Yachting: where to start and what to be prepared for?

Practical yachting experience

Before you go on a yacht cruise, you should sensibly evaluate your experience. If you are one of the yachtsmen who joined the community not so long ago, then the circumnavigation will have to be temporarily postponed. Where can you gain experience?

Yachting schools

Yachting schools are an excellent starting point for your long journey. Typically, training is divided into two stages: theoretical and practical. During the training, you will receive the necessary minimum knowledge that will allow you to go on a coastal voyage on a yacht.

In addition, some schools, including sailing school Interparus, offer skipper accreditation with subsequent issuance of a license. We talk in detail about why you need to have a skipper's license in this material:

Charter flights

Once you have obtained your skipper's license, a great option for gaining experience is to travel on a charter yacht. Why is this option so good? There are several reasons for this:

• Cost – renting a yacht or catamaran for a week will cost less than buying a boat. In addition, you will have the opportunity to explore sailing and motor boats of different brands and types. This way you can narrow down your search for the perfect yacht.
• The opportunity to hire a skipper - if you have a license and desire to go to sea, but you feel that you are not yet fully ready, then a skipper may be useful to you. Please note that this is not an instructor whose goal is to train you. However, with its help you can learn a lot about yachting and the features of life on board a boat.
• No need for maintenance - you do not have to service the yacht yourself or repair it. Once you sign the charter agreement, all you have to do is return the boat to the agreed time and place, safe and sound. 

A charter will be a good help for your further yachting experience.

Independent cruises

Whether you bought a boat or rented it doesn't matter. Short but action-packed cruises along the coastline of popular tourist destinations will help you get up to speed at the helm. 

Europe is a true paradise for such travel: the Mediterranean Sea is famous for its winds, varied sailing conditions and a huge number of tourist attractions. There is a place to roam without major financial investments.

Here you will find a large selection of guides on where and when you can go on a yacht

The main thing is to follow safety rules during independent cruises. Such trips can provide invaluable experience that will eventually open the way to the ocean.

Participation in sailing regattas

We recommend that the most avid yachtsmen and those wishing to discover the sea take part in regattas. If you don’t have much experience, pay attention to amateur regattas that take place on an ongoing basis in Europe. Before you cross the starting line on your own, you should try it a couple of times as part of a team.

If you have already covered the entire Mediterranean, you can look towards oceanic or even round-the-world regattas as part of a team. This option will help you better understand whether you are really ready for a long voyage, for example, a circumnavigation.

Planning a yacht trip

Having decided that you are already quite experienced, you can start planning your own trip. Here's what you should pay attention to.

Difficulty of routes

Before you go to sea, you should make a travel plan. When planning, you need to clearly understand not only the starting point A and the ending point B, but also what will be waiting for you between these points on the maps. There are many places on the planet that even experienced yachtsmen try to avoid. 

There are many reasons for this: in some places extremely strong winds blow all year round, in some places the temperature drops below or rises above a comfortable level, and in some places you can encounter pirates - the list is long.

It's best to start with popular destinations. Yes, there are often other boaters on these routes, but this also means that if necessary, there will always be someone who can come to the rescue.

More remote routes should be chosen with caution. The main problem of remote regions is that local cartography is likely to be out of date, and navigation may be complicated by local conditions. This does not mean that the chosen direction will be impassable, but it is extremely important to soberly assess your navigation abilities and skipper skills.

Navigation conditions at sea and off the coast

For a successful cruise, it is important not only to master the basics of navigation, but to actively develop this skill. Reading nautical charts, plotting routes, drawing up a plan, steering a yacht, performing maneuvers in the marina - all these are components of navigation. 

You must be able to assess the situation not only with your eyes, but also to make a quick analysis of the situation, based on both visual observation and data from instruments. However, it is visual navigation that can be crucial in a place whose maps are already outdated. 

The main difficulty of navigation is that it can only be mastered through constant practice. 

Yacht cruise for business

Without proper planning, your cruise risks becoming a black hole that will endlessly drain your money. You can justify the irrational use of funds provided that you moved to live on a boat and you undergo acclimatization to the living conditions on board. Otherwise, financial losses are irreversible.

Even before going to sea, you should have not only a route ready, but also, if possible, a cultural program if you plan to go ashore during the cruise. This will help save not only finances, but also nerves. 

Only a few can afford to fully move onto a yacht, while the majority still remain tied to the shore, and therefore to financial obligations, property, and so on.

Don't be shy to ask for help

The sea is not a place where you can do everything alone. Yes, many yachtsmen take risks and go on a solo trip around the world, but they have experience, courage and determination on their side. In most cases, you cannot do without the help of fellow yachtsmen. After all, help is not only about rescue from an emergency situation. 

Help is advice, guidance and even simple communication - everything that can make your cruise easier. Sailors constitute a separate caste in which everyone must support each other. When in a marina, ocean or lake, do not hesitate to ask for help, but do not forget to provide this very help.

Features of life on board your yacht

Life on board a yacht is a very specific activity, which is not without its romance. However, we recommend that you pay attention to the following aspects of your stay on board.

Reliable communication on a yacht

Once upon a time, the Internet on board a yacht seemed like a fantasy, but today it is a reality. Starlink has become a particularly popular solution among yachtsmen. Thanks to one small antenna, you can access the network from almost anywhere on the planet. 

Such a device is needed not only to watch videos on Tik-Tok or YouTube, but also to communicate with the outside world. Starlink is not the only service provider on the market, but today it is the most affordable solution in terms of service/cost ratio.

However, not just Starlink! A yachtsman's arsenal should include VHF radios, hand-held radios, and emergency communications equipment. The story of the Raindencer yacht wreck, which happened about a year ago, was very revealing. The team was prepared for the incident, but the battery level on the communications equipment was low. Fortunately, the team survived. Read more about this amazing story in this material:

Boat autonomy

Solar panels, hydro generators, powerful high-capacity batteries and a power bank are indispensable companions for long journeys. This category of irreplaceable things on board also includes modern boilers and air conditioners.

Before going to sea, especially if we are talking about a long cruise, you should carefully study the technical documentation for your own or charter boat. This way, you will be sure that if there is no marina nearby, your boat will be able to maintain the required level of autonomy at a given energy consumption. 

Features of deck equipment

Many new boats are equipped with modern systems for hydraulic sail control, boom furling, electric winches, etc. These are excellent solutions that greatly simplify life for yachtsmen. However, it is worth noting that you need to know exactly how to behave in the event of a breakdown, for example, of an electric winch.

In principle, you should always be prepared for something to go wrong. How can you be prepared for this? Have spare parts and repair kit. Some repairs may require special technical skills on your part, so examine your boat for any problem areas.

Sails and their choice

To taste and color... If you own your own yacht, then you probably already have formed preferences regarding sails. We will give only a few general tips on selecting sail materials.

So, for coastal sailing once every couple of months, good sports or cruising laminate sails are suitable. They are quite durable and with proper care can serve you for many years. 

For long sea voyages or trips to the ocean, many experienced yachtsmen advise choosing sails made of Dacron or a similar material. The advantage of Dacron is that it is easier to repair than buying a new laminate sail, which is especially important on the open sea.

Psychological support block

Many yachtsmen find themselves in an interesting situation. They want and can go on a cruise, but are often busy watching thematic videos on social networks, reading articles about yachting, or endlessly fine-tuning their boat to perfect condition.

We are in no way condemning this approach, we just want to remind you that sometimes, in the pursuit of the perfect boat, improving their skills or participating in discussions, yachtsmen forget why they got into yachting in the first place.

If circumstances allow, try to go to sea as often as possible. Continuously fine-tuning a boat is reminiscent of renovating an apartment, honing skills on shore is ineffective without real practice, and discussions in the comments can be counterproductive. Go out to sea and don't stay too long on the shore!

Instead of a conclusion

Even two longreads are not enough to describe all the features of life on board a yacht and what you need to be prepared for. Especially for you, we offer a small selection of materials that can simplify your yachting routine:

• Simple tips for living on board with animals
• Children on board and school problems
• Short but a comprehensive list of things, which any yachtsman needs to pay attention to
• Cruise Tips
• Seasickness and ways to combat it

We wish you success and seven feet under the keel! See you at sea!

New video on the Interparus channel🎥

Do you want to become a skipper? Do you want to not only go on cruises on your own, but also earn decent money from it? Sasha Goron will share recommendations on how to turn a hobby into your life's work.

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20.04.2024