Croatia Charterer

[sawallach]

Looking to do two weeks in Croatia in 2023. We're thinking pick the boat up in Split, return in Dubrovnik (or reverse - 1 week on the north leg, one week on the south leg.) Anybody have any recommendations on charterers? I'd like to stay away from the larger company's as I haven't had very good luck with their equipment. I hear the German charterers are very good and keep their equipment in good working order.

Thanks

Steve Wallach
San Francisco
Beneteau 310

[capnmatt]

I just went through this drill with a charter we are doing next June - 3 weeks one way Split to Dubrovnik. It was pretty difficult for to find reviews of any of the charter companies down there. I got several recommendations for Pitter which I believe is an Austrian company and I received quick responses from them. Unfortunately they could not allow for a one-way charter and didn't have quite the right boat for us during our desired dates.

After more research and reaching out to more companies we ended up going with Ultra Sailing. I received recommendations from a couple people who directly or indirectly (via broker) chartered through them and had good results. When I contacted Ultra they were very responsive and patient throughout my several e-mails with questions. They had a new boat that was a good fit for us, allowed for one-way charters at a reasonable fee and have several bases for support. Most importantly though they had reasonably flexible and fair protocols in terms of COVID-19. I think many charter companies do these days, but Ultra was very upfront and straight-forward about how they handle cancellations/interruptions due to COVID. Between them and travel insurance most COVID-related issues should be covered.

I also talked with Navaboats and they seemed to be a good outfit as well. Based on my dealings with the above three companies I would probably be comfortable chartering through any of them. Hopefully my actual experience matches up to my expectations...

[sawallach]

Thanks! I'd be interested in hearing about your experience when you get back. As we just got back from the Aeolians, we'll do our next big sail Sept/Oct 2023. No one has dates that far out but i figure after the first of the year those will start coming on calendar so I want to be ready to jump.


Steve

[Mallygee]

Originally Posted by sawallach

Looking to do two weeks in Croatia in 2023. We're thinking pick the boat up in Split, return in Dubrovnik (or reverse - 1 week on the north leg, one week on the south leg.) Anybody have any recommendations on charterers? I'd like to stay away from the larger company's as I haven't had very good luck with their equipment. I hear the German charterers are very good and keep their equipment in good working order.

Thanks

Steve Wallach
San Francisco
Beneteau 310

Hi Steve,
We have just booked a 2-week bareboat charter in Croatia for 4 of us with Instant Sailing, from Sat 27 Aug'22. The yacht is an Elan Impression 40 (2017) with A/C and the price for the 2 weeks is Eur 4040 (dare I say quite cheap for you Americans?).

We were also quite particular with our requirements: 2 heads, furling main, bow thruster, solar panels so we can charge our batteries and keep our fridge on while at anchor and also an on-board marine BBQ especially for when we’re in the Kornati Islands where restaurants are expensive.


We have been to Croatia a number of times and found by trial and error that the main charter companies all make use of a common booking yacht schedule. And this is the case with InstantSailing.com too where, with their search engine, you can view almost any yacht available for charter in Croatia and which they have negotiated with all the various yacht owners, to save you the trouble of approaching many different ones to secure a yacht of your choice.


To conclude, let me say that the charter yachts on offer for the 2022 season only became available mid November 2021. So, you should only begin your search in Nov 2022 for 2023. My experience was such that you will also be able to request a one way charter directly from Tonka the owner, who answers all queries very swiftly.


I hope this info will be helpful to you.
Regards,
Malcolm
South Africa

[Blue Swede]

We would be happy to help with any sailing you want to do in Croatia, please check out the link in my bio.