Choosing a Yacht for your family flotilla holiday

Choosing which yacht to charter for your family flotilla or bareboat holiday can be tricky, especially if you are new to sailing. In this guide, we aim to uncover the general characteristics of each size of yacht, what to expect from the interior spaces, and the features that might be important for your family. Price is of course important, especially during the summer holidays so we’ve included a flotilla lead price for each size of yacht during July and August 2024. As this is flotilla, all lead prices include fuel, end cleaning, linen, welcome pack, and the assistance of the lead crew.

This is the first of our series of guides that should help you pick the ideal summer holiday, keep an eye out for more.

For smaller families and those on a budget, a two-cabin yacht can be a very affordable option. The photos, floorplan and video show a Sun Odyssey 33i, a popular yacht for us on the Kefalonia and Sporades flotillas. This yacht features a large stern cabin with a wrap-around bed, a compact saloon and a galley with a heads, and a smaller bow cabin. Other configurations are available such as a Bavaria 33 which has two more equal cabins. Being small these yachts are easy to handle, especially for two adults with a younger mate or two, making them easy to moor up at the end of the day.

Click the floorplan to zoom or click play on the video to view

The next size-up sacrifices a little saloon and storage space in exchange for a third cabin for slightly larger families and those who want a little more privacy. The yacht pictured here, an Elan 344 has space for 6 sailors, is available on our Saronic Gulf & Corinth Canal Flotilla, and offers great value. Yachts of this type will generally feature a compact saloon and heads with three cabins, two slightly larger ones at the stern and a smaller one in the bow. Like the two cabin yachts, these will be very easy to handle.

Click the floorplan to zoom

The classic three-cabin yacht around 37ft is known as a great allrounder with well-sized interior spaces, and a nice exterior while still maintaining the easy handling characteristics of the smaller yachts. The Bavaria 37 pictured here is a common yacht on our flotillas and offers three spacious cabins (two in the stern and one in the bow) along with a good-sized heads and large saloon/galley. Other options might include a Sun Odyssey 36i or a Dufour 360 and all of these make a great yacht for any family who wants a good mix of value, space, and decent handling.

Click the floorplan to zoom or click play on the video to view

For a little more luxury, a few more feet of length means you have a larger front cabin with an ensuite that is normally taken by the parents. The saloon is also slightly bigger and there will be two good-sized cabins in the stern. The Bavaria C42 is a new addition to our fleet and will feature in Corinth, Lefkas & Kefalonia in 2024.  Like other yachts of this type, the C42 has a very modern interior with plenty of space in allareas. Being slightly bigger will make handling slightly trickier so having a couple of handy mates along with the skipper will make handling a boat like this a breeze.

Click the floorplan to zoom or click play on the video to view

Two families booking together or a three-generation trip may prefer something a bit larger with 4 or 5 cabins. These yachts will be slightly harder to handle but having more adults will share the load. Yachts of this size will have a range of different layouts and will sometimes feature twin bunk cabins which can work well for some groups. The yacht featured is a Bavaria 46 as seen on our Kefalonia, Lefkas and Dodecanese flotillas which makes a great option for groups of 6 to 8 sailors with two larger ensuite cabins and two smaller bow cabins that feature a separated heads.

For larger groups catamarans can also be an option and we can offer these on certain flotillas, get in touch with our team for more details.

Click the floorplan to zoom or click play on the video to view

You may see that yachts come with two different types of mainsail systems, both of which work well on the yachts they are on and offer certain advantages and disadvantages to sailors of different levels.

The standard system pulls the sail out of a permanent sail bag or ‘lazy bag’ to the top of the mast using a halyard while have two or three reefing lines to reduce the sail by a certain amount in the event of strong winds. This system gives a good sail shape with full of partial battens holding the leach of the sail while only needing one line to pull the sail up. When dropping the sail it is guided into the bag by ropes called lazy jacks but it may need a little help into the bag at times. Reefing can be a little trickier and if unsure its worth running through this while moored to make sure you understand the drill. In the event you need to lose the mainsail completely, you only need to release a single line.

An in-mast furling mainsail furls on a drum inside the mast which makes a very neat solution but doesn’t allow the sail to have battens and thus the sail doesn’t form as efficient an aerofoil. Getting out the mainsail includes pulling the outhaul while balancing the inhaul to maintain control while putting it away is done in the opposite way. Reefing is easy and can be done from the cockpit. Being a more complicated system, the sails need to be used in the correct way to avoid jams in the mast and if there are any problems are a lot harder to fix than with a standard mainsail. Again if you are unsure its worth practicing using the sails in the harbour (if conditions allow) as used correctly in mast furling is a neat and hassle-free way of using the sails.

All our flotillas feature yachts of a range of sizes with both types of mainsails.

Unlike some other flotilla companies, all Seafarer yachts feature all you need for an amazing flotilla holiday including:

• Dinghy with outboard (often electric on larger yachts)
• Full electronic instrumentation
• Autopilot
• Shore power
• Cabin Fans

For more information on any yacht we have mentioned or to book your perfect family flotilla holiday call our experienced consultants on 0208 324 3118 or click on the links below.

0208 324 3118

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