Hi all,

I'm visiting Adelaide over Christmas / New Year from the UK, and I was thinking of chartering a yacht (30 to 40ft) for about a week at that time to get some sailing in.

I've tried googling and looking through directories, but I can't seem to find any charter companies in SA. The closest seems to be a few people doing skippered day trips.

Can anyone suggest a charter company in SA?

Is SA a good place for sailing? I haven't got a pilot book, but the area looks like it would be good to explore with two interesting Gulf's and Kangaroo Island.

Regards,
SM

Ramona is right "The waters off Adelaide are just that, not much of interest. "
Windward side of the Vincent Gulf, and opposite is shallows. Investigator Strait rough as
and there is nowhere to shelter. The only place without local knowledge is 7 hours drive
Port Lincoln and perhaps visit Sir Joseph Bank Group, the only place you can anchor in any weather, and you right in "shark ally" where real shots for JAWS were taken.
South of Gulfs is weather forecast is ok half way up, afternoon seabreeze 10-15knots
could be 45, happen to me last year and happening too often in Spencer Gulf .

All,

Thanks for the feedback and help. It sounds like SA is not the place for a relaxed 1 week charter, and in any case there's no one offering the service!

If I can convince the people we're visiting to take a trip with us, where in Australia would you recommend as a good sail charter destination in Dec / Jan? The Whitsunday's seem to be the most advertised destination, but the recommendation seems to be to visit there in winter rather than summer (although I'm not sure why).

Regards,
Gerald

The advice about Whitsundays in summer is probably related to "stingers"
and humudity. Gets that hot you need a swim, but swimming with stingers
is not recommended. If you want clear hot days and cool water head to Vic(Melbourne) or Tas(Hobart),
You might find charter yachts there, and not crowded.

Bay of Islands is fantastic and has bareboat charter options.

Also do not discount further overseas. i have chartered a yacht and circum-navigated Langkawi in Malaysia. Gives you sailing as well as another culture. I went with Sunsail and could highly recommend them. Additionally you would be very surprised about the cost as it was cheaper (fair bit) than the equivalent yacht and time (7 days) in Whitsundays. In Langkawi just pick your weather as we did not and ended up motoring around most of the time but water is safe to swim and lightning shows at night were great. Sunsail do heaps of different destinations (as do other operators - Moorings etc.) and their web site is pretty good. - No I do not have any financial interest in Sunsail we just used them and I was very happy.