The Saturday at the base starts at a desk, and what you sign there decides who pays for what on Friday. Your contract and the base's briefing are the authority; this is how they usually read.
1 · Your papers and the boat's
What the desk asks for and what sails with you
What documents do I need to pick up a bareboat charter yacht?
The base checks the skipper's licence and a VHF operator's certificate, which may be a crew member's, and files a crew list with everyone's passport details for the port police.
The base checks the skipper's licence and a VHF operator's certificate, and files a crew list with passport details for the port police. A licence the base cannot accept means no bareboat: a licensed crew member is named as skipper, or the base supplies one. Only a skipper named in the contract may be in command; anyone may steer under them. A co-skipper is added, licence shown, before you sign. The radio certificate may be a crew member's.
In your hand luggage
Skipper's licence, in date
VHF operator's certificate
Passports of everyone aboard
Crew list, as sent to the base
Booking papers and the deposit card
Everyone who sleeps aboard is on the crew list, children included; a change mid-week is reported to the base. The boat's licence limits the persons aboard under way: a day guest counts.
Stays aboard all week
Who asks for it
Registration, insurance, radio licence, charter permit
Port police, in any harbour
Transit log, stamped crew list, tax receipt, where the country uses them
Port police; the base at check-out
2 · Deposit and waiver
What the deposit covers and what it does not
Is the charter deposit actually taken from my card?
Usually not: on a card it is a pre-authorisation, the sum blocked, not taken, and released after a clean check-out. It caps what you pay for insured damage; what the contract excludes stays with you.
The deposit is your limit for insured damage to the boat. On a card it is a pre-authorisation: the sum is blocked, not taken, and released after a clean check-out. It is in place in full before the keys change hands; a second card or cash against a receipt gets round a card limit.
Deposit clause: how it often reads
Held on a card or in cash at check-in
Limit of liability for insured damage
Outside the limit: negligence, grounding
Often also: dinghy, outboard, sails
Settled at check-out, against the form
Cover
What it does
What stays with you
Deposit
Caps insured damage
Whatever the contract excludes
Damage waiver
Lowers the deposit
The same exclusions; an excess, usually per incident
Boat's insurance
Hull and third parties
Crew injury, luggage: your travel insurance
The price normally includes the base's own berth only: harbour fees, fuel and food are the crew's.
3 · Limits in the contract
Where, when and how you may sail
Am I allowed to sail at night on a bareboat charter?
Usually not: a bareboat contract normally forbids night sailing and sailing above a stated wind, inside a named cruising area. Outside these limits the insurance and the deposit limit can fall away.
A bareboat contract names a cruising area, usually forbids sailing at night and above a stated wind, and may list harbours you must not enter. Outside these limits the insurance and the deposit limit can fall away. Only the base moves a limit, in writing, before you go. For shelter it can allow a forbidden harbour; held in port by the wind limit, you agree the return with the base.
Will you be in before sunset?
17:30 · 14 M to run · 5 kn · sunset 19:40
14 ÷ 5 = 2.8 h = 2 h 48 min
Arrival 20:18: after dark, not allowed
Harbour abeam, 6 M: 1 h 12 min
In at 18:42: divert
Racing, towing another vessel and paying passengers are normally excluded and uninsured. Your duty at sea is to people in danger: stand by a disabled yacht, relay her call, and tow only if she is in immediate danger. A pet aboard, or a different return base on a one-way charter, needs the base's consent in advance.
4 · Base briefing
Local knowledge no pilot book has
What should I write down at the charter base briefing?
The chart briefing: the base's knowledge of its own waters, such as the reef to keep off, the quay with ferry wash, the bay where gusts fall at night. Write it on your chart; it outranks a calm evening.
The chart briefing is the base's experience of its own waters: the reef to keep off, the quay with ferry wash, the bay where gusts fall from the cliffs after dark. Write it on your chart as the manager speaks. When a quay attendant or a calm evening says otherwise, the briefing wins.
A is calm at 18:00, not at night: anchor at B.
The technical briefing is done aboard, hands on: every charter boat is wired and plumbed differently. Keep a second crew member with you and brief the rest yourself that evening; someone else checks the provisioning delivery against the order.
From the briefing
What you do with it
Forecasts the base names
Check them every morning; the base's weather instruction binds you
Fishing nets between two flags
Pass outside both; a net on the propeller is a call to the base
Pack: harbour notes, pilot book
Check it against the inventory, read it before the first harbour
24 h technical number
For faults; channel 16 and the coast guard are for danger
5 · Check-in form
The paper the deposit is settled against
When should I sign the check-in form on a charter yacht?
Only after the walk-round, with what you found written in and countersigned by the base. Anything not on the check-in form counts as new damage at check-out, so you pay for it.
The check-in form records the boat as you took her over; anything not on it counts as new damage at check-out. So you sign the contract at the desk, but the form only after the walk-round, with what you found written in and countersigned by the base. On a busy Saturday it is still your walk-round. A late arrival is agreed in advance: walk-round, form and briefing then happen next morning, before you leave.
A line that protects you
Vague: 'minor scratches, bow'
Exact: 'scratch 10 cm, stbd quarter'
Counted: 'fenders 6, inventory says 8'
Read off: fuel, water, engine hours
Signed by you and by the base
Photograph each mark close up and from far enough to show where it is.
Photograph the hull from both sides, and the signed form.
Rule
What is not written, located, measured and countersigned before you sign is yours to pay for.
6 · The week and the return
Report at once, come back on time
What do I do if I damage the charter boat during the week?
Report it to the base at once and don't sail on with it: the base decides the repair. After a collision take no cash; note the other boat's name, port and insurer, and photograph everything.
The named skipper answers to the base for the boat, whoever was steering. Under the contract you report a fault or damage at once and do not sail on with it: the base decides the repair. A grounding found only at check-out is treated as hidden. After a collision take no cash: note the other boat's name, port and insurer, photograph everything and call the base: insurers settle it.
The boat is due in the base marina the evening before check-out, tanks full: refuelling by the base costs extra. Coming back early is your call: no refund, and tell the base. A late return is charged by the hour. Small allowances, such as one empty gas bottle, are in the contract too.
Practice questions
Questions from this topic, as the app asks them. Open one to see the answer.
Crew list
Booked: skipper + 4 crew
A friend joins Wednesday in Lefkas
Two crew fly home on Thursday
Port police may check at any harbour
You fill in the crew list at the desk and the manager asks whether anyone else will sleep aboard this week. What do you say?
Yes, but you will write him on the list yourself when he arrives
Yes — name the Wednesday guest now and tell the base again when the crew changes
No — a guest for two nights is not crew and does not go on the list
No — the list is for the people who signed the charter contract
Show the answer
B. Yes — name the Wednesday guest now and tell the base again when the crew changes
Everyone who sleeps aboard is on the crew list; a change mid-week is reported to the base, which amends the list for the port police.
All 50 questions of this topic are in the app: practice by topic with the reason after every answer, your mistakes brought back, and a timed mock exam. Free, no sign-up, in the browser or in Telegram.
