Choosing your charter yacht

• The number of cabins or berths needed, including the hostess or skipper. Some yachts come in different designs: an owners version which usually combines two cabins into one large stateroom or a holiday version which holds as many cabins as possible. You should also consider the number of heads and showers.
• The standing height or head room below deck can be quite a limiting factor. If you or one of your crew is taller than 1.85 m (6' 1") my advice would be to choose a yacht that has a standing room of at least 1.90 m (6' 3"). Note that this standing height is often the maximum height below deck, and especially in yachts smaller than 35 feet this means that most of the saloon will be much lower.

Monohull Yacht Types Metres Feet  Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 34 1.85 6' 1"  Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 36 1.90 6' 3"  Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40 1.95 6' 5"  Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 1.90 6' 3"  Beneteau Oceanis 321 1.85 6' 1"  Beneteau Oceanis 351 1.95 6' 5"  Beneteau Oceanis 393 2.00 6' 7"  Beneteau Oceanis 461 2.00 6' 7"  Bavaria 34 1.88 6' 2"  Bavaria 36 1.94 6' 4"  Bavaria 44 1.95 6' 5"  Bavaria 47 2.00 6' 7"  Ocean Star 461 1.95 6' 5"  Ocean Star 495 1.95 6' 5"  Ocean Star 512 2.00 6' 7"  Catamaran Yacht Types      Athena 38 1.90 6' 3"  Lagoon 38 1.90 6' 3"  Lagoon 410 2.00 6' 7"

• There is a minimum yacht size of 30 feet due to the Aegean winds and waves, so it is no luxury to charter at least a 32 feet yacht in the (southern) Cyclades and Dodecanese. Yet, in the Ionian and the Argolic and Saronic Gulfs - which are less demanding areas - a 30 feet yacht should be sufficient.
• The age of the yacht: The consensus is that all yachts built in 2004 or later are usually new enough, but those built in 2000 - 2003 should preferably only be chartered through reliable charter businesses. Yachts build before 2000 are considered very old and outdated. Yet, good and professional maintenance is the key here: A three year old yacht could well be in better shape than a one year old sister ship.
• A longer yacht has a larger maximum speed. For instance a 50 foot yacht has 30% more speed than its 30 feet version, which allows you to travel greater distances, adding more freedom to your itinerary.
  

Maximum speeds

Yacht length in Feet Yacht length in Metres Knots  30 9.14 7.34  35 10.67 7.93  40 12.19 8.47  45 13.71 8.99  50 15.24 9.48  55 16.76 9.94  60 18.29 10.38  65 19.81 10.80  70 21.34 11.21

• The sailing capabilities of you and your crew. A 45 foot yacht is much more difficult to manoeuvre in ports or anchorages than a 35 foot yacht.
• The luxury to performance ratio. For relatively the same budget you could either charter a yacht with good sailing characteristics and boat speeds or a heavier luxury yacht. Typical performance yachts are Beneteau, First, Hanse, Oceanis, Cyclades and Jeanneau Sun Odyssey, whereas for instance the Greek Ocean Star or the German Bavaria yachts perform less but focus more on comfort.
• Last but not least: your budget. Note that a 50 foot charter yacht is just 1.4 times longer than a 35 foot yacht. Yet, a typical 50 footer will often be about 2.1 times more expensive to charter. A rule of thumb is to use 1.4² = 1.96, which indeed makes sense since the 50 footer will be about 2 times as spacious.

Charter guide :  Assisted bareboats  Bareboat requirements  Choosing a charter yacht  Catamarans & monohulls  Prevent seasickness  Greek sailing areas  When to sail in Greece  Yacht charter provisioning  Itineraries Ionian  Itineraries Argo-Saronic  Itineraries Cyclades  Itineraries Dodecanese  One-way itineraries  Flights & ferries  Last minutes & budget  Sailing between Greece & Turkey  Greek chart terms  Greek fishing techniques Greece : Ionian Islands Dodecanese Islands Cyclades Islands Northern Sporades Peloponnese – Athens Top 10 islands Yacht charter companies   Tower of winds Acropolis Turkey : Izmir – Bodrum Bodrum – Marmaris Marmaris – Fethiye Fethiye – Antalya

16 June 2010
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