Quote:
Originally Posted by newbie_sail
Hello!
My partner and I did our RYA competent crew and day skipper training in Devon UK over the pandemic. I'm competent crew and he is skipper.
We completed our first solo sailing trip on a charter in the Saronic Islands of Greece last September and learnt sooo much and had a blast! We charted a 37ft Beneteau Oceania monohull and found the conditions of no tide and fairly gentle winds to be ideal for us as beginners.
We are planning on returning to the same group of islands in September this year, but this time my partner wants to charter a Lagoon40 Catamaran and bring his parents..
He as skipper and myself as crew have no experience on a Catamaran. My question I would like advice on is is it worth us doing a weekend charter in the UK with a skipper to learn our way with the Catamaran? Or does monohull knowledge (remembering we're still fairly green) transfer quite well to a Cat?
Many thanks for your suggestions!
|
Hire the skipper for a week. If I'm understanding your post, you and your partner don't have a lot of sailing experience overall. There is a lot you still need to learn, especially as it relates to handling the boat in tight quarters, docking in a crowded marina or minimally sized slip, particularly in the
Med as it may require backing into a slip while deploying a
mooring or anchor line from the bow. Windage of the much higher
hull coupled with no deep
keel can present challenges as can
current. With two engines the cat will be much easier to maneuver IF you understand how using counter directional thrust works. If you haven't had any experience in this area you can get into some challenging situations. It's not hard to learn but it doesn't come naturally for everyone without practice.
If you hire a skipper you also have the luxury of letting him/her do the
work when you want to spend some time with your partner and in-laws.
The hired skipper will also have much better knowledge of the area, where the best
anchorages are, where it's least crowded and what are "must-sees".
Lastly, being captain of the boat and responsible for all souls onboard while keeping an eye out for
weather, planning routes, navigating safely,
anchoring, mooring, docking and all the while wanting to interact with those on board can be very demanding, most especially when it's all new.
Be safe, have fun.