May 2007 free sailing holiday

I would like to offer our free holiday only to those who are willing and able to accept it. When we choose a winner from our subscribers we must ask for an acceptance of that offer - to avoid a repitition of a previous offer when the yacht was ready and waiting, with professional skipper - and the winners failed to turn up !!!

Those of you who wish to enter for this prize simply clickon the "comments" link you can find at the bottom of this paragraph. The winner will be chosen at random among the participants and will be announced in our February Newsletter and on the related page of our website.

The cruise will be for one week on a 40 - 50' yacht, starting from Levkas Island on the 12th May, 2007. The winner ( and a person of his/her choice) will share a cabin on this vessel. Sailing skills are not required as the boat will have a professional skipper. All the boat costs are covered - other than your flights to and from Levkas and your personal expenses such as eating, drinking and shopping.

All our Newsletter Subscribers are free to participate, except, previous winners.

Just post a reply with your name, and a comment, on this thread. If the winners, for any reason, have to cancel and give up their prize, the next person on a list drawn out of the hat, will be offered the prize.

Help.. Someone took two meters off my boat

Some twenty years ago, the boat building companies named their vessels with a number that was close to the real size of their vessels, when in later years, when they are designing a new vessel they tend to name it after the LOA, in order to make us believe that their vessels are larger than their actual size. As an example, the Jeanneau model of 1983 "Trinidad 47" had an L.W.L of 41,34 ft, when the 2002 model of the same company, Sun Odyssey 52,2 has a L.W.L 41,8 feet. Both yachts are of the same size.

But my dear Jeanneau marketeers, the beautiful 53 footer you recently sold me is only 47 feet, according YOUR estimations of just a few years ago. What happened and who took off 2 whole meters from my boat?

Read the full article here and then close the window to return on this blog to write your comments.

Free sailing holiday

The first two persons who will post a reply comment on this thread will enjoy an one week sailing cruise for two persons.

The cruise will be on a yacht 40'-50' feet, starting from Corfu on the 6th of May 2006. The winner (and a person of his/her choice) will share a cabin on the vessel. Sailing skills are not required, as the boat will have a professional skipper. All the expenses are covered, exept your flights to Corfu and your personal expenses (eating - shopping).

Who can participate: All our Newsletter subscribers, exept of those of you who have already enjoyed a "free holiday" offered by @lmiyachts.com in the past.

What you must do in order to win: Just post a replying comment with your name on this thread. Even if when you view this page, there are already 3-4 posts before yours, still post your comment. In case the winners will cancel -for any reason- their participation, the Prize will be offered to the next on this list.

Cruising & Boozing

In October, 2005, we went on a two week cruise in the Ionian Sea aboard a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42,2. You may view the "log" of this pleasant trip here.

This post has been created so that the crew on this cruise may express their opinnion and/or feelings (also, for anyone else who would like to comment about our trip).

Will the increasing fuel price affect yacht chartering?

Just think how lucky you are that your chosen recreational activity is principally wind-powered. Whilst you may have a 4hp dinghy outboard, and a 40hp main yacht engine you do not have 2 Caterpillar or Ford gas guzzlers in a "gin palace", where your usual re-fuelling intake is about 8 tons of fuel.

This disgusting hike in oil price is slowly starting the destruction of many world economies - where will it all end.

At one time, not too many years ago, cartels were illegal but this evil OPEC cartel is allowed to shatter economic sanity with hardly a murmur of protest.

Let us hear your thoughts on this situation.

The charter price as a factor determining your agency choice

Although most of the charter agencies are using more or less the same yachts, the prices they offer can vary, sometimes considerably, for the same model. Should you choose the cheapest one ?
 
I think not. Of course the price you pay is important, but you should look at the overall picture before you make a final decision. Not only is the price important but take a look at any discounts offered. Most important are:
A long charter (in excess of two weeks) discount. Does the discount apply to the whole period of say four weeks, or only the third and fourth weeks, for example. This could make a big difference.
Are the discounts offered cumulative, or is there a ceiling, which will put a cap on the total discounts offered ?
What is included in the asking price? Transfers, outboard motors, end-cleaning fee, GPS, windsurfer, spinnaker, etc can all add to the final cost.

Let's assume now that you are a group of 6 persons and for your chosen 36 feet vessel, company A is asking €1.500 and company B asks €1.350 (all other parameters and discounts equal). Seemingly the company B is €150 (10%) cheaper, but l will analyze for you your holiday cost:
€ 1.500 : the yacht
€ 1.800 : the flight (6 persons x €300 per person)
€ 1.680 : provisions and restaurants (€40 pp per day x 6 persons x 7 days)
€ 300 : yacht's running costs (diesel, water and harbour/marina fees)
€ 300 : other expenses (taxies, transfers and unexpected costs)
€ 5.580 total cost
What looked like a 10% higher cost is, in reality, only 2.6% of your total holiday cost. Choosing company B -based on the 10% cheaper yacht charter cost only- will not really affect your total costs to any large degree, and it is consideration of the whole range of costs that should be your deciding factor. The first thing that crosses my mind, when offered a cheap price is -"how the hell do they cope with all their expenses, and what sort of maintenance do they give to their vessels?". If I am asked to pay 2% more in order to have peace of mind for my one week's holiday, then the extra cost is not a big deal.

Please do not misunderstand me, as I am not suggesting that you should choose the most expensive option as a guarantee for trouble-free holidays. I am only saying that your final decision should not revolve solely around the basic weekly charter price. There are other issues which should play a major role. Word of mouth recommendation is a very good one, for example.

I understand that when you are called to decide from 100's of offers - all claiming to be the best - it can be confusing and difficult. There are a number of details which will help you, and I will present these to you in the September Newsletter.

Engine problems destroyed my holiday. What shall I do?

Nobody likes to face problems during his holidays, but the nature of yacht chartering sailing holidays requires you to face the Sea - which is always unpredictable (it is not random that the word "Sea" is of feminine gender :-) - and a vessel, on which thousands of different items (electronics, electrics, mechanical or as plain as a sail) should work together and in good order. No matter what the agencies advertising and promising (best yachts, trouble free... etc.), I tell you that chances for a problem to occur during your sailing holidays are extremely high...

Read the full article here (it will open in a new window), then close this window to return here and post your comment.