One logbook,
two sets of handwriting.

Every August somebody asks for an Aegean week with no wind in it. That week does not exist. The difference between a hard week and a very good one is almost never the boat — it is whether the route was drawn with the wind in mind or in spite of it.

Go north-east first, while you are fresh and the forecast is readable. Then run back down with it behind you. Groups who do the reverse spend the second half beating home tired, and that is the week people later describe as “a bit much”.

A meltemi week is not a problem to avoid. It is a schedule to respect.

We also build in one spare day. Not a rest day — a spare one. If it blows thirty for a full day, nobody is making a bad decision because a flight leaves on Saturday.

The headline charter fee is rarely more than two-thirds of what leaves your account. Better to set that out at the enquiry stage than let it arrive at the base.

On top of the boat: end-cleaning and linen; the security deposit or its insurance waiver, which on a large catamaran is not trivial; fuel and water; cruising taxes and park permits; mooring fees for the nights you are not at anchor; and provisioning. Skippered or crewed, add their fee, their food, and a gratuity that is customary rather than optional.

Every quote we send lists the extras in the same order, so two boats can actually be compared.

Where we push back on operators is the deposit waiver. Pricing varies enormously for near-identical cover, and it is the easiest few hundred euro to save on a week. It is also the line nobody reads.

We take deliveries partly because they pay and mostly because of what they teach. A week of charter sailing shows you a boat in daylight, at anchor, in fifteen knots. A passage shows you the rest of her.

You find out where she is wet, which lockers open themselves on a bad tack, whether the galley works at twenty degrees of heel, and how the autopilot behaves when it is tired. None of this appears in a brochure. All of it decides whether a family of six enjoys their August.

So when we say a model is fine for a flat-water week but not for a group who want to cross open water, that is not an opinion formed from a spec sheet. Repositioning runs, new-build handovers and owner transfers — if you need one arranged, ask.