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The charter industry in Israel has been steadily growing over the last decade or so. Every year we see more and more skippers, sailing students and their families, choosing charters as their family vacation. Whether it be by themselves or through a charter agent, people charter Gulets, sailing boats, power boats or river boats for a week or even two.
Israel has many marinas, from Acre to Ashkelon and many yachts, so why is it that there are almost no yachts offered for charter of more than a few hours? The most likely explanation is the topography of the Israeli shore line. The East Mediterranean is a very open basin and the wave pattern of this area is mostly choppy almost all year round. That makes for a not so perfect charter area… Moreover, unfortunately for us, the topography of the shore is rather dull. We have one bay (Haifa bay) and I cannot imagine a yacht anchoring "Mediterranean" to one of the Krayot fuel tanks… Because of these reasons week long sailings in Israel are rather pointless for the local sailing community. That is why demand and therefore supply is low.
Rough sea and hardly any bays and yet more and more people go out sailing. The Skipper license schools help hundreds of people get qualified each year and the yacht clubs are growing as well. How can we explain that? The one thing that the Israeli shore line does have in abundance is wind - nice steady wind. It is especially true during the summer months when you can set your time according to the daily breeze pattern. These conditions are excellent for sailing boats which take advantage of this. This is the reason Israeli marinas are full of sailing boats.
Israeli marinas are full of rather expensive boats with expensive maintenance. The boats lie without use for the majority of the week and even long hours on the weekends. All these reasons are why short term charters have developed so much in the local marine scenery.
Commercial yachts offer a wide range of short term sailing options, when two to three hours are the most popular time frames, although longer time frames are also available. One must remember that chartering a boat in Israel is not a cheap matter, when a two hour charter can cost the same or even more than a monthly yacht club membership!
With all that being said, it is an attractive opportunity for the general public to celebrate a special occasion sailing on a boat. Whether it be a birthday party, marriage proposal, anniversary, bachelor/ette party, company execs. day, romantic sailing or even T.V. or cinema shoot, when you do not own your own boat chartering is the answer. A number of yachts even offer their services as a floating hotel room (that does not leave the marina). Anything goes in order to satisfy the elaborate Israeli imagination and desire to innovate. While sailing you will be able to go swimming in the sea and the brave can try trawling slowly with a line behind the boat in a sort of water ski. A Massage is available before, during, or after the sailing and food is obviously not neglected. Prepared plates of cold cuts, cheese and up to, full on, sushi boats are all available, not to mention the boxes of booze you can get, just say the word.
So, if you have a party in mind, go out and charter one of the dozens of yachts up for charter. Just bear in mind, if it is your first sailing out in the East Mediterranean - Don't forget the Sea Sickness pills…
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Yachts
