How To Sail In The Tropics—When You're Not A Sailor Yourself

Forbes

4 days ago

Off the island of Raiatea in Tahiti, an impossibly blue bay sits empty save for a single sailing catamaran. It anchors on the sandy bottom, against a wildly scenic backdrop of soaring mountains draped in jungle. The occupants of this custom yacht charter can fill their afternoon however they see fit: snorkel off the back of the boat in nearby coral, swim, lounge in the sun with a cocktail, practice yoga on deck, motor to shore in the boat's dinghy to hike, or read a book inside the plush cabin—all of it crowd-free.
This is the stuff adventure travel dreams are made of. And the people aboard didn't even have to master the craft of sailing themselves to get to experience it. A captain handles the sailing and navigation along a custom route, and a chef handles all meal preparation.
These travelers are part of a growing trend of non-sailors opting for ocean-based vacations. Travelers increasingly want more personalized, sustainable, and adventurous travel experiences, and there's little that fits that bill more than sailing on your own custom itinerary. Sailing tourism can be a new way to experience a place for people who otherwise don't have the skills to make that experience happen on their own.
It also holds the delicious luxury of privacy. Hotspot destinations in French Polynesia, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean can often feel overcrowded on traditional travel itineraries, from hotels and restaurants to tour operators for snorkeling, diving, and wildlife watching. But sailing on your own private adventure yacht charter represents the ultimate serenity and freedom.
Marc Pedrol, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Dream Yacht, which offers yacht charters worldwide, explains that when the sailing charter industry started in the 1960s, charters from the few professional charter companies were largely reserved for the rich. Most were booked by avid sailors who could sail the boats themselves, and even those had limited availability.
'Advances in boat building technology, the internet, and globalization led to rapid growth in the industry by the 2000s,' Pedrol said. 'Since its beginnings, Dream Yacht was one of the pioneers in making ocean-based vacations accessible for non-sailors. First through skippered and fully crewed charters on private yachts and then through other more social models, like our cabin cruises, where you have a private ensuite double cabin on board one of our sailing catamarans that you share with like-minded travelers.'
Dream Yacht has been seeing increasing demand for this vacation model—so much so that it now offers twenty-three different itineraries in twelve countries around the world, with plans to add others.
For U.S. travelers, the Caribbean and Bahamas are good 'starter' destinations thanks to their proximity to the States—and, of course, their natural beauty, rich culture, and coveted climate. But Dream Yacht has also seen an increasing interest in yacht charters for more exotic locations, 'where sailing on a more organized experience provides confidence and more depth in the exploration of the destinations,' Pedrol said. He cites Thailand, the Seychelles, and French Polynesia as destinations that have seen a significant increase in bookings in recent years.
There's not much that compares with watching the sun set over the sea from the deck of a sailboat. If the romance of sailing through the tropics has always appealed, but you don't know the first thing about sailing, a custom private yacht charter might just be your next adventure travel vacation.