The Ionian is the home of Flotilla Sailing. The area lends itself to novice sailors and sailors learning as it has flat seas, short distances and few hazards. A typical flotilla route with Sail Ionian is outlined below - this is just an example as we plan routes depending on experience, wind direction and what you want to do when you arrive!

We are a family owned and run company and the people you speak to on the phone are the same people who meet you when you arrive in Greece!You can have a skipper on the yacht for a flexible no. days if you would like to build confidence and experience or you can just choose to meet us in the evenings.

	Day 1: Arrive at our base on sunday afternoon and have a handover of your yacht. See us in the cafe to discuss your plan for the week and get one to one recommendations for the best places to snorkel, relax, party, fine dine..whatever you would like to do! We will circle our favourite places on your chart and give you advise on our favourite restaurants. Do some basic provisioning if needed before setting sail on the sunday (you have beers, wine, bread, fruit, tatsiki and so much more on board already in our welcome pack!). Have a skipper on board if you want to FOC on the first afternoon to refresh everything and show you the ropes! Stop for a swim on route on Scorpios. Moor up in Meganissi for the evening for dinner and drinks on the beach. Relax on your first night on holiday!
	Day 2: Meet us in the morning (whatever time you wake up as we have coffee until you are ready!) - there is no group briefing, we chat to you individually. Maybe walk to the local village for fantastic views of the harbour and islands before a short trip to a nearby harbour. Have one of our instructors join your yacht for a few hours (if requested) to practice stern too mooring and long lining so that you have the confidence to moor up in the evenings and learn some tricks of the trade from the experts. A great way to get everyone working together and understanding roles. Also great to practice long lining so you can sail later in the afternoons and stay overnight in bays if you want to. Sail for lunch in a bay for swimming, visit the caves and snorkel. Sail to Sivota Harbour for the evening and meet us anytime between 4 and 7pm for help with mooring, drinks and advice for dinner.
	Day 3: Enjoy breakfast and exploring Sivota. Talk to us about what you want to do for the next few days and choose whether to continue to follow one of our skippers all week, join our flotilla lead boat (high season),or join us for one more night or to sail yourselves........whatever you decide we offer the full support you need. We send a weather text daily, organise one of our skippers to help with mooring if required and we are on call 24 hours. In high season, if you join us we will save you a place in the harbours until 7pm!

Any questions please call Katie or Di on 0800 321 3800.

We offer a service which lies somewhere in between the traditional flotilla and a bareboat charter. It has proven extremely popular and continues to allow nervous or less experienced sailors and even experienced skippers to relax, go off the beaten track and enjoy their sailing holiday.

Never been sailing? Request an instructor on your yacht on a flexible basis teaching you as much or as little as you would like to learn. They do not sleep on board for the first few days unless you want to sail further afield. Learn more about our Learn to Sail Holidays.

Sail Ionian: Informal Flotilla Sailing Holidays or a Normal Flotilla?

See our Yachts and Prices

The difference between us and other flotillas is that we are a small family run company. We follow a route which changes depending on weather and what you as a group of yachts want to do - and this could mean we change the route daily. We try to avoid the harbours with all the larger flotilla companies and try to take you off the beaten track a little! Our yachts are new and almost never break down so we dont need an engineer on site all the (but obviously if something happened we would be there in a flash!). We offer full support throughout the week. Our informal flotilla runs for the first few days of the week and we offer an all week lead boat support in high season.

You can choose on a day to day basis whether you want to join us in the evening and if you want to moor in the bay around the corner to the harbour or go in the harbour around the corner instead of the bay for example this is absoluely fine and we will help you moor and check everything is ok regardless. Our informal flotilla skippers meet the yachts in at around 5-7pm each evening ( or earlier if requested). The best parts of the Ionian are the smaller harbours and bays which large flotillas cannot visit so we do not take any more than 10 yachts (usually 5) and not all moor in the same place.

Included in the Informal Flotilla Greece with Sail Ionian: Support with Mooring, Expert Tuition from Qualified Yacht Instructors, in high season we have Fishing Kits and Competitions!, Dinghy Racing, Drinks Parties, No group briefings(!), No group dinners (unless requested!).

Our preference is to build the skills of the crew with assisted sailing or RYA training in the first few days before the informal flotilla. This makes the holiday safer and means you can be more adventurous when sailing to the new places. A little training will always enhance enjoyment of a sailing yacht charter in the Ionian sea with the right instruction.

If you are thinking of flotillas for the social side of the holiday, you will meet plenty of people each night in the harbours and if you have children you will find your route dictated by them anyhow! Sail Ionian offers the same support to bareboaters as to those on flotilla with weather information sent by text daily and a familiar face in the harbour at night.

Have you been on a flotilla sailing holiday? If the answer is yes, then you will probably be ready to progress to Assisted Sailing. Depending on your flotilla sailing experience you may still need some additional training. This can be done with just stern too mooring practice on the first morning, assisted sailing or with an RYA training course. If the answer is no, call us if you have any questions.

What is a traditional Flotilla Sailing Holiday? Many people start their sailing in the Ionian with a flotilla sailing holiday. Flotilla sailing holidays in Greece are a great way for non sailors, dinghy sailors or less experienced sailors to gain initial experience and enjoy the beauty of the Greek islands with not only their family and friends but many others as well. A flotilla sailing holiday is where a group of yachts on charter (normally up to twelve) travel in company to end up at the same destination each evening. The flotilla lead yacht is crewed by a skipper hostess and engineer. They plan the day and will normally follow a set route for the week. It is possible to take part in flotilla sailing with minimal sailing skills, providing the winds stay light and the weather is mild. The waters of the Ionian Islands have no tides and stable weather so they are ideal. When considering a flotilla sailing holiday in Greece the South Ionian is probably the best area to start.

With Sail Ionian, it is preferable that you have at least Basic Training and definitely some safety training for all of those on board, before chartering a yacht unless you plan to have the skipper on board all week. This can be completed with our Assisted Sailing, an RYA Start Yachting or RYA Competent Crew course which gives you a certificate and enables you to log your miles for future sailing.

Bareboat Charter in GreeceBareboat Charters - Bareboat Sailing Holiday - Day Skipper Courses - Flotilla Sailing Holidays - Flotilla Greece - Greece Honeymoon - Greek Honeymoon - Greek Island Sailing - Greek Island Yacht Charter - Holiday Yacht Charter Greece - Learn to Sail - Mediterranean Yacht Charter - Sailing Greece - Sailing Holidays in Greece - Sailing Schools - Sailing Yacht Charter - Skippered Yacht Charter - Yacht Charter Holiday - Yacht Charter Ionian - Yacht Charter