mattstant

whoops dont i look stoopid didnt know there was a company called moorings

ps jon/jerome what qualification you got for chartering thinking of doing the full yachmasters i did competent crew when i was 16 (had to be 18 )so i havent even got a certificate for that even though i passed.
Neilsons were pretty much on trust but as the lead crew said it doesnt take long to spot the bull****ters
they had two crews who more than over stated there experience but luckily they agreed and took a shore holiday instead



[Edited by mattstant - 8/2/2002 2:37:57 PM]

mattstant

where is BVI Jerome ?
ahh just twigged British Virgin Islands
how much did that set you back then??

[Edited by mattstant - 8/2/2002 5:57:28 PM]

jon hill

We're thinking of going to Guadaloupe in Novemeber for a couple of weeks and bareboat chartering a Sunsail Bennetub for a week.

Has anyone a) been to Guadaloupe ? b) sailed around Guadaloupe? c) chartered a boat from Sunsail (or any other rent-a-tub vendor) out there?

I've used Sunsail in the med often enough, and while their boats are always a bit under-canvassed and stodgy they've been reliable (i guess like renting a Hertz Mondeo). I just want to check that its the same deal in the carribean, and that the sailing will be cool

ta for any info

jon

mattstant

saw quite a few sunsails in greece couple of weeks ago
didnt look as well looked after as the Neilson boats we were using but non of the crews had any complaints

if you get one can i crew please (i come quite cheap)

jon hill

yeah - im not sure how nielson & moorings compare to sunsail. ive heard good and bad with all three. i guess some are better than others in different places (the sunsail fleet in largs look like a bunch of mashed up old bath tubs)

Crewing ? er...nice try mate

mattstant

mooring methods just the same and neilson and sunsail got on well together.
only thing i didnt like about the med was mooring bows too and tdropping a kedge anchor off the stern only to have to then pull i up by hand when you realise youve dropped it too early (i still have the blisteres to prove it)

matt

Jerome

I was on a Moorings charter boat for 2 weeks a couple of years ago in the BVI. Pretty good charter company I thought. Most of the guys I sail with are less than impressed with Sunsail (calling them Scumsail) and the people who charter them.

Jer

I used www.beautifullyblue.com last time. They are just small, but are a great company give them a call.

Cheers

Jer

jon hill

yeah - i think that moorings have the carribean market, and that sunsail have the med (there seems to be a bit of variation in standards between sunsail med and elsewhere).

I'm really after Guadaloupe rather than the British Carribean - which limits my choice of companies though.

mattstant - ive got day skip, but im pretty crap, my experience is just pretty much just bimbling around the med in a bennetub and a few weekends in scotland. Sailing seems to be one of these things where you'll be ok as long as you're sensible - ask the regulars or the charter folk all the questions, dont take anything for granted, etc. On my day skip there was a guy doing coastal who had his own boat on the solent, but didnt have a clue whatsoever; very scarey stuff.

RichB

A friend of mine chartered a Sunsail boat and did Antigua race week in it. He dragged the mooring and had to have it retrieved from some marshes, a spreader broke and he dis-masted it on the last day, had to put down a heafty deposit, i.e about 3k, not sure he got that back
Great week of sailing!!! Should be a very nice holiday!

jon hill

yep - i think it a differant game if you're racing.

I guess Avis would want a similar deposit if you turned up and asked if you could enter one of their 16v Escorts in the roadsaloon series...

RichB

yep - i think it a differant game if you tell them you're racing.

mattstant

where did you do you're day skip jon i think my practical skills should be up to it (not so sure about the theory)
they wouldnt let me rent ANYTHING in spain without a certificate which really annoyed me as all i wanted was a quick blat in a day cruiser.

the chap with his own boat on your course probably had a motor boat there were a couple on flottila who thought they new it all after "boating for years on the thames" !!!!
they shat themselves when we had an unexpected force 7 gusting to 8 and didnt know how to reef.

Mind you i had much respect for a party of four who were taught on the broads in a sail boat and were forced by the instructor to sail everywhere.
They were unsurprisingly very good at tacking

Matt

jon hill

nah - he had a cat, based in the solent. shocking really

i did dayskip in gib' only because it was february and i wanted somewhere where the weather wouldnt be too awful.

If you're reasonably bright dayskip theory is a doddle. And the ICC (international certificate of incompetance) which is what the spanish would be after, is an absolute joke. I would say its better than nothing, but its not...

Jerome

mattstant,

I'm a competent crew member. To take a boat out on your own you need to be at least a day skipper. When I went to the BVI, we had 3 qualified skippers out of 4 and it help to share the skippering responsibilites. In some areas, where there may be hazards or challenging sailing, you are only allowed to go if you've been there with a Moorings skipper previously. Obviously you can just sail there, but you aren't insured and they won't send out an engineer if you have mechanical difficulties etc.

mattstant

where did you get your info from on spain jon
i was probably missinformed that it required several weeks of night school by my spanish mate !!!
no what you mean about sailing somewhere warm i spent a good portion of my youth freezing my **** of in a mirror dinghy in north wales or dodging ferries in a rival/moody (or whatever we could charter)in the solent or hopping to france.

Matt