an exhilarating experience.
Imagine arriving in style, on a yacht of your choice to a new
location you never visited before. That in itself is a truly amazing
experience. Then squeezing into a hidden bay with a fabulous beach
inaccessible to many, after taking all your clothes off and after grabbing
a bite, simply jumping into crystal clear waters, snorkelling your way up
to the corner of the bay or next to a rock and exploring the bottom of the
sea. It's simply fabulous and you either know it and by reading this
you wish to do it again or if you don't and wish to do so. Either way, you
can read on for more ideas or immediately send me an
email specifying your
preferences in terms of type and size of the boat, preferred location and
suggested period.
Beginners
For the less experienced ones, I can easily say they often get yachting to
be either expensive, inaccessible or outright dangerous. They are
scared of the sea and cannot imagine swimming longer then 2 minutes, let
alone cruising across the open sea. If you think the same way, I can
categorically state: ''You are completely wrong!''.
Sailing (excluding expensive motor yachts) is probably one of the most
affordable type of holiday nowadays. Given a right size of the
group, accessible location and provided you are a little bit adventurous,
you can sail for as little as £100 per week (excluding flights, transfers,
provisions, mooring fees). In simple terms, you can visit
www.brummiesailing.co.uk for
some ideas while in more realistic situations, getting a few friends to
join you, one of which may have a skipper licence would enable you to
charter your own yacht for as little as £500,00 per week (last minute
offer during April or October in the Mediterranean for example). If
you wish to have a safe and secure family holiday or just want to take
your girlfriend or boyfriend out on a new type of experience, the costs
are likely to be higher, but can still be less then in a luxury hotel.
When sailing, you can spread the costs between family and friends, save on
car rental and enjoy fresh fish in a new al fresco surrounding every day.
What more of a luxury do you expect ?
Learn To sail:
There are many options you can choose when starting to sail. The
best advice I can offer is to take it easy and with a beginner sailing
course at first, or by joining a group of friends on a casual coastal
cruise over the weekend. One of the best experiences can also be by
simply taking any opportunity that comes along. I once took a friend of
mine, a total novice, to an advance racing programme. On a force 10
wind with regular 40mph gusts you can bet he both got sick and considered
me his worst enemy, rather then a best friend. Add to that around
£400,00 unplanned expenses in terms of sailing equipment needed at this
bad weather, no wonder I had to pay for all our drinks and food that
weekend. And while on a second day he felt rather better and learned
a few things, it was not until the third day when he fell in love with
sailing. The weather was jolly and simply made for sailing, he learned the
ropes by then and was given a firm position next to the helmsman. As we
then won our race, as a result he wanted to stay another 2 days
afterwards.
Skippered charter
If you are a lazy holiday maker like myself and love to relax rather then
work during your holidays, you are likely to want to take the skipper. We
can agree that we still believe sheets are part of bed linen and heads are
flip side of tails and frankly we don't care!! During holiday
we want to relax, take charge only when and as we please and not worry
about minor things, which can easily become major ones, such as securing
the boat, finding a berth or ensuring it is safe overnight. For that
reason, we would hire a local, experienced or knowledgeable skipper,
unless we have a friend who is a qualified sea wolf and able to sail with
us. To read more about skippered charter, visit the following page
by
clicking here. If we wish to sail, then going on a sailing
course or participating in an advance racing programme or indeed an
international regatta, that is when we will take charge or dig out our
oilskins, which to that point we understood to be latest sun cream with a
100pf factor or so.
Bareboat Charter
If you have experience or indeed wish to spice up your trip with
additional adventure, bareboat charter is the best way forward. In that
case you can either sail yourself or have a friend who will do it for you.
While I seriously doubt you need any general input about yacht charter
from a sailor like myself, I can point you to the fact an extensive list
of sailing itineraries will be provided to you and we can also advise on
weather and wind conditions as well as the best time of year to go to a
particular destination. In most destinations you will need a skipper
licence. Day Skipper issued by Royal Yachting Association or by many
sailing schools across the med is the best to have
Crewed Charter
Similar to skippered charter, crewed charter offers care free holiday in
the best place on this planet. Namely, I firmly believe you can only relax
100% when on a yacht and at sea. In this type of yacht charter you
have an additional crew member. This is usually the hostess and she
would prepare and serve breakfast, do general cleaning of the boat as well
as cook or prepare simple lunch. In this case you are still advised
to prepare for luxury meals in restaurants along the sailing route, rather
then request a 3 course meal on board, despite the fact that hostess or in
some cases skipper can cook delicious food. This type of meal should
be reserved to skippers or hostess's discretion as most of them will be
glad to make a surprise dinner or a barbeque when you do not expect it.
Fully Crewed Yacht Charter
In simple terms, this is a 5 or a 6* holiday at its best. You don't
need to lift a finger, everything is arranged and sorted out for you. In
terms of prices, such a charter can cost from as low as £1000,00 per day
ie. on some gullets in Turkey or Croatia and up to several hundreds of
thousands for charters on luxury mega yachts such as MALTESE FALCON, LADY
MICHELLE or fabulous TIARA.
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