Common Bareboat Chartering Mistakes

This one is a bit of a sore spot, we’ll admit. There are sailing education companies out there who will have you believe that you can read some books, maybe even take a few 0n-water classes, and then be issued some kind of certification that will allow you to charter a sailboat anywhere in the world. If I could press one of those obnoxious buzzers and say “Wrong!” I would. You can read our entire “Biggest Lie in Sailing” blog post for the whole story, but the short version is that you need documented experience before any reputable charter company will allow you to take one of their boats. At NauticEd, we use an electronic logbook so our students can show charter companies their experience. The NauticEd Software summarizes the student’s sailing achievements into a charter-friendly Sailing Resume. This is a free service to NauticEd Students.

If you’re unsure, speak with your charter vacation booking agent or the charter company themselves and confirm your qualifications and experience before you make your booking. Be aware here if using internet booking engines. Make sure you are working with an agent who knows the requirements. You should submit your sailing resume in plenty of time before you travel there to really be sure.

The Mediterranean and The Seychelles

These sailing regions require a Sailing License. A sailing license is not a certification. The two most accepted Sailing Licenses in these regions are the ICC (International Certificate of Competence) and the SLC (Sailing License and Credentials). No matter who you are or how much experience you have or what and where you have sailed in the past, you simply must (as of 2018) have a Sailing License. But as above, you must also have an adequate sailing resume of experience. This is why the “Zero to Hero – Get Certified to Charter” programs don’t work. If you have a different license, check with your charter agent as to if what you have is adequate — license-wise and experience-wise.

Nervous? Join a Flotilla

Being nervous about skippering a sailboat on a sailing vacation is a bad idea. Even if you feel competent, you must also be confident. If you have any hesitations, consider joining a flotilla where you have a lead boat with a competent Captain leader who can help out in areas where you need. NauticEd operates many flotillas throughout the year: See https://sailing-blog.nauticed.org/sailing-vacations/#flotillas

What provisions to have on board can be a little tough because you want to have plenty to eat and drink on your vacation, but you also don’t want to be tripping over extra stuff or have food go bad before you’ve had a chance to eat it. Our general rule is that if you’re going to the Mediterranean, go light on food because you’ll have plenty of opportunities to restock or enjoy local restaurants. More remote places, like Baja or Belize have fewer places to re-provision, so plan well before you head out.

For non-food items, what you need can vary a little, so if you’re bareboat chartering, this provisioning checklist will certainly help. It also covers food basics, but if you’re cooking full meals, you’ll need to mealplan and provision accordingly. In terms of extras that you’ll want to take from home, this blog post about packing for bareboat chartering has great lists, but some of the big ones are making sure you have the right electrical adapters and chargers, your own snorkel and mask, reliable GPS on your tablet, and planning to have a kayak or SUP on board!

This one may seem silly, but we always recommend that you chat through with your agent which boat is right for you and your crew. For example, if you have inexperienced crew members (or anyone feeling nervous) or kids, a catamaran is likely the best choice. Your yacht charter agent can really help you out with this – in particular, they can help with knowing if a forepeak shown on the boat diagram is actually a sleepable cabin or not – is it airconditioned or not. While the boat may say it has air conditioning – is that air conditioning only while at the dock or does it actually have a generator to drive the air-cond. while away from the dock.

As a side note, you can charter a catamaran with only monohull experience as long as you plan well and talk it through with your charter company. Typically, if you have lots of monohull experience on bigger boats, they’ll let you charter a catamaran that’s a little smaller. You’ll probably need to spend a few hours with a local skipper when you get there to make sure you’re comfortable or maybe even hire a skipper for a couple of days. It varies, which is why you should check before you go.

We know, you don’t want us to refer to your knowledge as rusty or outdated, but what we mean is that there are some specific skills you will need to use on a bareboat charter that you may not use on a regular basis (or have never needed to know before). For example, some of our most experienced team members brush up on their navigational skills in the spring because they haven’t been used in the winter. For the outdated part, we’re talking about sailing education. Teaching techniques should be constantly evolving (at least we sure do!), especially in regards to charter-specific skills, like anchoring/mooring, so even if you’ve been taught some skills before, it might be a good idea to refresh yourself before embarking on a bareboat charter. Can you sail up to a mooring ball if your engine goes out? Can you diagnose simple electrical problems like a breaker keeps blowing or mechanical problems like if the water pump impeller breaks? If the chart plotter goes out, can you plot a course on a chart? How do you derive your heading given that the chart has compass variation? How do you deal with a flooded carburetor on the outboard dinghy engine? We could go on … !