1. Contact our office by email or phone to check on the availability of the yacht of your choice and make a provisional booking. We will hold your provisional booking for a period of seven days while you complete the documentation. Bookings not confirmed within this time will be released.
  2. Complete the Charter Agreement (download it here or from the download page) ensuring that your signature on page three is witnessed.
  3. Send the Charter Agreement to us with your Booking Deposit (£650), this may be paid by UK cheque, or complete the credit/debit card section of the Charter Agreement. We accept Switch, Delta, MasterCard and Visa cards but please note that there is a 3% administration fee for credit card payments. Overseas customers often prefer to transfer the sum directly to our bank account as this is probably the least expensive method - we will email you our bank details.
  4. We will complete the Charter Agreement and send a copy to you. No further payment is due until 8 weeks before your charter commences.
  5. Booking can be handled entirely by email - this is our preferred method. The Charter agreement and payment can be both sent electronically.
  6. All our prices are stated in UK Pounds and we only accept payment in UK Pounds. We are not responsible for fluctuations in world wide currencies. - All our prices include VAT where applicable at 20% from 2011 onwards.

Weekend and Extended Charters

Subject to availability, short term or additional days rental are offered at a rate of one fifth of the weekly rate with a minimum of half the weekly rate.  For weekend charters we reserve the right to transfer you to another yacht with the same or more berths should the yacht of your choice receive a full week’s booking.

Special Discounts

  1. There is a 5% discount on charter fees for bookings of two or more consecutive weeks or for one party booking more than one yacht at the same time and for the same date, except for weekend charter, PROVIDED all the correspondence is sent to one party.
  2. As we try to be as flexible as possible with our turnaround days we do occasionally have special rates for last minute or midweek charters. Please contact us for details.

Pricing Policy

Our aim is to provide a wide choice of yachts from the ocean going classics to the light and airy modern designs. We pride ourselves on high standards and we work hard to ensure these standards are maintained. Our policy on pricing is simple. Many companies spend thousands on attracting new customers with incredible deals that are not available to existing customers. In my view this upsets existing customers as there is no reward for loyalty. At Alba Sailing we have a very loyal customer base - more than 70% of our customers come back year after year. Our special offers are always aimed at existing customers - for instance someone who has chartered in 2010 - they book again in 2010 for 2011 but they only pay the 2010 price - it's simple and our customers appreciate it. We put all our efforts into offering superb service to our existing customers - not into acquiring new customers to replace unhappy ones that have gone somewhere else!

Occasionally due to ill health / cancellations etc we have last minute deals - these are always offered to our existing customer database (via the Spinnaker Club) at least a week before appearing on the Internet. Click here for our price list. Please phone or email us for the best price.

Experience required

It is obviously necessary for the skipper to have sailing qualifications and/or practical experience in coastal waters commensurate with the type of yacht chartered.  With little or no support services on the west coast, if things do go wrong, a lot depends on your own ability to improvise to enable you to continue your charter without returning to base. Our insurers ask for RYA Coastal Skipper or commensurate experience as a minimum standard for the Skipper and the First Mate must be able to get the boat to a place of safety if the Skipper is incapacitated - which usually equates to something comparable to RYA Day Skipper. Many of our charterers don't have a certificate to their name but have sufficient experience. Feel free to either email or phone us for a chat if you aren't sure whether your experience is sufficient.If you do not have the experience required, we would be pleased to offer one of our RYA Instructors to skipper for you. He or she should occupy a cabin to him/herself and you would be responsible for his/her food. In this way, you can learn as you sail and perhaps obtain an RYA certificate at the end of your holiday.