Simple tips for charter boat clients

If you're a veteran in chartering yachts in Greece you probably don't need to read this (or do you? ;-), if not bear with me for 5 minutes.

Oh no, got the wrong bag!

Every year I see clients arriving in the marina with their Delsey rolling bags. The bags are nice and it's helpful to have gone through the airport and maybe the metro with, but dear oh dear, these bags are going to be the main decoration in the boat for the week to follow, and you know what, this is not funny. Personally I make it a routine to advise customers again and again to bring soft bags that can be folded and nicely stowed away, but still people will come with their rigid or semi rigid bags. There is nothing square inside a boat and there is no place to store rigid travel luggage (even in a 57 footer). So do yourself a favour, get a bag that can be folded and if you search well you will find bags that can accept a detachable wheel system to go through the airport easier. If you can't find this just get the soft bags. It will be a bit more difficult for a couple of hours, but you will be rewarded with living in a boat that looks like a boat and not a train waiting area.

Sunscreen and factors

I promise to one day write a blog on how youngsters in the old times decided how and if to approach a tourist, judging by her suntan. There were 3 stages: milk white, lobster atomic disaster and properly tanned. For the purpose of this here, let's stay in the lobster atomic disaster stage.

Factors on sunscreen are there for people to calculate hours of exposure to the sun. I would say take all this with a pinch of salt if on a yacht cruising the Greek islands. The sun on a yacht is relentless. Most of the surfaces are highly reflective white and you cannot hide away from it. You will dip yourself in the water several times, you will ignore the 12 to 16 hours no sun exposure warning and all this makes for a cocktail that will very soon bring you to resemble a lobster. I know that you probably come from Northern Europe and crave the sun but believe me, a couple of days of patience will really help you achieve your goal.

My personal routine is to stay in the shadow for the first couple of days when the season starts. I will take myself to direct sun only to swim or work. You can't believe the tan you get by staying in the shadow on a boat for a couple of days! I don't even use sunscreen because I'm not so comfortable with chemistry on my skin. There is not much sense anyway in splashing yourself in factor 50 sunscreen and then just grill yourself on the deck at one o'clock in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Take the sun very seriously, especially if you're of light complexion and/or have freckles.

Hat and sunglasses

You should use both.

Your preferred cool cap is trendy and is quite ok, but a wider breamed hat is better. Haven't you noticed those guys going around with their nice cap on and their badly sunburned neck? There are many nice wider breamed hats made for yacht use (they need to have a string under the chin, otherwise they will be gone with the wind). The good ones have a good ventilation system and can be washed very easily. My personal preference is the Tilley hat. Very easy to keep clean, great system with strings, a lifetime guarantee and of course this very funny story with the elephant that ate one, which I'm not going to repeat here since it's lunchtime!

Sunglasses take quite a beating while sailing greek waters, so don't use your trendy Dolce & Gabbana pair while taking a reef in the greek meltemi. Get a purpose made pair of sailing sunglasses or bring your bicycling ones. Rinse them with soft water before attempting to wipe them, there will be a lot of salt on and they will be scratched too easily. Keep the Armani variety for strolling in the harbour later. By the way what are all these people doing with sunglasses on couple of hours after sunset?

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Ok, I'm sorry, I'm male, but I have to write this. Decide what clothes you're taking with, pile them somewhere, then put away half of it and only pack the rest.

I have never seen anybody, male or female, come onboard a yacht with exactly or less the clothes he/she needs for the duration of the travel (unfortunately this includes myself). The norm is to come with double or triple, but it doesn't add to the enjoyment of the vacation. What you will need during the day is a bathing suit, maybe shorts and a t-shirt. I'm afraid that during the night you will hardly wear more than shorts and t-shirts too. Yes, yes I know “C'mon now, I'm a GIRL after all!”. Sure but two “nicer” outfits for a week, not two per day, and one pair of high heels (ok, ok one each to suit the two “nicer” outfits).

Take a lot of swimsuits with you, preferably those that dry quicker and avoid pure white ones, they get instantly very dirty on the wet teak surfaces of a boat.

Light sandals are a must, if you forget them you will find a nice cheap pair in most greek harbours. I would recommend a pair of proper boat shoes too, like Docksides or equivalent. They will protect your toes from all these nasty deck protrusions and they look good to wear and travel with. There are many “sportier” looking boat shoes, but have yet to find a pair to convince me.

Do you need sailing gloves? Never used a pair myself, but many people with sensitive skin swear by them.

Some quickies:

I'm a runner. I sincerely hope you're an early riser too, after 8 in the morning you can forget about it

I'm a snorer. They got a spray for that. They got sharks too

I'm a music fan. Me too. Here's my earphones if you forgot yours. Never saw a crew agree on music

I'm a smoker. Place the other people between you and the wind so your smoke doesn't bother them. Get one of these small portable ashtrays with a lid and dispose off your buts in the harbour bin, they don't smell good in the boat garbage bin. NEVER smoke in the interior of the yacht.

I'm a nudist. I'm a fan of yours! How was your name again? Cindy Crawford?

Eating around in Greece for yotties

Some years ago we got a couple with two kids on the boat. They were coming from a Scandinavian country and they were quick to make the point that, they thought breakfast was the most important meal of the day and that dinner was a meal eaten before 18.00 hours. The kids were also extremely used to that and they wouldn't accept anything else. They have heard that Greeks traditionally only drink coffee for breakfast and eat dinner in the middle of the night and this was unacceptable.

I smiled and readily agreed to everything. Guess the rest of the story: the guys and the kids had become totally Greek after a coupe of days! They had less breakfast than me and the dinner was starting every night around 22.00 hours.

It is not some strange greek gene that does all that, it is simply the local climate. Try once to have a good dinner around 17.30 in greek July! Your day is finished. It's too hot and you will not be able to digest it or be able to do anything else that day, except sit at a corner and regret your idea.

I have also seen people arrive from foreign countries, with bags full of the things they are used to eat where they live. They know that it will be difficult to find in Greece and bring it along to not disturb their usual diet. This is understandable, but it's a pity and is also not going to work. A pity because Greece has excellent local food and it's not going to work because eating liver pate on dark pumpernickel in 38 degrees celsius, hmmm.... I don't know!

Daily tactics

My personal routine sailing around the Greek islands is to have breakfast and lunch in the boat and dinner in a restaurant. There are bakeries around Greece, and they are real bakeries, most of them actually produce the bread themselves. The first task is to find the good bakery (fournos in greek). This is accomplished by simply asking around, especially if you have arrived the evening before. Ask a couple of locals and if they agree there you have it.

In a bakery you will find bread of all kinds, but also cheese pies and spinach pies, plus the local specialities in pies or snacks. Ask them, don't be shy, they love to explain even if their english is poor and more than often they will give you a little sample to finish the discussion! They usually also have milk, water, soft drinks and maybe some cheese and yogurt. Buy a variety of things to have for breakfast and lunch at your favourite anchorage. For things that you consume a lot (pasta, water, beer, soft drinks etc) find a good size supermarket in a bigger harbour and provision the boat there, it will certainly be cheaper.

You will also need some fruit and tomatoes and cucumbers for lunch which you will find in the local shop in every harbour. Take your time and choose. Locals really scrutinize the fruit and veggies they buy, so don't be shy. And don't buy too much, they degrade quickly in the heat.

A note about the coffee: drinking coffee is like a local pastime in Greece. People sit around in cafes and have coffee with their friends all the time. But I personally find coffee a bit expensive here. My personal criterion is very simple: I will only have coffee in a cafe if the view or the surroundings are excellent or if I crave a very special kind of coffee. If it's just to have a coffee to start the day, I will have it in the boat.

The restaurants

We eat dinner in restaurants because first of all we are on vacation and it can actually cost exactly the same to buy the ingredients and prepare the dinner in the boat! Greece has many, many restaurants which serve a big variety of food to suit every taste and they are normally very reasonable in price.

Should you take the restaurant on the pier where all the fellow boaters eat and the waiter has a big smile and great PR? I don't know. There are actually some waterfront restaurants that first look like a tourist trap to me and then I have found out that they are very good.

Try though to venture a bit further. Ask some locals, ask at the kiosk, tell them you want a restaurant where the locals eat. You will get many suggestions, sometimes just because they are just relatives, but when you see that lets' say 3 suggestions agree, you're probably on the right track. Many times these local nice restaurants are quite unassuming, but what they serve can be superb.

First move when you come in a restaurant is to ask for a catalogue-price list. Not so much to choose food from the list, more to just check the level of prices. Many of them have the list in a window just next to the entrance, so just take a minute and study it.

Don't waste your time on verbal explanations of what the food exactly is, ask them to come in the kitchen and have a look! In most popular restaurants this is just normal practice. If you're having fish bigger than just sardines, it's more than normal to come in the kitchen where they will open the fridge for you and you will choose the fish by yourself. You will be happy and they will be happy! The only restaurants that don't want people near their kitchen are either expensive posh or not so good restaurants! Another thing: If you see let's say a tray with meat cooked with potatoes and you don't fancy the potatoes but the boiled herbs next to it, ask them to serve it with the herbs instead, they will happily do it, as they will generally alter things to suit someone's specific wish or diet.

Ask what is the local speciality, most islands have one and are very proudly making it. Ask them what they recommend, greeks will readily point to what is the most fresh and well made dish, they can't easily lie to a straight question like that!

Normally one will order a variety of starters and some main dishes. Don't overdo it with the starters, be choosy instead and order more if you really feel like it. It's too easy to over-order in a greek restaurant.

The wine

Well, I am Greek and I will tell you that wine was cultivated in Greece and colonists transported and planted it in France many years BC. I will also tell you though, that I find most cheap wine in Greece not particularly good and most good wine overpriced. Greeks could make fantastic wines and actually few producers do, but generally they should go to France and learn what quality control and consistency means.

Let's start with Retsina: don't do this to yourselves! No, greeks don't drink retsina and you should not drink it too! It's a thing that comes from the past where they would make this white wine in a cask of some sort of pine tree and the wine would naturally take up this “resin” taste. Today it's all chemistry made for tourists for the sake of old times.

You will notice in greek restaurants that locals drink mostly the cooled white wine of the house. You will also hear them order “a kilo” or “half a kilo” instead of litres, its just local lingo it doesn't really matter. Red wine is rarely ordered in the summer regardless of the dish, it's just too hot for that.

I will normally sample the wine of the house and if it's acceptable I will order it, otherwise I will just drink beer or water. I buy some good bottles of wine where I find them in local wine shops or supermarkets and I keep them in the boat's refrigerator, to be consumed in the cockpit during beautiful evenings. There are some wines where you can't go that wrong, like the “Nykteri” variety of Santorini or the Muscat of Limnos. I have a favourite red wine also, the variety is called Xinomavro it's a very dry wine usually from Naoussa in northern Greece. And if you want a great sparkling wine for around 12 Euros ask for “Amalia”, it's great, but hard to find.

Skipper or no skipper?

by DimitriL at www.telltales.info

The issue of hiring a skipper for a charter yacht is something that is often passed by, rather lightly. Bareboat looks cheaper, maybe you have the qualifications required by law so you choose bareboat, or, you simply don't know how to sail, so you hire a skipper. The main question though, is if you really are able to safely sail the boat in an unknown environment and if you are willing to maybe wreck your nerves and your vacation playing skipper for friends and family. 

The typical cost of hiring a skipper in Greece is around 1000 Euros a week and if you know how to do it, it can be an excellent investment.

Why a skipper?

Part of the charm of Greek island harbours is that they don't look like super duper organized marinas, they still look "original". This is the good news. The bad news is that mooring a yacht in most of them is quite a task. There are no mooring buoys, anchors and chains are all over the place on the bottom, not enough cleats and bollards on the dock, swell coming in when ferries enter, people claiming the place is occupied etc etc. A good skipper has no particular problems with any of these. Been there done it.

Experienced skippers know all the hidden coves plus everybody in the port. Where to eat, where to shop, where to go to have fun. They will not let anybody take advantage of your money and actually they will make you back, part of what you pay them, just like that. Some of them they can do amazing things for you. I know one personally, who will moor the boat in a cove in a small island and take you hiking uphill to meet the local shepherd, who can even prepare a little lamb for you on the spot! I can tell you it's quite amazing.

Lastly it's about safety and insurance. A bareboat normally pays a security deposit in escrow, in case there is damage. Insurance normally covers the boat for damages over 1500 Euros. So usually, if you break something or loose something you have to pay for it from your deposit. A skipper that is responsible for the boat will protect you from this kind of expenses, plus you're all surely much safer with him/her because of the local knowledge.

Don't just get one, CHOOSE one

Being with a stranger on board can be a great experience but can also be a disappointment. You actually have to do something towards choosing a skipper and not just rely on the reassuring words of the charter company. I know many pro skippers and they are very different personalities. You have to talk with your crew/family and list your priorities. Some people want a skipper with a huge socializing personality, some want one that is almost invisible.

I know a skipper that sets his clock every 2 hours in the night to get on the deck and check the mooring. Safety with this guy is paramount, but he will sometimes refuse to bring you in this little cove you saw or sail a bit closer to land because he is only 99.9% sure that this is safe. He is a gentleman and some nights he will decline your invitation to come and dine with you, even if you insist, because that's the way it is.

Another skipper I know is one of the most sociable persons I have seen in my life. He knows EVERYBODY in the ports and everybody knows him. He will be part of your group, take you out to all kinds of local happenings, dance and joke with you all day. He will try to take you in the little cove you so much liked and will only back off if he thinks the danger is imminent. His sailing will be more casual.

It's perfectly safe to be with any of the two guys. The big question is with which of the two you would have a great sailing vacation. Discuss your wishes with the charter company. Ask them to describe the skipper for you, ask them to send a photo and maybe you could exchange a couple of emails with him. It's your vacation, make it a good one.

A final word: a skipper is a specialist, but he is not Superman. You will help him with the sailing, especially when doing a docking manoeuvre in a harbour and you will do this seriously, observing what he says. When he explains the safety rules on the boat you will listen to him and try to comply as best as you can. He is doing all this for you. 


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