Charter People Scare Me

[hoppy]

For 4 days I have been tied up at the quay in Paros Greece which as it turns out is a base for charter boats. Many charter boats have come in whist I have been here and I have seem so many hamfisted attempts at mooring here.

The worst was an old couple in a Bene 54 who tried to tie up two spots from me, stopped half a boat lenght short and therefore could not throw a line to me on the quay. They then drifted into the next berth and then eventualy into my boat. The moved forward, got past my chain and then tried to reverse into the spot on the other side of me with their chain crossing several berths and my chain.

Thankfully they listened to my instructions and went back out and redropped their anchor and finally got into the original berth.

Then a few minutes ago a big Bavaria tried to moor in a spot next to me that was only wide enough to fit half a boat. I was sitting at my computer and was shocked to see the stern on the boat through my pot hole. Luckily the quay was busy with people so the Bavaria was given the hint to nick off before I got topside

There have been plenty more incidents like these in the past few days here and at other ports where charter yachts visit

So far I have done better mooring solo than quite a few of these charter boats (touch wood)

[Target9000]

Maybe you should just fly a flag off the spreader that says, "STAY BACK. INFECTIOUS TUBERCULOSIS"

[nigel1]

A friend of mine who can sail, took his family on a Sunsail Flotilla holiday in the Greek Islands, he was scared of the antics of the other boats.
The best was one boat wrapping its own anchor chain around its prop

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Target9000

Maybe you should just fly a flag off the spreader that says, "STAY BACK. INFECTIOUS TUBERCULOSIS"

There is a nervous professional crew on a 28m luxury yacht a couple of berths from me. Someone on watch for when the charterers approach


Just watched a Sunsail yacht reverse in with the dinghy behind the bow with the chain rubbing against it as it was dropped

[fbchristo]

with full disclosure; I was chartering at the time but did witness repeated examples of the "credit card captain" run amuck last year in the BVI. My favorite (?) was an M-Brand boat heading straight for a reef trying to head into White Bay. At least a half dozen of us were on the radio trying to warn him off and one person went out in their dink to steer him in but to no avail and his forward momentum stopped abruptly. A group of us went out to offer a hand but he insisted he was no stuck and had it all under control; that being our clue to move on to a safer anchorage. This along with several things we witnessed ended the debate of but and putting a boat in charter service.

Not all of us charters are such a disaster, but in the 5+ years I have been chartering, I have seen more and more examples of poor judgement not to mention blatant lack of basic seamanship. I understand that the vessel doesn't make money unless someone is on it, but it also doesn't if it is in the shop for repairs or worse. Please Charter Co. make sure we know what we are doing before turning over the keys!

[barnakiel]

Hmmm. But we all have the same right to be out there!

Simply, sail elsewhere - charterers tend to aggregate in a few places - warm clime, airports and bars. Stay out and you are fine.

b.

[nautical62]

Perhaps you should charter sometime. Then non-charterers will be scared of you, so things will even out.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Hmmm. But we all have the same right to be out there!

True, but they still scares me

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Simply, sail elsewhere - charterers tend to aggregate in a few places - warm clime, airports and bars. Stay out and you are fine.

The are everywhere in Greece, so there is nowhere to hide

I guess what has caused my surprise is the fact that I am relatively inexperienced but I can see the very obvious errors they are making. Perhaps it is the pressure of not wanting to damage my own boat or at least not make an arse of myself has made me more cautious and think all manouvers through more carefully than if I was on an insured charter boat

It does make me feel very relieved I never bought a boat and chartered it just so save on VAT. I don't think Icould sleep if I knew my boat was out on charter

[markpierce]

Isn't this to be expected? Charterers are less likely to be familiar with the rented boats or sail as frequently as those on their own boats.

[chas5131]

A friend encountered a boat which was on port tack. The skipper was yelling "Starboard".
My friend managed to avoid him and then talk to him.
The guy told my friend that he thought he got the right of way by yelling "Starboard".

[Dragon Lady]

That's brilliant, I'll have to try that one sometime LOL

[senormechanico]

Many years ago we put our first sailboat in charter to help pay for it.
When we signed up the boat, we were assured by the company that only true sailors were assigned the job of checking out prospective sailboat charterers, and only true power boat operators were assigned to power boat customers. Read on...

We were dissatisfied with the charter company's cleaning crew, so we drove 100 miles round trip to do it ourself (while still paying for the crew) every timehe boat came back from a charter.
While talking to the previous charterers and the prospectives and keeping our ears open during the checkin procedure, our hair curled.


One prospective charterer was talking with the supposed learned charter company representative during the inventory list checklist.
(Charterer) "Whisker pole?"
(Representative) "Um, let's look around...
The charter customer looked all around the boat, in lockers and finally admitted he couldn't identify the whisker pole which was in plain sight with control lines on a mast track.
He and the charter guy finally agreed that a boat hook in a locker was a whisker pole.

We decided to do our own charter company the next year.
The boat went out a lot less, we had total control over who used it, and we had more income from it.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Isn't this to be expected? Charterers are less likely to be familiar with the rented boats or sail as frequently as those on their own boats.

+1

I don't totally suck but stern mooring a 40+ foot unfamiliar boat between two other boats would be daunting. Stern walk, drift, windage etc. are all things you don't learn quickly on a chartered boat.

I would likely haul the stern line ashore by the dinghy and haul or winch the boat in and to hell what people thought of my "seamanship."

Actually, "med mooring" is one of the main reasons I am not interested to sail in the med. Too crowded for me.

Slips, mooring balls and anchorages for me.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by chas5131

A friend encountered a boat which was on port tack. The skipper was yelling "Starboard".
...

I've had inexperienced skippers yell "starboard" at me too -- sometimes they were even on a starboard tack. Since quite often I'm skippering boats I don't own, my favorite response is "NOT MY BOAT!".

It's more fun when you're in really close quarters, like racing, so you can see the wheels turn and then the panic in their eyes!

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

+1

I don't totally suck but stern mooring a 40+ foot unfamiliar boat between two other boats would be daunting. Stern walk, drift, windage etc. are all things you don't learn quickly on a chartered boat.

I would likely haul the stern line ashore by the dinghy and haul or winch the boat in and to hell what people thought of my "seamanship."

Actually, "med mooring" is one of the main reasons I am not interested to sail in the med. Too crowded for me.

Slips, mooring balls and anchorages for me.

I think you will find with a little pratice Med moor really not bad at all- and your missing one of the best places on the planet to be sailing when you cut the med out- its not nearly as crowded as you might think