Catamaran Charter Issue in Greece

[SFer]

RR - thank, you make a good point about having an insurance company vouch for you since, as several have pointed out, this is an insurance issue, not sailing competency issue for the charter company. Sounds like a great excuse for me to just buy a boat rather than charter our of a local club!

Ed - yes, I think we're leaning toward Croatia next time over Greece, thanks for the detail. Those are great points. Although, we just got back from visiting Naxos, Paros, and Amorgos, and the sailing looked spectacular! Maybe it was just timing. As for getting anything out of Dream Yacht Charter, they have offered nothing other than the skipper at the absolute last minute. As my wife said, "Moorings seems to advocate for their customer, Dream Yacht Charter does not." So much for the #2 organization working harder!

Grtblu - Sorry you had to go through that but it certainly made me feel better! On the broker front, I have been wondering if it would be better to use a broker or not. I've been working directly with Moorings and Dream Yacht Charter (would opt for Moorings now!) thinking I'd get better service/knowledge, but this last episode proved me wrong. You'd think a broker would be on top of this.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by rabbi

Btw: as far as i know it's been a European requirement for it's member states to require a boating license for boats with engine larger than 15hp.

That is not true. Case in point, traders in the City of London are famous for spending their bonuses on big motor boats that they are allowed to drive without a license.

[12BCruzn]

Our Croatia sail is completed. It was very nice.

[BlueSlue]

SFer,

Sorry to hear you had this bad experience. My friends and I chartered through Dream Yachts out of Lefkas and had a very good experience both with the State-side agent and the local office. We were pretty proactive about asking questions before the trip and checking out the boat once we got there. We had a something like a 100 point checklist when going over the boat and a zillion questions about conditions and locations. In fact, I don't think they had ever seen a group quite so *thorough* in checking out the boat. The flip side was that we returned the boat to them in very good and clean condition and gave our boat manager a hefty tip, so I think that made up for us being somewhat annoying on the way out.

We had talked to numerous charter companies at the U.S. Boat Show while in the planning stages of the trip and they all had told us that our ASA 104 qualification would count as a "sailing license" and that worked out just fine for a monohull bareboat.

Anyway, I hope you have another chance to charter in the future. I think planning and preparation go a long way toward having a successful trip. Little details like bringing some spare line, having a plan for buying provisions, a checkout list, a printed layout of the boat on which you can mark thru hulls and safety equipment, etc., can make the trip so much more enjoyable. Also, invest in a local pilot guide to look at before you arrive. Rod Heikell's pilot guides for Greece are very good.

[wallythacker]

Originally Posted by grantheadifen

The NauticEd SLC (Sailing License and Credentials) is a valid license for all the Mediterranean. It can be done very quickly and is easy to get as long as you are an experienced sailor.

Details like this are great to know as shown by this thread and the issues the OP faced without the right "permission slip" I stumbled across another requirement, close to home for me.

If I read things right to operate any powered vessel in the Toronto harbor requires a Toronto Harbor License. Even a visiting skipper on vacation needs this beforehand. There is a process to get a 30 day temp license one time.

I don't want to derail the thread but it got me wondering if there is a database somewhere that details the jurisdiction/license required/reciprocity and with who so a sailor will know beforehand what licenses they will need.

[syPhilos]

Originally Posted by rabbi

Btw: as far as i know it's been a European requirement for it's member states to require a boating license for boats with engine larger than 15hp. But as always the southern countries don't necessarily change their legislation in a timely manner.

I'm in the Netherlands.
A licence is required for all ships 15 meter (49') and up, and/or for anything that can do 20 kmph (10.80 knots) or more.

On a side note, I often see people referring to "Europe" as if it's one country with one set of laws ... It's not
Even the definition of "Europe" isn't simple: it can mean EU members or countries located within the European borders. And nope, those are not all the same countries

TLDR; don't check "European laws" - check the laws for the country you are visiting

[captstu]

Just tried to charter 2 big cats in Greece from the Greek affiliate we used in the Virgins last year.

Experience is not enough.

We have family chartered with no incidents several times. My son skippered one boat and I did the other.

There was no road to get his experience counter.

I was an ASA instructor and a USCG instructor -both retired - they offered to consider me but not him and would not give us two boats.

[SFer]

BlueSlue, thanks for the comment. Clearly being more proactive would have helped. I guess that I assumed that if I was paying $7K+ for a boat charter that the charter company could at least tell me accurately what was required. As I mentioned, when I called Moorings, they told me exactly what I needed to know in 2 minutes on the phone. Dream Yacht was not only incompetent, they refused to offer any compensation other than a skipper the day before my trip. Glad to hear you had a better experience!

I will definitely charter in Greece after visiting on our trip (sans sailing). It looked fantastic. It just won't be with Dream Yacht Charter. Perhaps my wife and I will just buy a boat over there and take some time . . . fun to think about.

[Bullshooter]

[QUOTE=SFer;2662993

In the meantime, if anyone has had a positive experience with a specific bareboat charter company in Greece or Croatia with catamarans, I'm all ears. We will certainly be going to both places, timing TBD.
l[/QUOTE]

We chartered a bareboat out of Trogir, Croatia last summer from Danielis Yachting. It was a brand new Bali 4.0, a very nice 40-foot catamaran, for a reasonable price. And I think you will greatly appreciate communication with Zeljana, who I emailed a million questions to, and she was very prompt and helpful.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by wallythacker

If I read things right to operate any powered vessel in the Toronto harbor requires a Toronto Harbor License. Even a visiting skipper on vacation needs this beforehand. There is a process to get a 30 day temp license one time.

That's what they say... and I've got one, but in 11 years I've never been stopped and asked for one, and I've never heard of any visiting boat being required to have it.


More on the charter stuff - we just completed a charter in the BVIs. It was through Sunsail (part of, and same base as Moorings). The requirements aren't as stringent but I did have to fill out an online sailing resume. Also we had booked through a local flotilla organizer, who answered our many questions.


Moral of story - for a charter - take nothing for granted, ask questions early and often, try to resolve any uncertainty sooner rather than later.

[edsml]

Originally Posted by SFer

As my wife said, "Moorings seems to advocate for their customer, Dream Yacht Charter does not." So much for the #2 organization working harder!

SFer I need to add to my previous comments. Regardless of whether you need a license, I agree the real problem was DYC. I chartered a Lagoon 52 for two weeks from them in the BVI this January. The yacht was four years old but had a multitude of problems, too many to list. This happens with yachts, but most suggested poor maintenance. This was confirmed by their responses to them. Sent out with a non-functioning VHF, a clogged water filter, and weak service batteries. So weak, I had to run motors at least six hours a day to try to keep charged (after water pump went out on generator; two days to fix, then on their time, causing us to find anchorage in the dark). Yet, still not enough power for even the chart plotter, or to keep battery alarm from going off around four a.m. each day! This resulted in more than $900 in fuel usage-- and we sailed everywhere (Xmas winds). They offered to reimburse me at base. It's been two months; nothing yet and they ignore my e-mails.

They didn't even have promised snorkeling gear, resulting in $75 cost to several of my crew. Base manager didn't want to acknowledge who he was when I went to him with items missing after first week cleaning. There were many other examples of apathy, but suffice it to say, be wary of chartering from Dream Yacht, at least in the BVI.

Decided to try Simple Sail instead in the Dubrovnik region this May; a Helia 44, will give a report back. Anyone have any experience with them?

Ed

[tp12]

Originally Posted by SFer

In the meantime, if anyone has had a positive experience with a specific bareboat charter company in Greece or Croatia with catamarans, I'm all ears. We will certainly be going to both places, timing TBD.

Thanks againl

My charter wasn't a cat but the company does cats as well. I chartered with Odyssey Sailing and had a great experience. They were very helpful including making sure I sent through a copy of my RYA Day Skipper license prior to arriving.

Also try Yeloya, on here. Send him a PM. He was helpful with me at the time; so much so that I felt guilty booking with Odyssey and only did so on price and availability of a smaller boat. It was initially going to be my son and I so I'd chartered a 34' mono. The owner ended up selling the boat and giving me a free upgrade to their brand new Bavaria 41 which was cool because my partner decided she wanted to come too. We got hit by the passarelle on a motor boat while on Tilos and I called the owner up and handed the phone over to the motor boat owner and they sorted it all out, no worries and no drama for me. Thanos (the owner), his name was, the Greek George Clooney my partner called him. He was a very good looking man and super smooth

I've chartered in the Ionian and the Dodecanese and while the islands are all beautiful the sailing was different. The Ionian was easier sailing while in the Dodecanese the Meltemi was blowing, which was fine for me but my partner, who was new to sailing, didn't appreciate bashing into short period and steep waves with 25 knots blowing on some days. I loved it but to her it confirmed her suspicions that I'm a wee bit mad. My favourite anchorage for that trip was Panormitis on Simi. Well protected, a beautiful monastery, reasonably quiet except for the group of Russian gents who anchored on top of us and promptly all got naked in the cockpit, did some shots and jumped in for a swim! My partner was less than impressed! Hahahaha

[Sojourner]

Sorry for your troubles..... before we bought our sailboat, i was thinking of chartering more extensively. I sailed on and off a lot of my life so it wasn't an issue of skill. To be safe, I simply typed in "what do you need to charter sailboat in Mediterranean" into google. Gave me about 20000000 hits saying RYA day/coastal skipper and/or ICC. So I got 'em. Took me weekends since I was basically testing out of the courses, just needed an instructor to sign off on my abilities. But yeah, a quick (and i mean, instantaneous) google search would have done you a world of good...