Looking for advice first time sailing charter

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by radsailor

There are many accounts of people with no or little experience taking boats across oceans. They are the very lucky fools who were courting disaster without knowing it.

Being one of those, yes, and no.

Basic sailing competence is a must to leave the dock, but if it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there.

I consider mechanical expertise a more critical skill than sailing.

With most modern sailboats, dropping the sails in bad conditions, and motoring is usually an option.

If you did due diligence on weather before departure you may get a squall, or unexpected early front, but you are unlikely to face a life threatening storm.

For me the scariest part of the voyage wasn't unexpected weather which I did experience, or sudden severe wind shifts, which made the helm exciting for several minutes to get things back under control.

But the times that really stressed me, and unnerved the crew was sudden power failure, unable to start generator, or engine, no lights, and sitting dead in the water in hot muggy conditions, frantically pulling floorboards by flashlight at 2am to try to find the cause of various alarms.

Spare fuses, good multimeter, and a roll of 0 gauge battery cable with cable clamps on the ends ultimately saved the day, along with solid troubleshooting skills, and a large box of spare parts. (seriously a 20ft roll of heavy gauge cable with ends rolled up, and in a baggie with grease is the most important spare I have).

But for a charter, a handheld VHF, or even a cell phone in the BVI's will get you the charter company, and a tow boat within a few hours.

[Teej]

Hi Martin, you mentioned you live in Canada so, as a fellow Canadian, let me share with you what my wife and I did to set us up for years of Caribbean sailing. We took live-aboard sailing courses out of Victoria B.C. (many sailing schools from which to choose). First, was a 6 day basic coastal sailing course on a C&C 33' to earn Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) basic cruising certification. Then later that year I took the coastal navigation course (also CYA) in Edmonton where we live. The next summer we went back out to Victoria and my wife took the basic coastal cruising course (CYA) and I took the intermediate coastal cruising course (CYA). We were on the same live-aboard boat (Bavaria 35') together for the week and wrote different exams and skill tests to qualify for basic (for my wife) and intermediate cruising certification for me. We also obtained "restricted operator's" radio certificates (Communications Canada). The important thing to note is both the 6 day live-aboard sailing courses on the Pacific coast were great learning experiences toward certification and fun vacations in so doing. I had an uncle on the west coast with a Pacific 30 that he graciously let us sail so we got in some really fun Gulf Islands sailing by ourselves on that boat.
So, with that we felt capable and ready to charter in the BVI. Our sailing certifications were sent to Sunsail to demonstrate competency for the charters and we were "approved" to charter. We were a little anxious before we left Canada for our first charter in the BVI, given unknown waters, anchorages, etc but once there we managed just fine with me as skipper and my wife as first mate (the Admiral!). Over a couple of winters we chartered a couple of monohulls from Sunsail for 7 days and then the next winter a 14 day charter as we had another couple of friends join us. It became obvious that this would be a retirement lifestyle so after the third season of chartering in the BVI (Lagoon 38 cat) and later a Lagoon 40, we bought our own catamaran, an Admiral 38 and enjoyed 4-6 months of winter sailing all up and down the Caribbean islands for the net 7 years
.
Anyway, a rather long story but thought you might find our approach of some help to your decision making. Bottom line: great fun and adventures await!!

[Auklet]

A one-off BVI charter is a vacation, essentially. Most all sailboat charters are. Big vacations to resort areas is probably not the best initial tactic on which to base a decision of “moving there” or not, as in committing to a live-a-board or active cruising life. One goes in the best weather. Charters a boat that the company maintains. If it breaks down they come repair it or put you on another. When the charter is over you get off and go home, they clean up. The company will provision the boat for you, put your bedding aboard, fill it with water and fuel, etc. Not that much different in principle from staying a week at an Acapulco resort to consider whether you wish to move to Mexico. Go and have fun!; see what it’s about. But you’ll need a much more serious plan of experience and education before “sailing away.” Even folks with a decent plan and years of boat ownership experience sometimes don’t stay gone long. Pay attention to #17 above. That’s a plan!

[dhenline]

I am currently booked on a bareboat charter in the BVI.
if I knew all the hassle to get there even as a vaccinated person, I would not book my trip again. Lots of administrative hassles to get through.
You may want to look into a more friendly destination such as PR or mexico