Flotilla 2011 - Greece
Gain experience. Have fun and make friends.

Vega Sailing School is organizing small flotilla during 2011 summer season. This time cruising ground is North Aegean and Sporades. The cruise starts at city of Kavala on the north Aegean coast. We will then visit Thasos, Limnos and Ag. Efstartios and finally reach Sporades. Flotilla will last three weeks. You are welcome to join us any one, two or all three weeks.
 
This flotilla is for self sufficient crews, with the sole purpose of sharing experiences and having fun. There is no obligation to stick together all the time. One boat with professional skipper is made available for participants with no or little experience. For simplicity the number of boats will be around four, we do not plan occupying the whole port.
 
- If your crew is already experienced but want a company from time to time, you can sail with the fleet, but also make independent trips and rejoin the fleet at some point later. This may be perfect if you have kids onboard.
- Less experienced have a unique opportunity to sail on their own, but still near the group leader and other crews. Advice, discussions, help if needed and refresher lessons, why not.
 
Each leg of the journey provides distinctive experience, but also different challenges. The first leg from Kavala to Sporades is more challenging, more miles and more open seas. The second leg is entirely dedicated to Sporades cruise, with south shores protected from prevailing northerly winds. Numerous anchorages and ports are short distance appart.

Red line on the map to the left. Depart from Kavala on 7/23, arrive to Sporades around 7/30. On the route we will visit Thasos, if circumstances allow also the Island of Samothraki, then Limnos and Ag Efstratios and reach Sporades at the end of this leg of our journey. We recommend everyone who choose to participate in this leg, to rent a boat for two (or three) weeks. One should spend at least a week to enjoy all that North Aegean has to offer, especially Samothraki and Limnos which are off the bitten tracks. Spend the second (and the third week) in Sporades, one of the prime Mediterranean cruising grounds. To reach Limnos from north, there is 40 Nm of open water. Furhter down is another 50 Nm to Sporades. Prevailing northerly wind, Meltemi, blows hard throughout Aegean during this time of the year. However North Aegean experiences less wind, compared to Cyclades and areas further south. We expect normal winds of around 5 - 6Bf over our stern quarters during this trip. However, trip to Samothraki may bring some hard upwind sailing.
This leg ends in Platania, on the mainland coast, just west of Skiathos. We also organized car transfer from Kavala to Platania.

Leg two of our journey leads us through Sporades, green line on the map. This leg starts and ends in Platania, only 12 Nm from Skiathos. Depart on 7/30 or 6/8. Return on 6/8 or 13/8. Sail with us one or two weeks during this period. Crews from leg one will arrive to Sporades around 7/30 and thus form the fleet for this leg. Due to short distances between ports and anchorages, route can be made up on daily basis. Sporades are one of the best cruising grounds in the Mediterranean. Protected waters are on the south side of the islands, while Meltemi will surely fill your sails. We labeled this leg as easier, however Aegean is not a "gentleman sea." Our normal daily routine will involve 3 to 4 hours of sailing with lots fo time for other activities.

Our trusty partner is Aegeas Yachting from Kavala and we recommend you to book one of their boats. In March 2010 we personally inspected the entire fleet, later in 2010 our courses were held on their boats, we rented for our own sailing holiday and never regretted. We recommended the company to our friends and they are now returning customers. Aegeas Yachnitng is not a brokerage, instead, they personally overlook and maintain every boat. These people are true sailors, RYA instructors dedicated to boats and boating. Boats are meticulously maintained and winterized on dry land. We were delighted with their open and simple business model. No hidden fees, fine contract prints or negotiations on things that are, in our opinion, quite normal to include in the listed price. Prices include VAT, end cleaning, outboard, dinghy, even one way transfer fees (which comes handy in our case). They help with tons of local knowledge, transfers to/from airport, car parking etc. Because they liked how we cared about the boats, the relationship has been established based on pure trust so you can also contact us for any information. This company has allocated several boats for us, and won't book them for others until we close organization of this flotilla by the end of January.
 
"Calypso", Bavaria 44. Four cabins, two heads, autopilot, Navtex, GPS plotter, TV-DVD, CD, outboard, sprayhood, bimini. Available from 7/23 till 8/13 from Kavala, for leg one crew. 2200 euros per week.
 
"Apodrasi", Beneteau Oceanis 411 Clipper. Four cabins, two heads, autopilot, bow truster, GPS plotter, TV-DVD, CD, mp3, outboard, sprayhood, bimini. Available from 7/30 till 8/13 from Platania, for our leg two crew(s). 2200 euros per week.
 
"Princess of Limnos", Ocean Star 51.1. Four cabins each with its own head, plus skipper's cabin. Huge salon and cockpit. Generator, A/C separately controlled for each cabin, three refrigerators,... Price for this 16m yachts is 4200 Euros per week, including services of a professional skipper. It is possible to rent this yacht as bareboat with adequate sailing qualifications of at least two persons. The company has special policy for this boat. Available from 7/30 till 8/13 from Platania, for our leg two crew(s) and/or passengers.
 
Other boats. The above three boats are made available to us till end of January. Other boats may also be available, depending on demands from other customers. Contact us, or Aegeas Yachting directly, for other options. We will be on the fourth boat, Elan 40, from the same company.
 

• Starting point for leg one is Kavala, ending is in Platania. For those arriving by plane, Thessaloniki is about the same distance apart from Kavala and Platania. If coming by car, we organized car transfer from Kavala to Platania, while you are sailing. The price is 70 Euros (and gas tank must be full), it covers the cost of road pay-tolls and driver's return trip to Kavala, no one is making money on this. Parking in Kavala and Platania, based on our impressions, is safe. We rely on our hosts local knowledge.
• Start and end point for leg two is Platania. We picked this place for practical reasons. Charter boats around Sporades in most cases depart from Volos or Skiathos town. It takes 6 to 8 hours of sailing from Volos to Skiathos, and that takes two days (first and last day). To depart from Skiathos one must take a ferry, 20 - 30 Euros per passenger each way, plus car. Service to Skaithos airport is mostly for charter flights. So logical choice is Platania, one hour drive from Volos, it is only 12 Nm from Skiathos, the moment you board, you are already in Sporades.
• Flotilla boats are crewed by self-sufficient crews (at least one qualified skipper and one able sailor);
• Every crew signs its own contract with charter agency for the boat they will sail on, we can help as single source of information (flotilla and charter details);
• Boats are rented on weekly basis, starting on Saturdays. Of course, a crew may rent for more than one week;
• Being a flotilla member is completely voluntarily and that right cannot be taken away. It may happen that the pace of the cruise may not fit every crew all the time, so the crew may leave and rejoin the flotilla at will, without being finger-pointed by others;
• The booking should be made as early as possible. There are many returning customers who book the good boats many months in advance.