There are a number of myths around chartering yachts that really aren’t true.

Let’s have a look at eight of them and show you just how wrong these are!

ONLY RICH PEOPLE CAN ENJOY SAILING YACHTS

If anything, where it comes to yacht charter vs boat ownership, only rich or stupid people can afford to own yachts!

With yacht charter you only pay for the boat when you sail it - owning a boat you may sail it just as often as you charter a yacht yet may have paid €100,000 for the boat and €10,000 a year to maintain it.

In contrast, for a boat worth €100,000 you may only pay €1000 a week to charter with Kavas Yachting, and you can bring five friends with you - €200 a week per per person is very cheap even compared to a hotel!

YACHT CHARTER IS EXPENSIVE

We’ll be honest here.

For our most luxurious catamaran - the 17 metre long Lagoon 560 - chartering at the height of peak season you won’t have much change from €20,000 a week.

My car cost less than that!

On a boat like this your teenage children could come aboard and you need not see or hear from them for the entire week - a worthy investment indeed. We do however have boats in less popular times that will compete very well with a budget holiday.

How about the three cabin JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 34.2?

Off season (when the kids are at school and you want some winter sun) it can cost you less than €1000 a week. If you bring friends or your adult children and their partners that could amount to €167 per person for a week.

Flights from Northern Europe are cheap at that time of year too (as little as €35 per person from London Luton to Athens each way) so you could all have a great time touring the Greek seas and islands for as little as €400 all in, including booze, fuel and food.

YACHT CHARTER IS FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE

You don’t need to be a young warrior to enjoy cruising our waters on a Greek yacht charter.

While those boats with younger crews will gravitate towards the likes of Mykonos, Kos and Corfu Town, there are literally hundreds of other places to take your charter boat where you won’t be disturbed by our younger friends’ parties.

In the Cyclades islands you can spend a week in complete peace, bypassing the party centres and perhaps mooring off an uninhabited island like Keros or Kea. While in summer you will never be completely alone in a marina or anchorage, with careful preparation you can just set off and enjoy a quiet, restful time.

You can enjoy the different cuisines on offer and explore the wines and ouzos that Greece has to offer - this can be done lazily and in a relaxed manner away from the high octane party towns...

YACHT CHARTER IS FOR THE SUMMER ONLY

According to the Holiday Weather website, you have a 67% chance of a sunny day in October on the Aegean and minimum temperatures sit at around 18 degrees C, with maximum temperatures hitting 25 degrees C.

If you are from the UK or Germany those temperatures are more likely to be seen in July or August. Indeed, for people who live in those countries, you really don’t want to be in Athens in August as temperatures can be in the high 30’s.

While we don’t want to discourage you from sailing in peak season (that is after all when we make our big money) you may feel more comfortable sailing in the off season than sailing in the blistering heat of midsummer. The meltemi winds can be less fierce in autumn and winter too, making for better sailing conditions for the less experienced sailor.

See why low season yacht charter is an awesome idea:

Sailing in Greece in October

YOU'LL HAVE TO HIRE A SKIPPER

If you have no experience at all in sailing, or are coming back to sea after a while away then it may make sense to hire a skipper and crew to get your sailing done as you focus on re- / learning the ropes and enjoying your holiday.

As we pointed out at the beginning of this article, even a boat owner may only sail four weeks a year at most. They will be no more experienced than you and they have taken the leap into spending six figures in cash or more on their hobby.

If you have a recognised national sailing certificate then you should be able to sail with us, even if you had it 20 years ago and haven’t sailed much in recent years. Sailing is like riding a bike - you never forget how and while you may wobble after a few years off the saddle you’ll soon be going again smoothly and without a care in the world.

CREW EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED

Though the skipper should know their way about a boat, a lot of the time you sail will be explaining to the crew how to sail a boat.

Sailors teach each others new tricks all the time. If you’re the only one aboard who can sail, then don’t push too hard for long passages and battling bad weather.

Ultimately you’re in it for a good time, and if your newbie crew has a great time from learning to sail with you then you can almost guarantee that they will want to come sailing with you again. If they do then you’ve got yourself some regular crew to sail with year in, year out for times to come.

You may even be able to ask them to leave the marina in a beastly meltemi and have a great old blast out to sea, creating memories that they will never forget!

FUEL WILL COST YOU A LOT

Marine diesel here in Greece is quite cheap.

As of today the cost is €1.43 a litre, but you won’t be motoring everywhere.

A 40ft yacht uses a 40 HP engine where the consumption is 4 litres an hour

That means that (starting from our Alimos base), you can visit 4 Cyclades isles: Kythnos, Syros, Mykonos, Kea, spending only 126 EUR.

This is the worst case scenario as you’re in Greece to sail a yacht - not motor it!

Sailing uses a lot less diesel!

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IS THE SAME, EVERYWHERE

Mr Kavas started his yacht charter business over 25 years ago and has grown his fleet of yachts organically.

He has largely handed over the day to day running of Kavas Yachting to his children now as his legacy to the family.

How did he manage that?

Here at Kavas we believe that you should have the best customer service possible from the day you book your holiday with us until the moment you step off the boat and head home.

We are certainly not the biggest Greek yacht charter company. There are some companies with thousands of vessels all over the world who have lost their personal touch. If they treat you badly and you do not return it doesn’t matter as you do not matter to them. Most of our first time customers come back to us at a later date to sail with us and get to know the Kavas family as they do.

You are business to us, but more importantly to us you are people. In pure economic terms, a return customer is the most beautiful one of all as you coming back time and again means we have some sort of guaranteed income!