Bareboating
Bareboating is the act of chartering a sailboat that one lives upon, navigates, and operates for a vacation. Common bareboating locations are the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Whitsunday Islands, the Ningaloo Reef and other similar warm weather vacation spots.
To charter a sailboat, one must usually be able to demonstrate boat handling skills especially in operating the boat under power, docking, and anchoring. Typical sizes for bareboats come in the range of 30 ft to usually about 60 ft at the upper end. Most charter operators require a sailing resume listing sailing experience, boats that one has sailed and operated, and navigation and racing experience. If the charter operator is not satisfied that one has the appropriate experience, they will often require that the chartering party hire a captain from the charter company to sail with them for a few days. In most traditional charter destinations such as Greece or Croatia the chartering company would ask for a license of skipper in order to charter bareboat yachts.
To rent a bareboat sailing boat, catamaran or motor yacht, one can contact a private owner, a travel agency in their own city or an online charter agency, this last option has become, in the last few years, a new way of searching for sailing holidays around the world since it gives the traveller the widest range of choice between sailing destinations, type of boat on offer and the best range of available deals all over the world, especially with the cabin charter formula where it is possible to book just one cabin and not necessarily the entire yacht.[1]
While it is always possible to add extra services to a bareboat rented vessel, it remains fundamental to understand that the term bareboat indicates that the vessel is being offered bare of crew, food and special equipment. The charterer (i.e. the person signing the contract) will rent the sailing boat, motor boat or catamaran, with the dinghy and the fundamental equipment for safe navigation included in the price, the charterer may then be the one responsible for navigation[2] and supplies or ask the charter company to add services such as a skipper, hostess or cook, order also to be supplied with sets of linens, bath towels and beach towels, an outboard engine for the dinghy (which is given with paddles as standard)[3], wi-fi or satellite phone, a grill for outside and many types of water toys like a kayak, windsurf and S.U.P., but also other services like requesting the provisions for the vacation in advance or a re-fuel service for the return (i.e. the charter company staff will be in charge of filling the fuel tanks again).
The bareboat market constitutes a good portion of the entire yacht charter industry market, as those who like to sail their boat without assistance remain the majority, though in recent years we have assisted to a great increase of the cabin charter market, which opens to a new kind of sea tourism, in fact, travellers who wish to enjoy a sailing holiday can now do so without having the technical knowledge needed to sail alone and without needing the numbers or money capacity to rent a sailing vessel on their own. This is true especially for the online travel agencies who often specialise in just this type of sailing experiences.
The bareboat charter market was established first in 1967 in Tortola by Jack Von Ost)[4], founder of Caribbean Sailing Yachts, he was the one to conceive the idea of a fleet made up of similar boats, with a standard for maintenance and equipment and boats especially designed for charter and not private use, though the ones best know in the sailing boats and catamarans bareboat, and later also skippered, charter market are Charlie and Ginny Cary founder of renown company The Moorings, they too started in Tortola in 1969, with just four sailing boats and an office near their pier, they made of their retirement hobby a worldwide spread business thriving thanks to their teachings[5], since most of their base managers went on to open their own business, and thank to their vision for the industry of bareboat charter made available to all sea enthusiasts who wished to be able to sail all over the world.