This was our first ever family charter holiday and to say we were excited is an understatement. We are all quite experienced sailors, my wife and I have raced and cruised together, we owned a very small day sailor in the UK a few years ago, and our kids, 11 and 13, sail every week on aJ70 here in Denmark. But, chartering is different – so we did a lot of planning.
Now, for background, I work for Savvy Navvy – the Google Maps for boats. Imagine a chart plotter on your phone/tablet, which is more flexible and has more data sources that are constantly updated automatically. It works for pre-planning, on the water navigation and as a post boating “log-book” to keep accounts of your memories.
One of the amazing benefits of booking with GlobeSailor is the free access to Savvy Navvy for twelve months, which will make your yacht charter holiday much more convenient. There are also many more advantages of booking with GlobeSailor.
So, once I knew we were spending a week sailing out of Split, I got to work. Fun work. I checked out all the local marinas, and all the local anchorages (and there are many) and planned each day. Using Savvy Navvy I figured out how far we wanted to sail each day. We decided between 2-4 hours max, based on the kids’ attention span and where we wanted to spend the night.
As a family, visualizing the routes made us more excited even though we were months away from actually getting to the boat.
As our departure day got closer I updated all the routes, which automatically factors in the latest
weather forecasts. We were delayed getting to the boat as traffic was really slow, so we arrived late in the day. That actually worked out okay as we spent the night in the marina, getting used to the boat, marina life and acclimatizing to our new surroundings. The kids picked their cabins, and we opened a bottle of wine and then sat in the cockpit taking it all in. It also gave me a chance to take another look at our plans. We needed to victual the boat (go food shopping), the next morning, I found a really great anchorage only 2 hours away from Split, on the west coast of Brac in a beautiful bay near Bobovisce.You too can experience the beautiful bays and anchorages that Croatia has to offer by heading out on your own yacht charter Split.
I used Savvy Navvy to track our route and check the weather. I knew it would be a really gentle
reach all the way, in 7 knots of wind, and read all the reviews about the anchorage. Having Navily anchorage and marina data integrated meant I could do all of this, using just my Savvy Navvy app. It was actually very lucky as the chart plotter on the boat was pretty old and difficult to use.
There was one other boat in the bay when we arrived, but they left after an hour or so, so we had the place to ourselves. We dropped anchor, I set the anchor alarm in Savvy Navvy, and we
went for a swim.
We were rewarded with the perfect sunset – and I even got to watch the European Championship football final. It would be hard to find a better setting to watch the game.
Having the anchor alarm on Savvy Navvy, was a real bonus as it meant we didn’t need to worry about the anchor dragging and getting closer to rocks or shallower water. Of course, I still woke up every hour or so and had a look out on deck to make sure, it was the first night after all. But it held firm, and we stayed in the set safe sector.
The bay was so beautiful we decided to stay for lunch the next day and only moved once a couple of other boats arrived. We didn’t want any company.
Anchoring came with so many benefits. Firstly, it saved the €140+ berthing fee that the marinas charge in peak season. Then it gave us the peace and solitude we wanted. Finally – it was a real adventure for the kids. The perfect start. I forgot to disarm the anchor alarm when we headed out again. The alarm went off on my phone great to see it worked.
Our next plan was to head southeast to Stari Grad and find another anchorage that gave us protection from northerly winds – I knew that there would be prevailing wind direction that night. It was only a one-hour sail, but with the beautiful clear and warm waters, we couldn’t wait to go swimming again.
Stari Grad is an incredible destination on the island of Hvar and is a must stop on your Croatia sailing holiday. A yacht charter Croatia is a great opportunity to see the incredible coastline of this Mediterranean nation
There were around six really well reviewed anchorages where we went, but all were either busy, or bumpy so in the end we found a brilliant mooring buoy that cost only €30 for the night.
It would have been free had we wanted to use the restaurant that managed and owned the buoys, but we already had a boat dinner planned. The owner paddled out on his board to welcome us, help us rig the mooring buoy lines, and tell my wife that she could drive the boat like “Jack Sparrow”. I think that was a compliment.
We had a recommendation to head down to the Fisherman’s House Restaurant while we were in the area, so that was the plan for later in the week. They are on a little island southwest of Stari Grad close to Vlaka, again free mooring buoys if you eat with them. So, we booked a table and planned a longer sail in stronger winds. It was almost five hours and slow going as we had 15+20 knot winds from the northwest, which was the direction we needed to go.
Knowing there were so many anchorages along our route, gave us real peace of mind. We could duck in and shelter if we either ran out of steam or needed a break. Always great to have a Plan B, and then C. We found the winds increased the further south we got – 6-9 knots between Split and Brac in the “Splitski Kanal” Then once through the channel and south of Brac it really picked up.
After a night on the mooring in Vlaka, we decided we’d had enough exciting sailing, and that heading back to Brac was a good idea. There was so much to see and do around there that was new for us. So, we left early in the morning and our reward – the most amazing sunrise. Which is always more special at sea.
From there we explored Trogir which is a magical town – which we’d last visited on our honeymoon in 2008. My son kindly lent me his One Piece pirate hat, which came in handy as it was 40 degrees.
Once we eventually got back to Split, we were rewarded with chilled wine followed by a yoga display on the sea wall.
My takeaways from our first ever family charter.
- Pre-plan. You start to get excited long before you hit the water, exploring the area, and figuring out how challenging you want your sailing to be and where you want to stop. It saves so much time so you can get the most out of the sailing. It also saves you a lot of money in marina fees. We easily saved €500 in a single week by using Savvy Navvy’s
anchorage data. And what’s even better – you get Savvy Navvy for free as part of your GlobeSailor charter booking. This is one of many GlobeSailor booking advantages. - Plan the sailing around the entire family and think about the balance of sailing and “playing”. We took a paddleboard but also had the boat dinghy. So paddling, swimming, diving, trying (and failing) to catch fish.
- Don’t be too ambitious. It might sound odd. But, there are so many beautiful places to visit within a couple of hours of Split. There really is no need to sail for more than 3-4 hours, unless you want to of course. Even at peak season, we were there mid-July, and we found quiet bays and secluded anchorages.
- Make sure you keep your memories. I’ve got routes saved with pictures so I can bore the
whole family when they visit. And next year, I can reflect and either revisit or make new plans. - If you’re undecided about chartering – do it. There is nothing quite like living on a boat for a week. Sleeping with the sound of waves gently lapping the side of the boat and the slow rhythmic rocking of the boat in the swell. It soothes the soul and takes away stress. Sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Try sailing and thinking about work or home life at the same time. It’s impossible.
As for us. We’ll definitely be back.
If you wish to go on your own Croatian sailing holiday, with your family and/ or friends, you can venture on a yacht charter Croatia. And of course, you will get 12 months of free access to the Savvy Navvy app as part of your GlobeSailor booking advantages.
