Greek Charter Company 'Easy Sailing' - Any Feedback?

[Ricochet]

I am going to be doing a charter in the Cyclades the last week of June and the first week of July. I am trying to narrow the choice of charter boat company down. I have been offered a very competitive price on a boat from the company "Easy Sailing." The price is about 2000 Euros less than competing companies.

Does anyone have experience chartering with these guys. Did they deliver the boat that was contracted for? Or was it a "bait and switch?" How was the condition of the boat and how was it working with Easy Sailing?

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Here is the link to their website:

Easy Sailing Greece :: Bareboat Sailing Greece, Yacht charter in the Greek islands

[beneteau-500]

easy sailing are on a par with most of the other yacht charter company's in Greece most of the yachts they have are owned by private individuals , and yes they are all pretty well maintained i do see a few of them at Paros Island and i have never heard any one having probs with them

[Ricochet]

Thanks a lot for replying. I usually charter in the Caribbean and with either Sunsail, The Moorings or Horizon, so I have been a little concerned about using a local company in an unfamiliar area.

Easy Sail has a very slick website but I have not been able to find out a lot about them through unbiased parties. They apparently are a successor in interest to a company that went out of business about 6 years ago. They seem professional so far; I just hope they do deliver the boat promised.

I will be posting another thread outlining my itinerary along with some general, local knowledge questions. Perhaps, if you have the time, you will be able comment in that thread as well.

Thanks again. I owe you a beer or two.

[beneteau-500]

well call in at Naxos Island and you can buy a few beers

[badinage]

Ricochet,

I'm headed to Greece the same time and I'm in a similar position. I've had similar past experience--sailing a lot in the N.W. and the Carib. with Moorings and others. I've received bids from several Euro companies that are competitive yet its hard to get a handle on the dependability of any of them before you hand over lots of Euros.
(As an aside, I don't know if you've found this url yet Yacht charter Greece and sailing holidays Greece and Turkey - Marine navigation - Yacht charters Greek islands and Turkish coasts but it's very useful). I've got bids from Istion, Seafarer, Apollonia and Sailing in Blue.

[Ricochet]

I am aware of that site. I have e-mailed with a crewed charter skipper that doesn't think too much of the author / owner of that site. Says that the guy has a hidden agenda. I did use it to request bareboat charter info from various companies and got 20 replies the next day.

Have heard good things about this company Egiali Yachting - Home

but they did not have what I wanted.

[Ricochet]

This also appears to be a helpful website:

JimB's sail Europe

[Ricochet]

This site is also somewhat helpful. It is put up and maintained by the Greek Bareboat charter association, I believe.

Sailing Yachting & Bareboat Chartering in Greece

[bryan and wendy]

My advice, if you want to sail in the Aegean, (and I have no vested interest other than having put my boat on charter with them for a couple of years), is to try Aura Yachting. Aura Yachting - Bareboat Yacht Charter - Yalikavak - Turkey They are based in Turkey, Yalikavak, rather than Greece, however I chartered for many years from many companies, before buying my yacht, and they are head and shoulders over everybody else Ive used. That's why I put my boat with them. They look after the boats like babies, and give a good service. Give them a call and ask for Merina. That's not a wind up, it really is her name..
Enjoy your sailing
Bryan

[Skipper52]

I have had quotes from Easy Sailing but never used them as they always seemed to be more expensive and/or not have what I was looking for either boat or base wise. I hvaen't heard of any problems with them but I hvaen't heard any glowing reports either. I went to Athens last June last minute and went on this website Smart Yacht Charter Greece Sailing Holidays in Greece Bareboat Yacht Charter and got quite a few very good offers including onew from Sail Greece - Rent a sailing boat in Greece. Charter a yacht from our privately owned sailing boats in Athens, Greece. Captain Giannis there looked after us very well so much so that we we went back in October and are going back to him in June this year and again in August

[shirl10]

I was wondering if you finally sailed with Easy Sailing. We are looking at finalising a deal with them.

[pikulakos]

Originally Posted by shirl10

I was wondering if you finally sailed with Easy Sailing. We are looking at finalising a deal with them.

Hello Shirl,

Below you may find a couple of websites that would help you get all the possible options in case you do not finalise with Easy Sailing:

Yacht Rental Greece - directory and a Google Map

Forthnet Yacht Charter - directory, long list in alphabetic order

Enjoy your time in Greece!

[careka]

i have used Easy sailing 2 times and they are good, will use them again.
first time in 2005 last in 2009.

[Ricochet]

Originally Posted by shirl10

I was wondering if you finally sailed with Easy Sailing. We are looking at finalising a deal with them.

I did use Easy Sailing (I have subsequently learned there is also a company called Easy Sail [no “ing”]). As has been explained, they are a brokerage who does not own its own boats and where I picked up my boat, Paros in the Cyclades, they use an on site agent called Afros Marine.

Afros maintains the boat and walks you through the systems -- they do not give you a chart briefing. After I had inked the deal with Easy Sailing, I found out that I could have chartered the exact same boat through Afros Marine for 500 Euros less for the 12 days I had the boat. That being said, Easy Sailing delivered what they promised and there were no hassles. I have excerpted a previous post I made describing how I came to use Easy Sailing … the full post can be found under the “Cyclades -- Local Knowledge” thread on page 2 of this board.

"... I wanted to pick up the boat in the Cyclades and not Athens. It is just too far to sail the boat from Athens to Paros, the Little Cyclades and Santorini in 11 days, let alone bring the boat back. And that is if you get lucky with the weather including the Meltemi. It appears that there are two spots where it is feasible -- Syros -- where the former Moorings affiliate was located and Paros. I choose Paros because it was further South and therefore closer to Santorini, which remained a scheduled stop despite repeated warnings from many that I would regret bringing the boat there.

The process of picking the boat became fairly straight forward because of the requirements I had:

1. I wanted to start in the middle of the week (the rest of the two week vacation was spent traveling back and forth from the States, with a side trip to Athens). Many companies would not entertain this request, but more were receptive than I had originally expected. Part of this was due to the time of year I was planning on going -- before the high season of July and August. Also, 2010 was the year the Greek financial crisis was brewing, so some companies were eager to make advanced bookings. Lastly, and I can't stress this enough, I asked. Through out the planning of this trip I was told time and again on the interweb something was “impossible” or “just not done.” By asking (politely, of course) for what I wanted, I often got the answer I wanted or an acceptable compromise.

2. I wanted a boat with a fully battened main (not one of those in mast furling mains).

3. I wanted something over 50 feet that would have 4 - 5 cabins and a lot of water on board.

4. I wanted to start in the Cyclades and was not too keen to start in Syros (where the Moorings used to be affiliated with various charter outfits) as I needed to include Santorini as a stop. Syros was not ideal because it would be a long trip uphill in a Northerly.

Which Charter Company? -- Based on all of the above, I ended up with very few choices and ended up going with Easy Sailing http://www.easysailing.gr/ I have no complaints about Easy Sailing. They gave me a good price and delivered on what they promised.

HOWEVER, Easy Sailing is merely a website that brokers boats which are owned by large fleet owners such as Vernicos Yachts (owner of the boat I chartered) and possibly Kiracoulis (another large yacht management company). Bottom line, I could have saved over 500 Euros and gotten the EXACT SAME BOAT if I had charted it from Afros directly. Maybe there were even more savings available if you contacted Vernicos or Kiracoulis directly.

I filled out an inquiry form on a general Greek Charter Website to get a lot of quotes and get the ball rolling. I don’t remember which one. http://www.sailing-yacht-charter-greece.com/

http://www.sailgreece.net/BareboatCharterGuide.asp

One more note -- The website, Sailing Issues, while helpful in some regards, is dedicated to sending you to one of the charter companies that is associated with the website. It is not independent and certainly biased."

Hope this helps. If you have further questions, feel free to post follow up questions.

[Skipper52]

Hi

I have been away and only just picked up notification of this thread. Have you gone ahead and booked now as I have quite a bit of experience about Greece sailing and the Cyclades. Let me know if you are still looking