Sailing as a group in the Whitsundays is an unforgettable experience. After all good times are always better when shared, especially when those times involve fishing, diving, swimming, sunshine, and tropical islands.
When you hire a catamaran or monohull yacht for a bareboat sailing adventure, your group operates the vessel yourselves. There isn’t a professional skipper or crew; you guys are completely in control of your holiday.
Sailing at your own pace with your people is a pretty incredible experience. Plus, there are some bonuses too. In this post, we share the benefits of sailing as a group, handy tips for first-timers, and tips to keep the crew happy.
Tips for sailing as a group on a Whitsundays Yacht Charter
- Allocate roles before your trip and ask each person in that role to prepare. Consider a skipper, a first mate, a navigator, a chef and a researcher.
- Choose people you know you will get along with! A boat is a small space, it’s best to sail with people you want to be around
- Consider hiring a catamaran so that the bedrooms and bathrooms are not right next to each other and the living spaces are more open.
- Leopard catamarans have two to three outdoor entertaining areas, ideal for groups wanting to spread out.
- Look at the number of bathrooms you will need. Some catamarans have an en-suite for each cabin.
- Book a sleep-aboard the night before your charter. This will allow time for travel delays and help everyone to re-group, settling in to the boat before your morning briefing.
Sailing as a group saves charter costs
Apart from sharing the good times, when you choose to charter with a group of mates, you can split the yacht hire costs. With this in mind, your budget may stretch to a larger, more luxurious boat, solidifying the “once in a lifetime” experience.
Many catamarans and some monohulls can sleep up to 10 people. When you split the costs of hiring a yacht between a group per head, it often works out to be cheaper than a hotel with sea views.
Bareboat hire costs are variable, depending on the time of year, the duration and the type of boat.
The boats below showcase a range from our fleet. We’ve broken down the prices to show the costs per head when booking to sail as a group.
Chantilly, Lagoon 400. Sleeps 8 over 3 cabins
5 nights in June = $6,550
$1,310 per night / 8 people
$163.75 per head, per night
Sisu, Leopard 40. Sleeps up to 10 over 4 cabins
5 nights in June = $7,976
$1,595 per night / 10 people
$159.50 per head, per night
Happy Hour, Leopard 44. Sleeps 10 over 4 cabins
5 nights in June = $7,810
$1,562 per night / 10 people
$156.20 per head, per night
GiGi, Beneteau 43. Sleeps 8 over 4 cabins
5 nights in June = $4,156
$831 per night / 8 people
$103 per head, per night
How a Whitsundays Sailing charter works
When you hire a boat to sail with your own slected crew, it’s called bareboating. This term simply means the boat you hire does not come with a professional crew. You and your mates have full control over vessel operation, where you go and the activities you partake in.
No license is required to hire a bareboat in the Whitsunday Islands.
What if your group are new to sailing?
There are measures to ensure that everyone who hires a yacht in the Whitsundays is safe and taken care of.
All bareboat charter groups undergo an extensive training session before they can take the boat out themselves. It’s ideal if one or two group members have some boating knowledge, just for confidence. However, if the group lacks experience, let us the reservations team know to allow for additional training time if needed.
Sail Guides are an option for bareboat charters in the Whitsundays. A Sail Guide is hired for a duration that suits you, e.g., for a night or your full charter. While fully qualified skippers, they are not there to act as one. Rather, they are a live-aboard trainer who will support your crew in skippering and operating the boat yourselves.
We recommend those new to bareboating look at this article on preparing a crew of beginner sailors.
Maneuvering and sailing a boat is always better with more hands on deck
While there are many moments to sit back and relax while sailing the Whitsunday on a private yacht, there are times when your group will need to pull together to move from one anchorage to the next. The more hands on deck, the better.
It’s not essential to put the sails up while bareboating. However, there are some practical tasks which need to be managed. Daily tasks include deciding the itinerary based on the wind conditions, navigating, picking up moorings or dropping the anchor, preparing the boat to “sail”, and radio calls back to base.
For those keen on putting the sails up, having a group to help get underway makes things easier and is a real thrill.
Regardless of if you sail or motor, it’s always good to allocate roles while living on a boat. Role allocation can be done before your charter so everyone has time to master their boating craft! Decide who will be the Skipper, the First Mate and even assign specific jobs like someone on radio scheds or picking up moorings. Role allocation makes sure everything runs smoothly and there is less room for error.
Share food costs and preparation time
Sharing the load of food shopping, meal preparation, and dishes is a bonus to a group charter. It means everyone gets to have a holiday! There are many creative ways to manage food logistics during a group holiday. We’ve seen some groups create a meal plan roster before their trip just to make sure four people don’t prepare to cook bolognese every night. Others do an online order and run it past everyone before getting it delivered to our base.
Enlisting a provision company is always a great idea for a bareboat holiday. A local provisioning company specialises in catering and shopping for bareboat charters. Whether you order a seafood platter, supplies for a couple of dinners or meal packs for a week, they will deliver it to your boat and have everything packed away, ready for your arrival! Your group can select the menu plans in the planning stages of your trip so that when you arrive, food is the last thing you need to arrange!
Share interests and adventures with different people in your group
Perhaps the best thing about sailing with a group is mingling with the different people in your crew. Having a few personalities to spend time with and share interests is always good.
You might have some crew members who love fishing adventures and head off in the dinghy along the coast. At the same time, others enjoy lazing on the beach with a book or hiking through the forests. Groups mean that everyone has an adventure buddy.
Choose your crew, choose your adventure away from tour groups.
If you join a sailing tour, you will likely depart from Airlie Beach and head out to the Islands with a large group to set destinations. Group tours are great if you need more time, are travelling solo, or want to have a fully crewed boat; however, you need to go along with a set tour plan.
When you sail as a small private group, you have the freedom to explore at your own pace. If you love a spot, stay. If you want to go to a secret beach, find it. It’s up to you.
We often suggest that groups sail for a minimum of five nights. Extra time ensures the crew has time to go with the flow and allows for bad weather days, which usually pass quickly, but it helps to have an extra nice weather day or two up your sleeve.
Sailing with another family helps entertain the kids
Most parents have figured out, or are about to figure out, that holidays are best shared with other families with kids. The reason is simple: the kids are entertained, and sibling dynamics are diffused! (Have you noticed that your kids don’t fight in front of other people?!) When the kids are having fun, the adults can relax and share other adult company. It’s ‘s a win-win.
Family groups who sail with kids can also share minding the kids. Did someone say the mums can go off for a day spa or dads for a round of golf?!
Quality Time Away from Distractions
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life. We often catch up with people and fit them in around our to-do list, but when you travel together, you can really sink in and relax together. Sailing with mates offers a welcome respite from the distractions of modern living, allowing you to disconnect from technology and reconnect with nature and each other.
A group sailing holiday on a private bareboat will be a fun-filled shared adventure with in-jokes and loads of fun. Some of the best memories are made when you’re out on the water with your mates. Whether it’s watching the sunset from the deck, snorkelling in crystal-clear waters, or sharing stories under the stars, the experiences you share on a Whitsundays sailing charter will stay with you for a lifetime.
