Sailing the Greek islands - rent a sailboat and sail the Cyclades islands

Are you worried about the cost to rent a boat in Greece? Well, we made this a worry-free sailing holiday in the Greek islands.

After surfing the web and looking at different options for your sailing vacation, you might have noticed most yacht rental are structured similarly with renting a car. The charter rate covers the price for hiring the yacht itself (just like the car rental price covers the car itself).

And all the other aspects/costs involved are on you to cover as you go. For a car that would be things like gas, toll rates. With similar structure, when you are budgeting for your sailing holidays, you will have add on top of the charter rate, the other expenses involved as they appear. The trouble with this approach is that for a yacht the total/ final price the extras add up to varies several factors. Which makes it difficult for the traveler to figure out the total price he will end up paying (an aspect that will naturally might make him worried or anxious).

For example while the rate applied for skipper services is pretty much standard for all companies (190-240 euro/day), all the others extra can range according to many factors. How much fuel you are going to use depends on how long the engine will be running - more specifically on the distance to your favorite destination and weather condition. "But won't we be sailing most of the time-why are we discussing fuel?" you might be wondering. Please read below the paragraph marked with **

"All cost included" combo

So we are taking a different approach. In order to avoid the hassle of having an expense account open, we have grouped everything in the: "All costs included" combo of 350 euro/day to include the expenses associated with chartering the sailing yacht (skipper, fuel, final cleaning, etc) that will guarantee worry free vacations. You won't have to keep an expense account open. You simply pay a one-time flat rate - divided in between the members in your group prior to setting sail, and that's it! Much easier to plan and budget for! No hidden costs, no surprise at the end of the trip.

** How much will we be sailing /motoring?

Well...it all depends on the wind conditions and the distance to the next destination. So let's take for example a sail from Mykonos to the port of Paroikia in Paros that is 28 nautical miles apart (a good average).

• In favorable weather conditions a sailboat is perfectly capable of reaching a destination powered only by sails. With a good wind speed (10-12 knots or more) a sailboat would be a moving with a regular speed around 7 miles/hour. Thus, assuming a proper breeze, you would be covering the 28 nautical miles distance in about 4 hours.
• But when winds are very mild or from an un-proper direction, the speed a sailboat can reach just on sail power can drop significantly - even as low as 2-3 miles/hour. As a result, if you try to save fuel and move just on sails, you would be covering the same distance in 9-10 hours (no time left for swimming or exploring the island you are heading to). This is when the engine is one's best friend! Is helping to go up to the regular speed of 7 knots so you reach the destination you wish, the day you wish in a reasonable time. This is an especially important aspect for many of our guests as soon as they realize a regular day on board is divided in several parts (the 3-5 hours travel time to the next destination, the 1-3 hours stop for a swim, the late afternoon/evening for exploring the islands you reach, on-shore activities, exploring the villages and dinner).
• With a 4 hours travel there's time to mix all these in a single day.