For our example we will take an average charter company in Croatia.
The cost of chartering a yacht can be divided into 4 components:

1). Boat charter with payment by bank transfer in advance. This part usually includes: the cost of yacht hire, final cleaning, tuzik (dinghy) and engine for it, Wi-Fi, coffee capsules;

2). Mandatory expenses that are paid at the base of settlement (OBLIGATORY EXTRAS):
— Transit log (ship’s document prepared by the charter company)
— Tourist tax per person per day

3). Security deposit — to be paid in cash or ‘blocked’ on the card at the yacht’s reception at the base of settlement. Many charter companies also offer a Damage Waiver option.

4). Optional Extras. You can hire a skipper, hostess, cook on the yacht. Optional extras include RIB, fishing equipment, gennaker or spinnaker, SUP, One way, snorkelling equipment.
If you hire a captain and/or chef and/or hostess on the yacht, these costs are to be paid in advance by transfer together with the yacht charter price.

In general, an IYT (International Yacht Training), RYA (Royal Yachting Association) or state (CSDD) coastal skipper’s licence is sufficient to charter a yacht. Some countries also require a VHF radio operator’s licence, e.g. Croatia. European charter companies increasingly require an ICC certificate. Without it, skippers with IYT and RYA certificates in Greece, Spain and France were refused to charter a paid-for yacht in 2019. «APCharter» has looked into why you need an ICC, how to get one, how much it costs and whether you need one with your particular licence. Read in detail here.

A refundable security deposit is a deposit for the safety of the boat, which is paid upon acceptance of the boat and is refundable if there is no damage when the boat is handed over. The deposit is blocked on a bank card and/or taken in cash (depending on the charter company). Usually the security deposit depends on the value of the yacht and can range from 1000 to 5000 euros.

To avoid risking large sums of money, many charter companies offer deposit insurance. Deposit insurance (damage waiver, security deposit insurance) allows you to minimise the risk of losing a substantial amount of your security deposit. There are two types of deposit insurance:

— Partial deposit insurance: when a fixed amount is paid (e.g. €250), the refundable deposit is significantly reduced (e.g. from €3000 to €500). Accordingly, the retention for possible breakdowns of the yacht is limited to €500 instead of €3000.

— Full deposit insurance: if a fixed amount is paid, no refundable security deposit is paid at all.

If the charter company does not offer deposit insurance, you can use the services of insurance companies that deal with liability insurance for yacht charter (e.g. Yacht-Pool) — http://www.yacht-pool.com/charter_versicherungen.0.html. In this case, you buy insurance from the insurance company, make a full deposit to the charter company and if the charter company charges you for the deposit due to breakage, the insurance company will then reimburse you.

If we are talking about regattas, then in general there are no positive reviews on the topic of «deposit insurance», because regattas are a priori a sport — not 100% safe, so insurers even if they insure deposits, they include so many restrictions that there is no positive experience of getting money from them.

Of course — that’s what we do! Write to us about how you imagine your trip, your approximate budget, size and composition of your crew, i.e. those who go with you on the boat — and we will help you to find and rent a yacht or catamaran on the best conditions.

If you are in Riga or ready to visit it, we can offer you our training ‘Preparing for independent charter’. We will help you to regain your mooring and sail setting skills, as well as help you to prepare your future crew members for sea practice. In addition, an experienced agent will help you choose a yacht for charter and even help you build an itinerary.

As they say, «The sea loves the brave and the skilful’ and ‘No amount of learning can replace experience». Prepare yourself as best as you can, and our team will help you in this — and everything will work out!

If a yacht has already been booked and prepaid, changing a yacht means cancelling the current reservation and booking a new yacht of a different size. Any cancellation refers us immediately to the booking conditions of the charter company in question. Usually if the cancellation is less than 6 weeks before the charter starts, the charterer has the right to withhold the entire amount for the charter. The client is strongly advised to take out insurance in case of charter cancellation. However, there are some good cases, for example, if a client wants to change a yacht within the same charter company and the charter company has a larger yacht available and there is a new client for the yacht that was originally booked, but this is more of a fortunate coincidence.

The cost of hiring the yacht, crew (if necessary) is payable in advance, by transfer, in two instalments. Usually the whole amount must be paid one month before the charter starts, if the booking is early. The first instalment — 50% of the cost, to confirm the booking, must be paid within 5 days. The remainder 40 days prior to the start of the charter, unless otherwise agreed by the charter company. The security deposit amount is ‘blocked’ on the account or paid at the point of check-in. All other mandatory charges are payable at the base of settlement, on acceptance of the yacht, by card/cash. Examples of contracts and terms and conditions of charter companies can be requested directly from us.

If you find any damage or faults on acceptance, you should record them with the company manager. In order to minimise the risk of a deposit being withheld, it is essential to carry out the acceptance of the yacht carefully: make sure that everything is working properly and that no damage has been done before you. Don’t be lazy to unfurl the sails, check the engine, pumps, and water heating.

If you have taken the boat on an independent charter and there is damage to the boat or its equipment, the charter company will retain part or all of the deposit (depending on the severity of the damage) when you return to base. A culture of communication and responsibility towards yourself, towards the charter company and towards the next crews who go on that boat is very important. It is important not to hide information and to talk about all the details, what happened and what technical condition of the boat at the end of your charter. This will allow a sober assessment of the situation and give you every chance of not losing your deposit completely.

If you charter a boat with the skipper of the charter company, he is responsible for the safety and security of the boat. Your responsibility in this case extends to the property on board.

If you have difficulties with the charter company, we can advise you on the best way to proceed in your particular situation.

— Let’s start at the top, with the head! Light hat or cap/skirt, sunglasses, sun cream on your face, don’t spare. Sunglasses. Buff (neckband).
— Light windbreaker, fleece jacket — in case of bad weather. In hot weather: T-shirt or comfortable shirt.
— comfortable shorts (if warm) or sports and waterproof trousers in case of windy and cool weather. Please no jeans, they are uncomfortable.
— shoes — comfortable, soft, sporty and preferably with white soles so that they don’t leave marks on the white deck. These are usually white-soled trainers or trainers
— swimsuit/towel. This is in case we want to swim right off the boat in the bay/sea. Flip flops for the beach and public showers in marinas.
— Phone chargers, navigation devices, pylots, waterproof bag.
— medication. If anyone is allergic or has any medical conditions, please bring your prescribed medication with you and alert the captain how to use it if symptoms occur.

Keep in mind that you will have to store things in a very limited space. And, most importantly, don’t bring a hard suitcase — otherwise you’ll likely have to sleep with it in your arms.
You don’t have to buy everything from the same brand. For example, Gill gloves are a great choice, and we recommend buying boots from Dubarry. Northsails have also launched their own yachting clothing range: shorts and membranes are recommended. Order from Regate (https://regate.lv/sportswear/north-sails-apparel/).

We recommend downloading important apps ashore while you have fast internet.

— Navionics Boating (https://www.navionics.com/fin/apps/navionics-boating) — the most popular digital atlas among boaters, all maps can be purchased for the waters you plan to sail in.

— Windfinder Apps for iOS and Android (https://www.windfinder.com/apps/) — accurate weather forecasts, the Pro version also includes Superforecast, a high-resolution weather forecast model and forecast maps

— Anchor Alarm (iOS), Anchor Mate (iOS) or Anchor Watch (Android) Anchor Alarm apps are a pretty useful addition to improve safety at anchor. Essentially, they beep when a vessel leaves a certain perimeter and thus draw your attention to the fact that the boat is dragging.

Of course, using such an anchor alarm does not mean that you can neglect other important anchoring tasks and exercises such as finding a suitable anchorage, preparing for any predicted weather changes, setting the anchor correctly and having enough chain and/or anchor rope to reduce the load on the anchor to a minimum and thus minimise the risk of dragging or worse right from the start. For the latter, there is another app that can assist you in calculating the minimum required length of anchor chain and/or rope and the corresponding anchor load — AnchorChainCalculator, it is available for Apple/iOS and Google/Android. When using this app you will find that scale rules such as 3:1 or 5:1 are often pretty bad advice! So please take a look and experiment with the free online version.