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Sailing holidays for couples & friends

Leave your normal routine at home . . .

Sailing your own yacht provides fun, excitement and challenges to wake up your senses and make you feel alive. Every day is different! And every day there are magic moments – an exhilarating reach at 8 knots under full sail, dolphins swimming next to your yacht, snorkelling over sunlit reefs, finding a stunning deserted anchorage, chilling out with a cold beer in the cockpit while you watch a glorious sunset. Skippering a yacht gives you a sense of achievement and crewing the yacht together is a fun way to build friendships.

Be adventurous and explore . . .

Set sail for a different destination every day- without the clouds and crowds of the Solent! There's always another bay, another harbour, another island to explore. And when you arrive, step ashore for dinner in a waterfront taverna. You'll be supporting the local community and you'll feel like a traveller, not a tourist. There's always time for a swim off your yacht or a walk to a market or cliff-top view. Or just relax - there's no rush and no timetables.

It's excellent value and so convenient . . .

Your yacht provides self-contained accommodation with plenty of cabins for everyone. Every night you'll enjoy being in the best harbourside location or in your own secluded anchorage - a different place to discover every day without any packing and unpacking! All the yachts have a fridge and cooker onboard and self-catering for breakfast, lunch and drinks helps keep the costs down. At night, party animals can hit the local bars or you can treat your crew to dinner in a taverna on the water's edge.

Couples & friends come in all sizes, ages and experience levels. . .

From the gentle breezes of the Ionian to the bluewater sailing in Grenada, there's a sailing holiday to suit everyone. Talk to us and we'll find the perfect sailing holiday for you.

 

Couples & Friends choices

Top 3 choices for sailing with friends:

  1. Saronic Gulf south of Athens - great sailing & interesting places to visit. Plenty of local bars and tavernas ashore.
  2. Dalmatia Islands south of Split - good winds, picturesque islands to visit, great nightlife!
  3. British Virgin Islands - perfect sailing in a relaxed Caribbean paradise.

Top Questions

To charter a yacht bareboat or on flotilla, you should have an RYA Day Skipper qualification or RYA International Certificate of Competence (ICC) and be assisted by at least one competent crew.

For charters in Croatia, one member of the crew will also need a VHF licence.

RYA qualifications can be obtained by RYA sailing schools in the UK such as Hamilton Sailing or Torbay Sea School or alternatively choose from one of our overseas centres in Gibraltar, Greece or Turkey.

For Caribbean and Tropical charters, formal qualifications are not compulsory, however, you should be Day Skipper standard and be assisted by at least one competent crew. A brief sailing resume should be provided to outline your experience.

In Greece, Turkey and Croatia you have a choice of bareboat yacht charter or flotilla sailing holidays, providing maximum choice at all experience levels.

Add a skipper to any of our bareboat yachts if you don’t have the experience to charter bareboat or if you would like a helping hand with a larger yacht or a guide to a new cruising area. The skipper will be a competent local sailor and perfectly capable of sailing the yacht. He will encourage you to get involved as crew, although he is not an instructor. You will have to allocate a cabin for the skipper's use and provide him with food and drink.

All our charter yachts are fully equipped for cruising in comfort and have full safety, navigational and domestic equipment.

On arrival at your charter yacht you will be given a technical briefing on your yacht and cruising area. We do recommend that you check your yacht carefully before you leave the marina as things can so easily be put right at the base.

Once you have set sail you are given contact numbers for the base, including emergency out-of-hours telephone numbers, so help is just a phone call away at any time. Should any repairs be necessary during your charter, the base manager will usually arrange for these to be done in your nearest harbour.

We have an excellent selection of quality sailing yachts for bareboat yacht charter ranging from 30' to 52' including all the well-known names, Jeanneau, Beneteau, Dufour and Bavaria. Most are less than 4 years old and many are brand new models.

If there's 1 or 2 couples onboard look out for 2-cabin yachts which give you more spacious cabins. Two cabin layouts on larger yachts are more common in the Caribbean and in the BVIs, we have a several superb yachts with just 2 master cabins.

For 3 couples you have plenty of choice of yachts with 3 double cabins but maybe you do need more than 2 heads? Some of the larger 3 cabin yachts have 3 heads so each cabin gets ensuite facilities.

Larger groups need to work out what cabin layout suits them. Over 45', yachts either have 3 double cabins and a twin with narrow bunk beds or 4 smaller doubles. The 5th cabin is either another twin cabin or a skipper's bunk in the bow.

3 or 4 couples should also consider a catamaran, most of which have 4 equal sized cabins, usually with ensuite facilities. Even if you haven’t sailed cats before, you’ll be impressed by their easy handling. Cats are very popular in Turkey and the Caribbean where you spend most nights on anchor rather than on a crowded town quay or marina.