Three Day Minimum?

Chartering out of Newport, RI is generally easy. Summer weather in one of the world’s main cruising grounds is pleasant and varied. Sure, you have fog once in a while, especially earlier in the season and every so often cold fronts will liven up the scene. It is that variation that enables to sail with following winds and in comfort to your destinations. But to experience these patterns one needs time.

The best scenario for a four day to week-long charter is having a cold front come through at one point during your stay. That makes it possible to sail out of Newport to many of the favorite destinations and enjoy following seas and winds on the return to Newport.

If you start with a South West wind you can sail to Cuttyhunk Island, Martha’s Vineyard and on to Nantucket to wait out a cold front in either Woods Hole, Falmouth or Katama Bay. Then you get following winds either to Newport direct or a sail to Block. North winds in New England typically do not last very long in the summer time and most often die out in less than twenty four hours. So if you are lucky you get to use the wind the whole way, otherwise you get to motor in calm conditions rather than bash into wind driven seas.

For that reason I am have been thinking of making multi-day charter a minimum of four days. After all, regular charters are rarely less than a week and while Sail the Blue’s independence makes it possible to offer more “tailored” charters, it is hard if not impossible to plan a nice charter with just a day or two.

I sometime will place the boat in a location where guests will meet me, but this is increasingly only doable out of season as demand keeps getting higher every year and moving the boat to wait for guests monopolizes a day.

On the other hand, chartering the boat for a three days gets expensive, although one thinks of it in terms of per person and you have two couples, the price is pretty reasonable. I usually let people get onboard the night before, so you really get four nights for the price of three!

There are no easy answers when trying to balance budget, schedule and weather. That said, when on a boat, weather comes first. I’ll happily forgo budget to it and schedule to it. Last year when a family out for four days had to make the decision to wait out a low and take an extra day (for free)or end the charter early (with no refund) they picked the sensible solution and turned a four day charter into a five day one,coming out with a memorable and fun experience.